GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB vs GeForce GT 340 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 340 1GB, which has core speeds of 550 MHz on the GPU, and 850 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 96 SPUs as well as 32 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		69 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		84 Watts
	Difference: 15 Watts (22%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 340 1GB should perform much faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		54400 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (42%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB should be quite a bit (more or less 50%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 340 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8800 (50%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB will be quite a bit (about 50%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 340 1GB, and also able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2200 (50%)

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: Bandwidth is the max amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core 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 in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core 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 output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.