GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 550 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 800 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 32 Stream Processors, 16 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		50 Watts
GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8600 GTS will be 25% quicker than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (25%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GTS is quite a bit (about 23%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2000 (23%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GTS will be a lot (about 23%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3, and will be able to handle higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1000 (23%)

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 maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.