NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT Mainstream GPU

As you can see, the new GeForce 9500 GT is a single-slot solution.  The reference model we received for evaluation and testing was built on a plain-Jane, green PCB, with a cooler featuring a portion of the NVIDIA logo.  We suspect partners like XFX and EVGA, however, may spruce up their designs, as was the case when the GeForce 8600 series launched last year...

Under the card's relatively small cooler, resides a GPU clocked at 600MHz (dispatch, texture units, ROPs) with 32 stream processors clocked at 1.4GHz. As we've mentioned already, cards will likely feature 512MB or 256MB frame buffers (this card has 256MB), clocked at 1000MHz (2000MHz DDR), which will offer up 32GB/s of memory bandwidth over a 128-bit interface. Please note, these clock speeds are higher than the reference specifications listed on the previous page. The GeForce 9500 GT also features 8 ROPs with 16 texture units, and the GPU has a native PCI Express 2.0 interface.

On the output side, much like most other current graphics cards, the GeForce 9500 GT is equipped with a pair of dual-link DVI outputs and a TV/HD component output. Using a dongle, the 9500 GT also supports HDMI output with audio, but the audio must be fed into the card though an S/PDIF input located near its single SLI connector.

Maximum board power is rated at only 50W, which is well below the 75W a PCI Express x16 slot can deliver, so the GeForce 9500 GT does not need supplemental power. And overall board size is a svelte 6.9".