GeForce 940M vs GeForce GT 310

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 310, which features a core clock frequency of 589 MHz and a DDR2 memory frequency of 1000 MHz. It also uses a 64-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 16 SPUs, 8 Texture Address Units, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Memory Bandwidth

Both cards have the exact same bandwidth, so in theory they should have the same performance. (explain)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 940M will be a lot (approximately 446%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

GeForce 940M		25728 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 21016 (446%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 940M is quite a bit (approximately 264%) better at AA than the GeForce GT 310, and capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 940M		8576 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6220 (264%)

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 information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If 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, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock 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 in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.