GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 130

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 130, which features a core clock frequency of 500 MHz and a DDR2 memory speed of 250 MHz. It also uses a 192-bit memory bus, and uses a 55 nm design. It is made up of 48 SPUs, 24 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce GT 130		75 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB should theoretically be a little bit superior to the GeForce GT 130 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 130		12000 MB/sec
	Difference: 800 (7%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 130 is a lot (approximately 173%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 130		12000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 7600 (173%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 130 is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 130		8000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5800 (264%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.