GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 vs GeForce GT 430 (OEM)

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 430 (OEM), which has a clock speed of 700 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 96 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		50 Watts
GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		60 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (20%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GT 430 (OEM) should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (80%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 (OEM) is quite a bit (more or less 27%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2400 (27%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		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 largest amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 are 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 better this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.