HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) vs GeForce 9600 GT

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Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking1031not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.04no data
Power efficiency0.91no data
ArchitectureTesla (2006−2010)Gen. 6 Sandy Bridge (2011)
GPU code nameG94Sandy Bridge
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date21 February 2008 (16 years ago)1 May 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$179 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores646
Core clock speed650 MHz350 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1100 MHz
Number of transistors505 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology65 nm32 nm
Power consumption (TDP)96 Wattno data
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate20.80no data
Floating-point processing power0.208 TFLOPSno data
ROPs16no data
TMUs32no data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus support16x PCI-E 2.0no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16no data
Length229 mmno data
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width1-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pinno data
SLI options+-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR3no data
Maximum RAM amount512 MBno data
Memory bus width256 Bit64/128 Bit
Memory clock speed900 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth57.6 GB/sno data
Shared memory-+

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsHDTVTwo Dual Link DVIno data
Multi monitor support+no data
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIS/PDIFno data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX11.1 (10_0)10.1
Shader Model4.0no data
OpenGL2.1no data
OpenCL1.1no data
VulkanN/A-
CUDA+-

Pros & cons summary


Recency 21 February 2008 1 May 2011
Chip lithography 65 nm 32 nm

HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) has an age advantage of 3 years, and a 103.1% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between GeForce 9600 GT and HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge). We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that GeForce 9600 GT is a desktop card while HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) is a notebook one.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
GeForce 9600 GT
Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)
HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3 2008 votes

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2.7 84 votes

Rate HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

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