GeForce 8800 GS vs GeForce 9500 GT DDR2

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2, which makes use of a 65 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 550 MHz. The DDR2 memory works at a frequency of 500 MHz on this particular card. It features 32 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		50 Watts
GeForce 8800 GS		105 Watts
	Difference: 55 Watts (110%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 8800 GS should be 140% faster than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GS		38400 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 22400 (140%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GS is a lot (approximately 200%) better at AF than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GS		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 17600 (200%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GS should be much (about 50%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GS		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2200 (50%)

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 data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka 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, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.