GeForce GT 440 3GB vs GeForce GTX 480

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 480, which features a core clock frequency of 700 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 924 MHz. It also makes use of a 384-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is made up of 480 SPUs, 60 Texture Address Units, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		56 Watts
GeForce GTX 480		250 Watts
	Difference: 194 Watts (346%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 480 should be a lot faster than the GeForce GT 440 3GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		177408 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 134208 (311%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 480 will be a lot (more or less 195%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 440 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		42000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 27744 (195%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 480 is quite a bit (approximately 136%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 440 3GB, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		33600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19344 (136%)

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 max amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.