GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 594 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this specific card. It features 144 SPUs along with 24 TAUs and 24 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
	Difference: 6 Watts (12%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is 238% faster than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB in general, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 30400 (238%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB should be a lot (more or less 224%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 9856 (224%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 12056 (548%)

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 information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling 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 the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.