GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 430

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 430, which has a clock speed of 700 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 96 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430		60 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		95 Watts
	Difference: 35 Watts (58%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB should in theory be a lot superior to the GeForce GT 430 overall. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 28800 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB is much (about 86%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 430. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 9600 (86%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB is superior to the GeForce GT 430, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430		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 maximum amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video 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 maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.