Four GeForce 9600 GT Cards Compared

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Graphics Chip Comparison And Test Configuration

To make it easier to compare the performance of the different graphic chips and generations, we provide additional results for Nvidia’s GeForce 8, 9800 GTX, and GTX 260, and AMD’s Radeon 38x0 and 48x0. The GeForce 9600 GT and Radeon 4870 are tested with two different driver versions to make it easier to see the differences upon updating from ForceWare 175.16 to GeForce 177.92, or from Catalyst 8.6 to 8.8.

The Asus EN9600GT Silent with 512 MB runs at the Nvidia standard clock speeds, just like the reference 9600 GT with 1 GB. MSI slightly increases graphics processor (GPU) and shader speeds, while Palit and Sparkle increase GPU, shader, and graphics memory speeds.

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Card Manufacturer and Chip	Code name	Memory	GPU Speed	Shader	Memory Speed	SPs
GeForce GTX 260	GT200	896 GDDR3	576 MHz	4.0, 1242 MHz	1998 MHz	192
GeForce 9800 GTX	G92	512 MB GDDR3	675 MHz	4.0, 1688 MHz	2200 MHz	128
GeForce 9600 GT SLI	G94	1024 MB GDDR3	650 MHz	4.0, 1625 MHz	1800 MHz	64
GeForce 9600 GT	G94	1024 MB GDDR3	650 MHz	4.0, 1625 MHz	1800 MHz	64
Asus GeForce 9600 GT	G94	512 MB GDDR3	650 MHz	4.0, 1625 MHz	1800 MHz	64
MSI GeForce 9600 GT	G94	1024 MB GDDR3	700 MHz	4.0, 1680 MHz	1800 MHz	64
Palit GeForce 9600 GT	G94	1024 MB GDDR3	700 MHz	4.0, 1750 MHz	2000 MHz	64
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT	G94	512 MB GDDR3	700 MHz	4.0, 1850 MHz	2000 MHz	64
GeForce 8800 GTS	G92	512 MB GDDR3	650 MHz	4.0, 1625 MHz	1944 MHz	128
GeForce 8800 GT	G92	512 MB GDDR3	600 MHz	4.0, 1500 MHz	1800 MHz	112
GeForce 8800 GTX	G80	768 MB GDDR3	576 MHz	4.0, 1350 MHz	1800 MHz	128
GeForce 8800 GTS	G80	640 MB GDDR3	500 MHz	4.0, 1188 MHz	1600 MHz	96
GeForce 8800 GTS	G80	320 MB GDDR3	500 MHz	4.0, 1188 MHz	1600 MHz	96

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Card Manufacturer and Chip	Memory Bus	Manufacturing Process	Transistors	Interface
GeForce GTX 260	448 Bit	65 nm	1400 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 9800 GTX	256 Bit	65 nm	754 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 9600 GT SLI	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
Asus GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
MSI GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
Palit GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	505 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 8800 GTS	256 Bit	65 nm	754 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 8800 GT	256 Bit	65 nm	754 MB	PCIe 2.0
GeForce 8800 GTX	384 Bit	90 nm	681 MB	PCIe 1
GeForce 8800 GTS	320 Bit	90 nm	681 MB	PCIe 1
GeForce 8800 GTS	320 Bit	90 nm	681 MB	PCIe 1

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Card Manufacturer and Chip	Code name	Memory	GPU Speed	Shader	Memory Speed	SPs
Radeon HD 4870	RV770	512 MB GDDR5	750 MHz	4.1	3600 MHz	800
Radeon HD 4850 CF	RV770	512 MB GDDR3	625 MHz	4.1	1986 MHz	800
Radeon HD 4850	RV770	512 MB GDDR3	625 MHz	4.1	1986 MHz	800
Radeon HD 3870	RV670	512 MB GDDR4	775 MHz	4.1	2252 MHz	320
Radeon HD 3850	RV670	256 MB GDDR3	670 MHz	4.1	1658 MHz	320

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Card Manufacturer and Chip	Memory Bus	Manufacturing Process	Transistors	Interface
Radeon HD 4870	256 Bit	55 nm	965 MB	PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 4850 CF	256 Bit	55 nm	965 MB	PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 4850	256 Bit	55 nm	965 MB	PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 3870	256 Bit	55 nm	666 MB	PCIe 2.0
Radeon HD 3850	256 Bit	55 nm	666 MB	PCIe 2.0

