GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this card. It features 96 SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		84 Watts
	Difference: 24 Watts (40%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 430 1GB will be 80% faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 overall, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (80%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 should be much (more or less 136%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce GT 430 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 15200 (136%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 is quite a bit (more or less 136%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and also able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3800 (136%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video 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 most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant 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.