GeForce GT 440 1.5GB vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which makes use of a 65/55 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 738 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 1100 MHz on this model. It features 128 SPUs as well as 64 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 89 Watts (159%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be 63% quicker than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB overall, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 27200 (63%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB will be much (approximately 231%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32976 (231%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2448 (21%)

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 moved past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure 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 card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also 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 - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.