GeForce GT 440 3GB vs GeForce GTS 450 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTS 450 1GB, which has core speeds of 783 MHz on the GPU, and 902 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 192 SPUs along with 32 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		56 Watts
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		106 Watts
	Difference: 50 Watts (89%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTS 450 1GB should be 34% faster than the GeForce GT 440 3GB overall, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		57728 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 14528 (34%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 450 1GB should be much (approximately 76%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 440 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTS 450 1GB		25056 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 10800 (76%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 3GB is the winner, but not by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 450 1GB		12528 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1728 (14%)

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 (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.