ECS GeForce 9500GT
The recently released GeForce 9500GT is a heir to GeForce 8500GT in the sector of NVIDIA's entry level video cards. If we compare these two video cards, the progress is evident. As compared to the predecessor, GeForce 9500GT offers twice as many universal processors and texture units. The only what has left unchanged is the number of ROP units - they are eight as before. Interestingly, if we compare the new product versus GeForce 8600GT, another representative of the previous generation, we see that their specifications are almost identical. For convenience, we bring them all into the below table.
| Video card |
GeForce 9500GT |
GeForce 8500GT |
GeForce 8600GT |
Code name
of the GPU |
G96 |
G86 |
G84 |
Number of
universal processors |
32 |
16 |
32 |
| Texture units |
16 |
8 |
16 |
| ROP units |
8 |
8 |
8 |
| GPU blocks clock speed, MHz |
550/1400 |
460/918 |
540/1188 |
Effective frequency
of the video memory, MHz |
1000 for GDDR-2
1600 for GDDR-3 |
800 for GDDR-2
1400 for GDDR-3 |
1404 |
| Video memory type |
GDDR-2/GDDR3 |
GDDR-2/GDDR-3 |
GDDR -3 |
| Video memory capacity, MB |
256/512 |
256/512 |
256 |
| Approximate price, rubles |
1800-2000 and above |
1200-1350 |
1600-2000 |
Despite the similarity of specifications versus those for GeForce 8600GT, the minimum prices for 9500GT appear to be somehow higher. To all appearances, this is due to the effect of novelty and change of "8" to "9" in the name of the video card. But GeForce 9500GT is more power-saving and does not require additional power supply, but that is unlikely to be of substantial practical advantage. We also see that apart from the modifications of video cards shown in the table, there are many others, but they are so numerous that you can't count them all. If we search carefully, we'll certainly find some GeForce 8600GT with 1 GB GDDR-2 onboard. But the question is why such modifications are needed - because even the more powerful video cards like GeForce 8800GT rarely need such a memory capacity. Anyway, let's look into ECS GeForce 9500GT and then try it for "strength" together with GeForce 8600GT and not only that.
Package for ECS GeForce 9500GT, front view.
Package for ECS GeForce 9500GT, rear view.
The box for ECS GeForce 9500GT is decorated with the already familiar "dragon". Along with that, the box displays the key specifications of the video card and a bit of advertizing.
The package bundle includes the following items:
- DVI -> HDMI adapter;
- DVI -> D-Sub adapter;
- a cable to plug in S/PDIF sound to the video card inside the computer;
- drivers CD;
- user's manual.
Having looked through the user's guide, we found the funny thing:
A mishap.
On one of the illustrations, there is a video card by Gigabyte!
ECS GeForce 9500GT, front view.
ECS GeForce 9500GT, rear view.
ECS GeForce 9500GT is smaller in size, is equipped with a not as impressive radiator which has not been replaced on reference NVIDIA's entry-level video cards since the times of GeForce 7600GT. The rotational speed of the fan in the cooling system is not adjustable, so it rotates at a permanent speed. Note that ECS GeForce 9500GT will not be a good choice for the home cinema because its small fan generates quite a lot of noise.
ECS GeForce 9500GT, without the cooler.
The video card is made on a dark blue PCB which is ECS' proprietary color.
GPU G96 chip.
The graphic chip is marked as G96-300 and belongs to version one.
Memory chip.
The GDDR-3 memory chips are made by Samsung and offer 1.25 ns access time, which is equivalent to the effective frequency 1600 MHz at which it runs in the nominal mode.
Cooling system efficiency
As before, we'll be testing the cooling system efficiency with the Firefly Forest scene from the benchmarking suite 3DMark 06. After nine runs at 1600x1200 with 4? FSAA and 16X AF, we got the following results:
Test for heating.
The G96 graphic chip heated up to 75 C, which is not so much according to today's standards. We've only got to check the new product for speed.
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