GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which features a clock frequency of 700 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also features a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 96 SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		95 Watts
	Difference: 35 Watts (58%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB should in theory be much faster than the GeForce GT 430 1GB overall. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 28800 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB is quite a bit (more or less 86%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 430 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 9600 (86%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.