GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 430

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 430, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this specific model. It features 96 SPUs as well as 16 Texture Address Units and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		50 Watts
GeForce GT 430		60 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (20%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 430 should theoretically perform just a bit faster than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 430		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (13%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 is much (more or less 27%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 430		11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2400 (27%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 should be much (about 57%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 430, and capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430		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 max amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the 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 most pixels the video card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.