GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB, which features core speeds of 594 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 1536 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 144 SPUs as well as 24 Texture Address Units and 24 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
	Difference: 9 Watts (19%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB should be 238% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 overall, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 30400 (238%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 1.5GB will be much (about 65%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5616 (65%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9936 (230%)

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 largest amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high 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 texture units 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 processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units 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 output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.