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GeForce 9600 GT 1GB vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB features core clock speeds of 650 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 64 SPUs as well as 32 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which has GPU clock speed of 738 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM running at 1100 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 128 Stream Processors, 64 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB 95 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB 145 Watts
Difference: 50 Watts (53%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB 70400 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB 57600 MB/sec
Difference: 12800 (22%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be much (approximately 127%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB 47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB 20800 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 26432 (127%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 512MB is a better choice, but not by far. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB 11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB 10400 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 1408 (14%)

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

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GeForce 9600 GT 1GB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 9600 GT 1GB GeForce GTS 250 512MB
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year Feb 2008 March 3, 2009
Code Name G94a/b G92a/b
Memory 1024 MB 512 MB
Core Speed 650 MHz 738 MHz
Memory Speed 1800 MHz 2200 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 95 watts 145 watts
Bandwidth 57600 MB/sec 70400 MB/sec
Texel Rate 20800 Mtexels/sec 47232 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 10400 Mpixels/sec 11808 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 64 128
Texture Mapping Units 32 64
Render Output Units 16 16
Bus Type GDDR3 GDDR3
Bus Width 256-bit 256-bit
Fab Process 65/55 nm 65/55 nm
Transistors 505 million 754 million
Bus PCIe x16 2.0 PCIe x16 2.0
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.1

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, 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 amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly record to the 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 core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

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