GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB vs GeForce GT 1030

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 1030, which features a clock frequency of 1265 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1502 MHz. It also uses a 64-bit bus, and uses a 16 nm design. It features 384 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 1030		30 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		84 Watts
	Difference: 54 Watts (180%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GT 1030 should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 1030		49152 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 10752 (28%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 1030 is quite a bit (more or less 53%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB. (explain)

GeForce GT 1030		40480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 14080 (53%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 1030 should be a lot (more or less 207%) better at AA than the GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GT 1030		20240 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 13640 (207%)

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 data (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. 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 texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

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