GeForce GT 230 vs GeForce GT 440 3GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 440 3GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 594 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular card. It features 144 SPUs as well as 24 Texture Address Units and 24 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		56 Watts
GeForce GT 230		65 Watts
	Difference: 9 Watts (16%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 440 3GB should be 13% quicker than the GeForce GT 230 overall, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce GT 230		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 4800 (13%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 3GB should be a lot (about 62%) better at AF than the GeForce GT 230. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 230		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5456 (62%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 3GB should be a lot (approximately 224%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 230, and should be able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 230		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9856 (224%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.