GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB vs GeForce GT 640 DDR3

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 640 DDR3, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 900 MHz. The DDR3 RAM works at a speed of 1782 MHz on this specific model. It features 384 SPUs along with 32 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		65 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		90 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB should perform just a bit faster than the GeForce GT 640 DDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 640 DDR3		57024 MB/sec
	Difference: 576 (1%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB should be just a bit (more or less 8%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 640 DDR3. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 640 DDR3		28800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2400 (8%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GT 640 DDR3 is superior to the GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB, by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		14400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 4000 (38%)

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 max amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once 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, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at handling 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 can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.