GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce 9800 GTX

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 9800 GTX, which uses a 65 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 675 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 1100 MHz on this model. It features 128 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		95 Watts
GeForce 9800 GTX		140 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (47%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 9800 GTX should perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GTX		70400 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (22%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GTX is quite a bit (approximately 108%) better at AF than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GTX		43200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22400 (108%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GTX should be a little bit (about 4%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB, and able to handle higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GTX		10800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 400 (4%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

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