GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB vs GeForce GTX 970M

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 970M, which features GPU core speed of 924 MHz, and 3072 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1000 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also features 1280 SPUs, 80 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 970M		75 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		84 Watts
	Difference: 9 Watts (12%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 970M should be 150% faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB overall, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970M		96000 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 57600 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970M is quite a bit (about 180%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970M		73920 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 47520 (180%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970M should be quite a bit (about 572%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970M		44352 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 37752 (572%)

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 largest amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card 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 that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. 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 ability to get to the max fill rate.