GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB, which comes with a clock frequency of 594 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also uses a 192-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is made up of 144 SPUs, 24 TAUs, and 24 ROPs.

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

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB should theoretically be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB in general. (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 quite a bit (more or less 224%) better 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

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB will be quite a bit (about 548%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB, and also able to handle higher resolutions better. (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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR RAM, 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 high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.