GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 vs GeForce 9800 GT 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB, which has a core clock frequency of 600 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 65/55 nm design. It features 112 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		50 Watts
GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		105 Watts
	Difference: 55 Watts (110%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9800 GT 1GB should in theory be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (260%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 1GB should be much (approximately 282%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 24800 (282%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5200 (118%)

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 maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.