GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce GT 430

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 430, which features GPU clock speed of 700 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 900 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 96 Stream Processors, 16 TAUs, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430		60 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
	Difference: 30 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB should theoretically be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 430 overall. (explain)

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

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB will be much (approximately 179%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 430. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 20000 (179%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 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 transferred over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This figure 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 video card will be at handling 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 the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.