GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce GTS 450 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTS 450 1GB, which comes with core speeds of 783 MHz on the GPU, and 902 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 192 SPUs along with 32 Texture Address Units and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		106 Watts
	Difference: 16 Watts (18%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTS 450 1GB should theoretically be a small bit better than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		57728 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 128 (0%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB is much (more or less 25%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTS 450 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		25056 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6144 (25%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 450 1GB is a little bit (about 20%) better at AA than the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		12528 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2128 (20%)

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 (in units of MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 applied per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, 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 amount of pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.