Four GeForce 9600 GT Cards Compared

Features
By Tino Kreiss
published

Overall Performance Comparison

The first percentage (percent fps) indicates the relative performance of the cards based on a sum of the frame rates of all the games in this test and serves as a way to estimate the raw power of a card. These numbers can be helpful if you don’t know yet what resolution you’re going to play at. Another advantage of this table is the fact that the slowest card always gets assigned a value of 100, even if the frame rates differ a great deal.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Overall PerformancefpsPercent fps
GeForce GTX 260 (896 MB)3464.8172.4
Radeon HD 4870 (512 MB)3378.3168.1
GeForce 9600 GT SLI (1024 MB)3318.1165.1
Radeon HD 4850 CF (512 MB)3241.4161.3
GeForce 9800 GTX (512 MB)2982.7148.4
Radeon HD 4850 (512 MB)2965.6147.5
GeForce 8800 GTS (512 MB)2940.1146.3
GeForce 8800 GTX (768 MB)2926.4145.6
GeForce 8800 GT (512 MB)2751.3136.9
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT (512 MB)2730.9135.9
Palit GeForce 9600 GT (1024 MB)2684.5133.6
MSI GeForce 9600 GT (1024 MB)2617.7130.2
GeForce 9600 GT (1024 MB)2523.5125.6
Asus GeForce 9600 GT (512 MB)2515.4125.2
Radeon HD 3870 (512 MB)2386.7118.7
GeForce 8800 GTS (640 MB)2369.6117.9
GeForce 8800 GTS (320 MB)2126.0105.8
Radeon HD 3850 (256 MB)2009.9100.0

The second percentage (“Percent norm.”) reflects the individual game results after they have been converted to a percentage. Normalizing them equalizes the different frame rate levels of the individual benchmarks; otherwise, Call of Duty 4 with its 180 fps would be weighted six times as high as Crysis with its 30 fps. Also, fast cards have a lower influence on the overall result when running at extremely high frame rates.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Overall PerformancefpsPercent norm.
GeForce GTX 260 (896 MB)3464.8208.6
Radeon HD 4870 (512 MB)3378.3204.7
GeForce 9600 GT SLI (1024 MB)3318.1203.3
Radeon HD 4850 CF (512 MB)3241.4202.2
Radeon HD 4850 (512 MB)2965.6178.7
GeForce 9800 GTX (512 MB)2982.7177.0
GeForce 8800 GTX (768 MB)2926.4175.2
GeForce 8800 GTS (512 MB)2940.1174.7
GeForce 8800 GT (512 MB)2751.3161.9
Sparkle GeForce 9600 GT (512 MB)2730.9161.3
Palit GeForce 9600 GT (1024 MB)2684.5158.9
MSI GeForce 9600 GT (1024 MB)2617.7154.5
GeForce 9600 GT (1024 MB)2523.5149.2
Asus GeForce 9600 GT (512 MB)2515.4147.7
Radeon HD 3870 (512 MB)2386.7146.1
GeForce 8800 GTS (640 MB)2369.6138.2
Radeon HD 3850 (256 MB)2009.9116.4
GeForce 8800 GTS (320 MB)2126.0111.4

Because this percentage refers to the minimum value, it is possible that no graphics card drops down to 100 percent in all games. The baseline for 100 percent is now the minimum value of all test candidates.

Tino Kreiss
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.
    Reply