GeForce 8800 GT 512MB vs GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3, which makes use of a 55 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 550 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a speed of 800 MHz on this particular card. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		50 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 55 Watts (110%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB should perform much faster than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 32000 (125%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 512MB will be much (more or less 282%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 24800 (282%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 8800 GT 512MB is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		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: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.