GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 480

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 480, which has a core clock speed of 700 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 924 MHz. It also makes use of a 384-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 480 SPUs, 60 Texture Address Units, and 48 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 480		250 Watts
	Difference: 200 Watts (400%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 480 should theoretically be much superior to the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		177408 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 151808 (593%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 480 should be quite a bit (more or less 377%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		42000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 33200 (377%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 480 will be quite a bit (approximately 664%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3, and should be able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		33600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 29200 (664%)

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 MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 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 high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This number is calculated 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 graphics 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 most pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.