GeForce 9600 GT 1GB vs GeForce GT 420

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 420, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 700 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR3 memory running at 900 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 48 SPUs, 8 TAUs, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		95 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (90%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB should perform a lot faster than the GeForce GT 420 overall. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 28800 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB should be quite a bit (approximately 271%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 15200 (271%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB is superior to the GeForce GT 420, by far. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7600 (271%)

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 data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core 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 in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.