GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which features a clock speed of 700 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also features a 128-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 96 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (20%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GT 430 1GB should be much faster than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (125%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 1GB will be much (about 155%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6800 (155%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 1GB is a lot (more or less 27%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, and will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		2800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 600 (27%)

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 maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. 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 lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.