GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTX 260

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 260, which comes with a clock speed of 576 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 999 MHz. It also uses a 448-bit memory bus, and uses a 65 nm design. It features 192 SPUs, 64 Texture Address Units, and 28 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		95 Watts
GeForce GTX 260		182 Watts
	Difference: 87 Watts (92%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 260 should be much faster than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260		111888 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 54288 (94%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 should be much (about 77%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260		36864 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16064 (77%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 should be a lot (about 55%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB, and will be capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260		16128 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5728 (55%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.