GeForce 9600 GT 1GB vs GeForce GT 340 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 340 1GB, which comes with a core clock frequency of 550 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 850 MHz. It also features a 128-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 96 SPUs, 32 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		69 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		95 Watts
	Difference: 26 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB should theoretically perform just a bit faster than the GeForce GT 340 1GB overall. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (6%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB is a little bit (about 18%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 340 1GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3200 (18%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB is superior to the GeForce GT 340 1GB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		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 maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. 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 lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.