GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which comes with clock speeds of 700 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 96 SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		50 Watts
GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (20%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 430 1GB will be 80% quicker than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (80%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 1GB will be much (about 27%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2400 (27%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 should be a lot (more or less 57%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		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 maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock 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 applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called 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 maximum fill rate.