GeForce 9600 GT 1GB vs GeForce GT 320

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 320, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 540 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a speed of 790 MHz on this specific model. It features 72 SPUs along with 24 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 320		43 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		95 Watts
	Difference: 52 Watts (121%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB should in theory be much superior to the GeForce GT 320 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 320		25280 MB/sec
	Difference: 32320 (128%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB will be quite a bit (more or less 60%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 320. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 320		12960 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 7840 (60%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		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 largest amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated 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 video 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 amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core 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 max fill rate.