GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB vs GeForce GTX 580

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 580, which features core speeds of 772 MHz on the GPU, and 1002 MHz on the 1536 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 512 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 48 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		84 Watts
GeForce GTX 580		244 Watts
	Difference: 160 Watts (190%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 580 should be 401% faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		192384 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 153984 (401%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 is a lot (approximately 87%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		26400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 23008 (87%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 30456 (461%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a 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 drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.