Sparkle 9400 GT 1024 MB Review
Submitted By Steven on Jul 29 2009 at 1:55 PM
Introduction
As with most cards of this type, the 9400 GT shares much of the same core architectural finesse as its high-end siblings. Albeit in a reduced and refined form. The G96 featured in the 9400 GT features only 16 shader processors, 9 ROPs, and 8 TMUs. Regarding video memory, Sparkle has followed the reference specifications and paired the G96 with 1024mb of DDR2 memory on a 128-bit memory bus. Also in line with Nvidia's reference specifications, are the clock speeds. The 9400 GT's clock speeds are set at 550 MHz core speed, 1,400 MHz shader speed, and 400 MHz memory speed. This results in a total of 12.8gb of memory bandwidth.
| Feature | 8500 GT | 8600 GT | 8600 GTS | 9400 GT | 9500 GT | 9600 GT |
| Shader Units | 16 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 32 | 64 |
| ROPs | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
| TMUs | 8 | 16 | 16 | 8 | 16 | 32 |
| Transistors | 210 million | 289 million | 289 million | 314 million | 314 million | 754 million |
| Memory Size | 256 or 512 | 256 or 512 | 256 or 512 | 512 or 1024 | 512 or 1024 | 256 or 512 |
| Memory Bus Width | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 128-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 12.8 GB | 22.4 GB | 32 GB | 12.8 GB | 25.6 GB | 57.6 GB |
| Core Clock | 450 MHz | 540 MHz | 675 MHz | 550 MHz | 550 MHz | 650 MHz |
| Shader Clock | 900 MHz | 1180 MHz | 1450 MHz | 1400 MHz | 1400 MHz | 1625 MHz |
| Memory Clock | 400 MHz | 700 MHz | 1000 MHz | 400 MHz | 800 MHz | 900 MH |
At face value, the 9400 GT appears to be little more than a relabeled 8500 GT. This is not entirely accurate as the 9400 GT's retooled G96 has been built on the 65 nm manufacturing technology, rather than the 80 nm technology used with the 8500 GT. As a result of this shift, the 9400 GT is capable of offering more performance. Despite sharing the same 16 shader processors, the shader processors of the 9400 GT are clocked at 1,400 MHz, compared to the 900 MHz on the original 8500 GT. The increased core clock speed also effects the pixel and texture fillrates offered by the 9400 GT.
The Sparkle “SFPX94GT1024U2“ includes the very definition of “bare bones” accessories. Within the small box is the graphics card, the user's manual, a driver disk, and a S-Video cable. Despite the ability of the 9400 GT to output to HDTV, no component adapter was included. Sparkle has also neglected the typical DVI-to-VGA adapter, though this omission can be excused as the “SFPX94GT1024U2“ does not feature dual DVI ports. Like most cards of this class, the Sparkle 9400 GT instead it offers one DVI and one VGA port.
