GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 980

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 980, which comes with GPU clock speed of 1126 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 2048 SPUs, 128 Texture Address Units, and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		50 Watts
GeForce GTX 980		165 Watts
	Difference: 115 Watts (230%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 980 should in theory be a lot faster than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 198400 (775%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 is quite a bit (approximately 1538%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		144128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 135328 (1538%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 is quite a bit (approximately 1538%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3, and will be able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		72064 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 67664 (1538%)

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 max amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one 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 card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.