GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce GTX 550 Ti

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 550 Ti, which has a GPU core clock speed of 900 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1026 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also is comprised of 192 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
GeForce GTX 550 Ti		116 Watts
	Difference: 26 Watts (29%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 550 Ti will be 71% quicker than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB overall, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 550 Ti		98496 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 40896 (71%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB will be a small bit (about 8%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 550 Ti. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 550 Ti		28800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2400 (8%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 550 Ti is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 550 Ti		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11200 (108%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.