GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which comes with clock speeds of 650 MHz on the GPU, and 850 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 288 SPUs along with 48 Texture Address Units and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		84 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
	Difference: 66 Watts (79%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 SE is 580% quicker than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 overall, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 92800 (580%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE should be a small bit (about 18%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4800 (18%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE should be a lot (approximately 215%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 14200 (215%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better 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 per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. 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 memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.