- The eighth generation of GeForce video cards, which includes the 8800 GTS, represents significant improvements over the previous generation. First released in 2006, this generation supports a whole new architecture, DirectX 10 support and virtual memory support. A variation of the eighth generation card is also present in the popular Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console.
- The ninth generation of GeForce video cards, such as the 9600GT, represented a complete redesign over the eighth generation cards. They started as a redesigned version of the 8800s, with the addition of split architecture for the GPUs. This allowed the card to operate multiple executables or programs at the same time. This was a significant enhancement for dual core CPUs. This is also the first set of Nvidia cards to allow up to 1 gigabyte (GB) of video memory.
- One of the most important differences when comparing video cards is clock speed. Unfortunately, being based on the same card design, both the 9600 GT and 8800 GTS clock in at 650 megahertz (MHz). Since they are the same, the best comparison is in the amount of video memory and effective clock speed.
- The 8800 GTS comes standard with 256 MB of memory and is expandable to 512 MB. The 9600, however, comes standard with 256x2 MB of memory and is expandable to 512x2 MB. This effectively starts the 9600 with 512 MB of memory, expandable to 1,024 MB, thus making it superior.
- The 8800 GTS has an effective clock speed of 970 MHz, while the 9600 is only at 900 MHz. This makes the 8800 GTS the faster GPU in most tests, but there is a trade-off. Since the 9600 series can run multiple thread calculations at the same time, this makes it the faster card when running programs that take advantage of multiple threading. Most games released since 2007 are compliant with multiple thread checking. This means in older games, the 8800 GTS will be slightly faster, but in newer games, the 9600 is much quicker.
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