GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 vs GeForce 9800 GT 512MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB, which uses a 65/55 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 600 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular model. It features 112 SPUs as well as 56 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		84 Watts
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 21 Watts (25%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB should be 260% faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 overall, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (260%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 512MB is a lot (about 27%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 7200 (27%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 512MB will be a lot (about 45%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512, and capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3000 (45%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip 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 Render Output Units by the the core 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 rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.