GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which has GPU core speed of 650 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 850 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 288 Stream Processors, 48 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		50 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
	Difference: 100 Watts (200%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 SE will be 325% faster than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 overall, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 83200 (325%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE is quite a bit (more or less 255%) better at AF than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22400 (255%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 SE is superior to the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16400 (373%)

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 maximum amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.