GeForce 830M vs GeForce GT 310

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 310, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 589 MHz. The DDR2 memory works at a speed of 1000 MHz on this model. It features 16 SPUs along with 8 Texture Address Units and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 830M		25 Watts
GeForce GT 310		31 Watts
	Difference: 6 Watts (24%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 310 should be 11% faster than the GeForce 830M in general, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GT 310		16000 MB/sec
GeForce 830M		14400 MB/sec
	Difference: 1600 (11%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 830M should be a lot (more or less 249%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

GeForce 830M		16464 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 11752 (249%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 830M should be much (approximately 249%) better at FSAA than the GeForce GT 310, and will be able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 830M		8232 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5876 (249%)

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: Bandwidth is the max amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.