GeForce GT 310 vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB, which comes with a core clock speed of 594 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also features a 192-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 144 SPUs, 24 Texture Address Units, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 310		31 Watts
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (81%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB should in theory be a lot faster than the GeForce GT 310 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce GT 310		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 27200 (170%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is quite a bit (about 203%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 9544 (203%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB will be quite a bit (more or less 505%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GT 310, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11900 (505%)

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 information (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, 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 worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core 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 in a second.

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