GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce GT 640 DDR3

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 640 DDR3, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 900 MHz, and 2048 MB of DDR3 memory set to run at 1782 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 384 Stream Processors, 32 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		65 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB should perform a small bit faster than the GeForce GT 640 DDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 640 DDR3		57024 MB/sec
	Difference: 576 (1%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB will be a small bit (about 8%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 640 DDR3. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 640 DDR3		28800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2400 (8%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 640 DDR3 should be quite a bit (more or less 38%) better at AA than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		14400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 4000 (38%)

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 information (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster 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 applied in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.