GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 1030

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 1030, which features GPU clock speed of 1265 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 1502 MHz through a 64-bit bus. It also is comprised of 384 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 1030		30 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		95 Watts
	Difference: 65 Watts (217%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB should theoretically be a little bit better than the GeForce GT 1030 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 1030		49152 MB/sec
	Difference: 8448 (17%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 1030 should be a lot (about 95%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 1030		40480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 19680 (95%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GT 1030 is superior to the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB, by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 1030		20240 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9840 (95%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.