GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

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

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		84 Watts
	Difference: 28 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB should in theory be much better than the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 27200 (170%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 is a lot (approximately 85%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12144 (85%)

Pixel Rate

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

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7656 (116%)

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 information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core 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 many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.