GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 vs GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB, which has a clock frequency of 650 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also features a 256-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 65/55 nm design. It features 96 SPUs, 48 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		50 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (80%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (260%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB should be a lot (more or less 255%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22400 (255%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6000 (136%)

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 megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.