^{Memory clock speed=DDR clock speed doubled; physical clock speed is one half
DDR5 clock speed quadrupled; physical clock speed is one quarter
SPs=Stream-Processors, P and V=Pixel shader and Vertex shader
TC=Turbo Cache
HM=Hyper Memory
OC=overclocked (clock speed higher than standard)
SLI=Parallel mode with 2 Nvidia Cards
3SLI=Parallel mode with 3 Nvidia graphics chips
4SLI=Parallel mode with 4 Nvidia graphics chips
CF=CrossFire Parallel mode with 2 AMD cards
3CF=CrossFire Parallel mode with 3 AMD graphics chips
4CF=CrossFire Parallel mode with 4 AMD graphics chips
R680=2xRV670
Shader 2.0=DirectX 9.0; 3.0=DirectX 9.0c; 4.0=DirectX 10; Shader 4.1=DirectX 10.1}

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CPU	Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 @ 2.93 GHz (11x266 MHz),Socket 775, 1.28 V, 65 nm, 4 MB L2 Cache
FSB	1066 MHz (4x266 MHz)
Motherboard	Asus P5E3 Deluxe, PCIe 2.0 2x16, ICH9R
Chip set	Intel X38
Memory	2x 1 GB Ballistix (Crucial Technology) 1.5 VDDR3 1066 7-7-7-20 (2x533 MHz)
Audio	Intel High Definition Audio
LAN	Intel 1000 Pro
Hard Drives	Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500 GB, S-ATA, 16 MB CacheHitachi 120 GB, S-ATA, 8 MB Cache
DVD	Gigabyte GO-D1600C
Power Supply	CoolerMaster RS-850-EMBA 850 W

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Motherboard	Asus P5N-T Deluxe, PCIe 2.0 2x16
Chip set	Nvidia nForce 780i SLI
Memory	2x1 GB, A-Data Technology 1.8 Volt, DDR2 800 5-5-5-18 (2x400 MHz)
Audio	ADI 1988B SoundMax
LAN	Marvell 88E1116 Gigabit Ethernet

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Graphic	AMD Catalyst 8.6 and 8.8Nvidia ForceWare 175.16, GTX 260 ForceWare 177.39, 9600 GT ForceWare 175.16 and GeForce 177.92
Operating System	Windows Vista Enterprise SP1
DirectX	10 und 10.1
Chip Set Driver	X38 Intel 8.3.1.1009780i Nvidia nForce 9.64

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48 Comments Comment from the forums

JAYDEEJOHN

So it beats the GTX eh? And you can find brand new nVidia drivers, but no ATI ones? And wheres the 4670? Got halfway thru, decided to skip the rest
Reply
jaragon13

What about the HD 4850? It costs less than the "last 8800 GTS 512's"
Asus sells them for what? 170 dollars,free shipping on Newegg?
Maybe I even saw one @ 160...
Reply
Sus-penders

Why would anyone get an 8800GTS for $179 when you can buy a better performing HD 4850, for LESS money??? ATI still exists, you know...
Reply
Ryun

No offense, as the article and tests run were good (I especially like the overall FPS charts), but this information would have been more pertinent, like, 6 months ago.
Reply
Niva

Uh, I don't get what the people about are upset for. It's a good article, I enjoyed reading and seeing where these cards fit into the scheme of things. I know ATI has made a comeback with their recent cards but until their drivers are completely open and stable I'll stick with nVidia myself so I especially enjoyed this article. Thanks Toms!
Reply
L1qu1d

Waste of 3 mins, it makes very little sense, the 9600 GTs in sli are around the 280 GTX in performance, yet it manages to get destroyed by the 4870.

This article would've meant something around the time the cards came out...now I'd much rather like to see the 4850 cards compared or 260s or w.e else that is this gen.
Reply
MooseMuffin

NivaUh, I don't get what the people about are upset for. It's a good article, I enjoyed reading and seeing where these cards fit into the scheme of things. I know ATI has made a comeback with their recent cards but until their drivers are completely open and stable I'll stick with nVidia myself so I especially enjoyed this article. Thanks Toms!
Exactly what is open about nvidia's drivers?
Reply
wh3resmycar

nobody reads the introduction anymore?
Reply
warezme

warms my heart to see the old 8800GTX included in this test list.

It's amazing this ancient cards at default speed still sit in the middle of the pack and quickly rise to the top when you turn up AA and texture quality up, beating most every other card cept for 260GTX and SLI and CF rigs.

It also explains why a pair of old 8800GTX's in SLI OC'ed to at least Ultra speeds on a fast rig are still very hard to out perform by any single card (period)
Reply
There is a reason to get the 9600GT over the 8800GT, power consumption. Look at the numbers, the 9600GT has 1/2 the number of shaders (hence a smaller die). I know the shader clock runs a little faster but a good quality stock PSU with 300W (real, like antec, corsair, etc) should be fine for running it.
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Graphics Chip Comparison And Test Configuration

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