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GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs Radeon HD 3850 256MB

Intro

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB comes with a core clock frequency of 650 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and uses a 65/55 nm design. It features 64 SPUs, 32 Texture Address Units, and 16 ROPs.

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 3850 256MB, which features a clock frequency of 668 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 828 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and uses a 55 nm design. It is comprised of 320(64x5) SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 3850 256MB 75 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 95 Watts
Difference: 20 Watts (27%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB should perform a bit faster than the Radeon HD 3850 256MB in general. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 57600 MB/sec
Radeon HD 3850 256MB 52992 MB/sec
Difference: 4608 (9%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB is much (about 95%) faster with regards to AF than the Radeon HD 3850 256MB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 20800 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3850 256MB 10688 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 10112 (95%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 3850 256MB should be a bit (approximately 3%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB, and also able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

Radeon HD 3850 256MB 10688 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 10400 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 288 (3%)

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 512MB

Amazon.com

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Radeon HD 3850 256MB

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 512MB Radeon HD 3850 256MB
Manufacturer nVidia AMD
Year Feb 2008 Nov 19, 2007
Code Name G94a/b RV670 PRO
Memory 512 MB 256 MB
Core Speed 650 MHz 668 MHz
Memory Speed 1800 MHz 1656 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 95 watts 75 watts
Bandwidth 57600 MB/sec 52992 MB/sec
Texel Rate 20800 Mtexels/sec 10688 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 10400 Mpixels/sec 10688 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 64 320(64x5)
Texture Mapping Units 32 16
Render Output Units 16 16
Bus Type GDDR3 GDDR3
Bus Width 256-bit 256-bit
Fab Process 65/55 nm 55 nm
Transistors 505 million (Unknown) million
Bus PCIe x16 2.0 PCIe 2.0 x16/AGP 8x
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10.1
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.0

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number 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 handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

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

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Radeon HD 3850 256MB

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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