GeForce GT 315 vs GeForce GT 340 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 340 1GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 550 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a frequency of 850 MHz on this specific card. It features 96 SPUs as well as 32 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 315		52 Watts
GeForce GT 340 1GB		69 Watts
	Difference: 17 Watts (33%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GT 340 1GB should in theory be a lot better than the GeForce GT 315 overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		54400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 315		25280 MB/sec
	Difference: 29120 (115%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 340 1GB should be a lot (approximately 76%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 315. (explain)

GeForce GT 340 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 315		10000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 7600 (76%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 315 is a better choice, though not by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		5000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 340 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 600 (14%)

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 largest amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster 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 are processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount 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 ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.