GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 vs GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB, which has core clock speeds of 550 MHz on the GPU, and 800 MHz on the 384 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 96 SPUs along with 48 TAUs and 12 Rasterization Operator 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 384MB		84 Watts
	Difference: 34 Watts (68%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB is 140% quicker than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		38400 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 22400 (140%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB should be much (approximately 200%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 17600 (200%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB is quite a bit (more or less 50%) more effective at AA than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2200 (50%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the card will be at 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 the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's 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 output rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.