GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 320

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 320, which features GPU core speed of 540 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 790 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 72 Stream Processors, 24 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 320		43 Watts
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
	Difference: 7 Watts (16%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 320 is 98% quicker than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB in general, because of its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		25280 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 12480 (98%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 320 is quite a bit (more or less 195%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		12960 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8560 (195%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GT 320 is superior to the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2120 (96%)

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 information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it 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 AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

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