GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB, which features GPU core speed of 594 MHz, and 1536 MB of GDDR3 memory set to run at 900 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also is comprised of 144 SPUs, 24 Texture Address Units, and 24 ROPs.

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 768MB		84 Watts
	Difference: 28 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB should be a bit faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 4800 (13%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB should be a lot (more or less 85%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12144 (85%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB		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 max amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.