GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 970, which has GPU clock speed of 1050 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 1664 SPUs, 104 TAUs, and 64 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
	Difference: 95 Watts (190%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 970 will be 1650% quicker than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 211200 (1650%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 should be a lot (approximately 2382%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 104800 (2382%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 970 is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 65000 (2955%)

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 (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.