GeForce 9600 GT 512MB vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB, which comes with a core clock frequency of 594 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also makes use of a 192-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 144 SPUs, 24 Texture Address Units, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		95 Watts
	Difference: 39 Watts (70%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB will be 33% faster than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB overall, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 14400 (33%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 512MB is quite a bit (more or less 46%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6544 (46%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB will be much (about 37%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 9600 GT 512MB, and also capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GT 512MB		10400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3856 (37%)

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 largest amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.