GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 970, which features a clock speed of 1050 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1750 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 28 nm design. It features 1664 SPUs, 104 TAUs, and 64 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 970		145 Watts
	Difference: 50 Watts (53%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 970 should be 289% quicker than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB overall, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 166400 (289%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 should be a lot (more or less 425%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 88400 (425%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 970 is superior to the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 56800 (546%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of 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 handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.