GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB, which has a core clock frequency of 550 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 800 MHz. It also features a 192-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 65 nm design. It is comprised of 96 SPUs, 48 TAUs, and 12 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		84 Watts
	Difference: 34 Watts (68%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB should perform a lot faster than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB overall. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		38400 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 25600 (200%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB will be quite a bit (more or less 500%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22000 (500%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB is a lot (approximately 200%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, and should be capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 4400 (200%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.