GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 675 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency of 900 MHz on this card. It features 336 SPUs as well as 56 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

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 1GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 76 Watts (90%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 1GB should be 620% faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 in general, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 99200 (620%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB will be quite a bit (more or less 43%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 11400 (43%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 1GB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 15000 (227%)

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 max amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels 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 number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.