GeForce 9400 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 memory works at a speed of 900 MHz on this specific card. It features 96 SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		50 Watts
GeForce GT 430 1GB		60 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (20%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 430 1GB will be 125% quicker than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB in general, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (125%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 1GB will be a lot (more or less 155%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9400 GT 256MB. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		4400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6800 (155%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 430 1GB is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 1GB		2800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9400 GT 256MB		2200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 600 (27%)

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 data (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher 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 figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs 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 many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.