GeForce GT 310 vs GeForce GTX 950M

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 950M, which comes with core speeds of 914 MHz on the GPU, and 1000 MHz on the 2048 MB of DDR3 memory. It features 640 SPUs along with 40 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 310		31 Watts
GeForce GTX 950M		55 Watts
	Difference: 24 Watts (77%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 950M, in theory, should perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 310 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950M		32000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 310		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 950M is quite a bit (more or less 676%) better at AF than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950M		36560 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 31848 (676%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 950M should be a lot (about 521%) more effective at AA than the GeForce GT 310, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950M		14624 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 12268 (521%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.