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GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB uses a 65/55 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 650 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 900 MHz on this specific card. It features 96 SPUs as well as 48 Texture Address Units and 16 ROPs.

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which uses a 65/55 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 738 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a frequency of 1100 MHz on this specific model. It features 128 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB 90 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB 145 Watts
Difference: 55 Watts (61%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB 70400 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB 57600 MB/sec
Difference: 12800 (22%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB is a lot (approximately 51%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB 47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB 31200 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 16032 (51%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTS 250 512MB is a better choice, though not by far. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB 11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB 10400 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 1408 (14%)

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

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GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB

Amazon.com

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GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB GeForce GTS 250 512MB
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year October 2008 March 3, 2009
Code Name G94a/b G92a/b
Memory 512 MB 512 MB
Core Speed 650 MHz 738 MHz
Memory Speed 1800 MHz 2200 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 90 watts 145 watts
Bandwidth 57600 MB/sec 70400 MB/sec
Texel Rate 31200 Mtexels/sec 47232 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 10400 Mpixels/sec 11808 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 96 128
Texture Mapping Units 48 64
Render Output Units 16 16
Bus Type GDDR3 GDDR3
Bus Width 256-bit 256-bit
Fab Process 65/55 nm 65/55 nm
Transistors 505 million 754 million
Bus PCIe x16 2.0 PCIe x16 2.0
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.1

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core 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 output rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

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