GeForce GT 440 3GB vs Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 6950 2GB, which features a core clock frequency of 800 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1250 MHz. It also makes use of a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 1408 SPUs, 88 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		56 Watts
Radeon HD 6950 2GB		200 Watts
	Difference: 144 Watts (257%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Radeon HD 6950 2GB should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 440 3GB in general. (explain)

Radeon HD 6950 2GB		160000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 116800 (270%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 6950 2GB should be quite a bit (about 394%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 440 3GB. (explain)

Radeon HD 6950 2GB		70400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 56144 (394%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 6950 2GB is quite a bit (about 80%) better at FSAA than the GeForce GT 440 3GB, and also capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

Radeon HD 6950 2GB		25600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11344 (80%)

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 maximum amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.