GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce GTS 450 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTS 450 1GB, which features GPU core speed of 783 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 902 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 192 Stream Processors, 32 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		106 Watts
	Difference: 16 Watts (18%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTS 450 1GB should theoretically be a small bit superior to the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		57728 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 128 (0%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB will be much (more or less 25%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTS 450 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		25056 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6144 (25%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 450 1GB is superior to the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB, but not by far. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		12528 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2128 (20%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, 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 amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.