GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB, which uses a 65 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 550 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 800 MHz on this particular card. It features 96 SPUs as well as 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 512MB GDDR3		50 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		84 Watts
	Difference: 34 Watts (68%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB will be 50% quicker than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		38400 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (50%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB will be quite a bit (more or less 200%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 17600 (200%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 1.5GB		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (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 bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.