GeForce GT 440 3GB vs GeForce GTX 580

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 580, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 772 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a frequency of 1002 MHz on this specific card. It features 512 SPUs along with 64 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 580		244 Watts
	Difference: 188 Watts (336%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 580 will be 345% quicker than the GeForce GT 440 3GB overall, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 149184 (345%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 is much (about 247%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GT 440 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 35152 (247%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 22800 (160%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, 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 is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better 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 amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka 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 of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.