GeForce GT 440 3GB vs GeForce GTX 470

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 470, which features a core clock frequency of 607 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 837 MHz. It also features a 320-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 448 SPUs, 56 Texture Address Units, and 40 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		56 Watts
GeForce GTX 470		215 Watts
	Difference: 159 Watts (284%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 470, in theory, should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 440 3GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 470		133920 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 90720 (210%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 470 will be quite a bit (about 138%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 440 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 470		33992 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 19736 (138%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 470 should be quite a bit (approximately 70%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 440 3GB, and should be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 470		24280 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 10024 (70%)

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 data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes 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, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.