GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 440 3GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 440 3GB, which comes with GPU core speed of 594 MHz, and 3072 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 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		56 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 49 Watts (88%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should theoretically be a small bit better than the GeForce GT 440 3GB overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 1600 (4%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is a lot (about 136%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 440 3GB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 19344 (136%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 3GB is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 4656 (49%)

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 maximum amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. 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 lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.