GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 440 3GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 440 3GB, which has a GPU core clock speed of 594 MHz, and 3072 MB of GDDR3 RAM running at 900 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also is comprised of 144 SPUs, 24 TAUs, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		50 Watts
GeForce GT 440 3GB		56 Watts
	Difference: 6 Watts (12%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 440 3GB is 69% quicker than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		25600 MB/sec
	Difference: 17600 (69%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 3GB will be much (about 62%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5456 (62%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 3GB is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9500 GT 1GB GDDR3		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: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher 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 processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of 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 can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.