GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GT 440 3GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 440 3GB, which comes with a clock frequency of 594 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also features a 192-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 144 SPUs, 24 TAUs, and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		56 Watts
GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
	Difference: 19 Watts (34%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 440 3GB is 35% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GTS overall, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 11200 (35%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 3GB should be much (approximately 32%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GTS. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3456 (32%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 3GB is a lot (more or less 164%) more effective at AA than the GeForce 8600 GTS, and should be able to handle higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 8856 (164%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number 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 video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.