GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3, which makes use of a 55 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 550 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 800 MHz on this specific card. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 Texture Address Units and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		50 Watts
	Difference: 3 Watts (6%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 should be 14% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall, because of its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (14%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 is a small bit (approximately 2%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 160 (2%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 should be a little bit (about 2%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 80 (2%)

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 largest amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.