GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3, which uses a 55 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 550 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 800 MHz on this specific card. It features 32 SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		50 Watts
	Difference: 3 Watts (6%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3, in theory, should perform a small bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (14%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 is a small bit (more or less 2%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 160 (2%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 is a bit (more or less 2%) more effective at AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and will be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 80 (2%)

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 maximum amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster 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 in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. 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, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.