GeForce 9600 GT 1GB vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 550 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM runs at a speed of 850 MHz on this model. It features 96 SPUs as well as 32 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		70 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		95 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (36%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB should be 6% quicker than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 overall, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (6%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB will be a small bit (more or less 18%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3200 (18%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB should be a lot (about 136%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6000 (136%)

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 largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of 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 applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines 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 many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.