GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

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

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		50 Watts
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
	Difference: 6 Watts (12%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB should in theory be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 17600 (69%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is much (about 62%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5456 (62%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB should be quite a bit (more or less 224%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 512MB GDDR3		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9856 (224%)

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 (in units of MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel 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.