GeForce GT 310 vs GeForce GT 430

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 430, which comes with GPU clock speed of 700 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR3 memory running at 900 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 96 SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 310		31 Watts
GeForce GT 430		60 Watts
	Difference: 29 Watts (94%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 430 should in theory be a lot faster than the GeForce GT 310 overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 430		28800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 310		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (80%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 is much (about 138%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

GeForce GT 430		11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6488 (138%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 430 is superior to the GeForce GT 310, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce GT 430		2800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 444 (19%)

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 over the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs 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 output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.