GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 vs GeForce GT 420

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 420, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular model. It features 48 SPUs as well as 8 TAUs and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical BenchmarksAdvertisements

Both cards have the same power consumption.

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 420 should be 80% faster than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 overall, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (80%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 is much (approximately 57%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		8800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3200 (57%)

AdvertisementsPixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1600 (57%)

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 data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory in a 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 speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. 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.