GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 860M

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 860M, which comes with GPU core speed of 797 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 1000 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 1152 Stream Processors, 96 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 860M		45 Watts
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		50 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (11%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 860M should be much faster than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		64000 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 38400 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 860M should be a lot (approximately 769%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		76512 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 67712 (769%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 860M will be quite a bit (approximately 190%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3, and able to handle higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		12752 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 8352 (190%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video card will be at handling 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 could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.