GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce 9800 GT 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB, which makes use of a 65/55 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 600 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a speed of 900 MHz on this particular card. It features 112 SPUs as well as 56 Texture Address Units and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		105 Watts
	Difference: 55 Watts (110%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB overall. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 44800 (350%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 1GB should be quite a bit (approximately 664%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29200 (664%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB is superior to the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, by far. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7400 (336%)

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 data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is worked out 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 video 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 maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core 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 fill rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.