GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs GeForce 9500 GT DDR2

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2, which uses a 65 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 550 MHz. The DDR2 RAM works at a speed of 500 MHz on this card. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		50 Watts
	Difference: 3 Watts (6%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (40%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 is a small bit (more or less 2%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		8800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 160 (2%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 is a small bit (approximately 2%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3, and will be able to handle higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 80 (2%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 are processed 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 graphics 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 card could possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.