GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which features a clock frequency of 675 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		50 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 110 Watts (220%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB will be 620% faster than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2 in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 99200 (620%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB is quite a bit (approximately 330%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29000 (330%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB is quite a bit (approximately 391%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9500 GT DDR2, and also will be able to handle higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT DDR2		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 17200 (391%)

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 interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. 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 output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.