GeForce 9600 GT 1GB vs GeForce GTX 860M

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 860M, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 797 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency of 1000 MHz on this specific model. It features 1152 SPUs as well as 96 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 860M		45 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		95 Watts
	Difference: 50 Watts (111%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 860M should perform just a bit faster than the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		64000 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (11%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 860M is a lot (about 268%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		76512 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		20800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 55712 (268%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 860M should be quite a bit (more or less 23%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		12752 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2352 (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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If 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, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that 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 ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.