GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 430

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 430, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 900 MHz on this specific card. It features 96 SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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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

In theory, the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB should perform much faster than the GeForce GT 430 in general. (explain)

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

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB will be much (about 86%) better at anisotropic 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 a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB is superior to the GeForce GT 430, by a large margin. (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 max amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card 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 applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.