GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 320

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 320, which has a core clock speed of 540 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 790 MHz. It also features a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is made up of 72 SPUs, 24 Texture Address Units, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 320		43 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		95 Watts
	Difference: 52 Watts (121%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce GT 320 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 320		25280 MB/sec
	Difference: 32320 (128%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB will be a lot (approximately 60%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 320. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 320		12960 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 7840 (60%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB is much (approximately 141%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 320, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 320		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6080 (141%)

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 information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.