GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 315

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 315, which features a GPU core clock speed of 625 MHz, and 512 MB of DDR3 RAM set to run at 790 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 48 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		50 Watts
GeForce GT 315		52 Watts
	Difference: 2 Watts (4%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 should be just a bit faster than the GeForce GT 315 overall. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 315		25280 MB/sec
	Difference: 320 (1%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 315 is a little bit (about 14%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		10000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1200 (14%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 315 is a better choice, though only just barely. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		5000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 600 (14%)

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 data (counted in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

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