GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 340

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 340, which has a core clock frequency of 550 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 850 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is made up of 96 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340		69 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		95 Watts
	Difference: 26 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB will be 6% faster than the GeForce GT 340 overall, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 340		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (6%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB should be a little bit (about 18%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 340. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3200 (18%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB should be much (more or less 136%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 340, and also will be able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6000 (136%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core 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 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.