GeForce 9600 GT 1GB vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, which comes with a core clock speed of 550 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 850 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is made up of 96 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

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

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB, in theory, should be a bit faster than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 overall. (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 is just a bit (about 18%) more effective 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

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB is a better choice, and very much so. (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 maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 applied per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher 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 most pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.