GeForce 9800 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB, which features a GPU core clock speed of 594 MHz, and 1536 MB of GDDR3 memory set to run at 900 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also is made up of 144 Stream Processors, 24 TAUs, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 49 Watts (88%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB is 33% faster than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 14400 (33%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 512MB will be quite a bit (about 136%) better at AF than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 19344 (136%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB will be a lot (approximately 49%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9800 GT 512MB, and should be capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 4656 (49%)

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 max amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics 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 amount of pixels the video card can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.