GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512, which comes with a core clock speed of 550 MHz and a DDR2 memory frequency of 500 MHz. It also features a 128-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 65 nm design. It features 96 SPUs, 48 TAUs, and 12 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		84 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
	Difference: 6 Watts (7%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB should theoretically be much faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (260%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB is just a bit (about 18%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4800 (18%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3800 (58%)

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 max amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units 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 rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.