NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3

The GeForce 9500 GT (US$70-90) is a GPU from Nvidia that features:

• G96 Core Code
• 314 million Transisitor Count
• 65nm Manufacturing Process
• 550MHz Core Clock
• 32 Stream Processors
• 1400MHz Stream Processor Clock
• 16 Texture Mapping Units (TMU) or Texture Filtering (TF) units
• 8 Raster Operator units (ROP)
• 1600MHz GDDR3 or 1000MHz GDDR2 Memory Clock
• 128-bit DDR Memory Bus
• 25.6GB/s (GDDR3) or 16.0GB/s (GDDR2) Memory Bandwidth
• PCIe ver 2.0 x16 interface
• Multi GPU Technology support
• 2 x Dual-Link DVI Output support
• HDCP Output Support

HardwareZone gave the Zotac GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 a 4 out of 5 rating:

"While the GeForce 9500 GT does not appear to be a blatant carbon copy of any existing GeForce 8 GPU like how the GeForce 9800 GT is practically a GeForce 8800 GT, it is also not that different from the incumbent GeForce 8600 series. ... ATI's competing Radeon HD 3650 was quite clearly the inferior GPU compared to the newcomer, so NVIDIA still has the edge here. Power consumption too was quite favorable for the GeForce 9500 GT. ... if you already possess a GeForce 8 card of a similar caliber (or even a GeForce 7 of the same range), it's a lateral upgrade at best, not a move up the performance ladder. If you're new to all these and looking for a decent mainstream option, the GeForce 9500 GT could be a good choice at its price range of US$70 - 90. " [HardwareZone | NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3]

As HardwareZone suggests, if you plan to play modern games, it would be best to spend a little bit more and get a true performance mainstream GPU like a GeForce 9600 GSO, GeForce 9600 GT or Radeon HD 3850. And yes, if you are not in a hurry for a new 9600 GT, it might be worthwhile to wait for the coming 55nm Manufacturing Process versions.

Technorati : 9500, geforce, gt, nvidia