GeForce GT 315 vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 594 MHz. The GDDR3 memory works at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular card. It features 144 SPUs as well as 24 TAUs and 24 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 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
	Difference: 4 Watts (8%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is 71% faster than the GeForce GT 315 in general, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce GT 315		25280 MB/sec
	Difference: 17920 (71%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB will be quite a bit (more or less 43%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 315. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 315		10000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4256 (43%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 315		5000 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9256 (185%)

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 data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster 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 are applied per second. This is worked out 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 handling 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 write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour 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 output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.