GeForce GT 315 vs GeForce GTX 480

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 480, which features a core clock speed of 700 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 924 MHz. It also uses a 384-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 480 SPUs, 60 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 315		52 Watts
GeForce GTX 480		250 Watts
	Difference: 198 Watts (381%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 480 should in theory be a lot better than the GeForce GT 315 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		177408 MB/sec
GeForce GT 315		25280 MB/sec
	Difference: 152128 (602%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 480 should be quite a bit (more or less 320%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 315. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		42000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 315		10000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32000 (320%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 480 will be quite a bit (about 572%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce GT 315, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 480		33600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 315		5000 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 28600 (572%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster 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 are applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.