GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB vs GeForce GT 420

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 420, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular model. It features 48 SPUs along with 8 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		84 Watts
	Difference: 34 Watts (68%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB is 33% quicker than the GeForce GT 420 overall, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		38400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 9600 (33%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB will be much (approximately 371%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 20800 (371%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB will be much (approximately 136%) better at AA than the GeForce GT 420, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3800 (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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core 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 in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.