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GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512

Intro

The GeForce 9400 GT 256MB features a GPU core clock speed of 550 MHz, and the 256 MB of GDDR2 RAM runs at 400 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 16 SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Compare all of that to the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512, which makes use of a 65 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 550 MHz. The DDR2 memory runs at a speed of 500 MHz on this particular model. It features 96 SPUs as well as 48 Texture Address Units and 12 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		84 Watts
	Difference: 34 Watts (68%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 should theoretically be much superior to the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB overall. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		16000 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (25%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 should be quite a bit (about 500%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22000 (500%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 4400 (200%)

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 9400 GT 256MB

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GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512

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Specifications

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Model	GeForce 9400 GT 256MB	GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512
Manufacturer	nVidia	nVidia
Year	August 2008	September 2008
Code Name	G96a	G92
Memory	256 MB	512 MB
Core Speed	550 MHz	550 MHz
Memory Speed	800 MHz	1000 MHz
Power (Max TDP)	50 watts	84 watts
Bandwidth	12800 MB/sec	16000 MB/sec
Texel Rate	4400 Mtexels/sec	26400 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate	2200 Mpixels/sec	6600 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders	16	96
Texture Mapping Units	8	48
Render Output Units	4	12
Bus Type	GDDR2	DDR2
Bus Width	128-bit	128-bit
Fab Process	65 nm	65 nm
Transistors	314 million	754 million
Bus	PCIe x16 2.0, PCI	PCIe x16 2.0
DirectX Version	DirectX 10	DirectX 10
OpenGL Version	OpenGL 3.0	OpenGL 3.0

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's 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 in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of 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 fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.

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