GeForce GT 315 vs GeForce GTX 470

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 470, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 607 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 837 MHz on this specific model. It features 448 SPUs along with 56 Texture Address Units and 40 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 315		52 Watts
GeForce GTX 470		215 Watts
	Difference: 163 Watts (313%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 470 should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 315 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 470		133920 MB/sec
GeForce GT 315		25280 MB/sec
	Difference: 108640 (430%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 470 should be a lot (about 240%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 315. (explain)

GeForce GTX 470		33992 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 315		10000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 23992 (240%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 470 will be quite a bit (approximately 386%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce GT 315, and should be able to handle higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 470		24280 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 315		5000 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19280 (386%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core 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 applied in a second.

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