GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB vs GeForce GT 440 3GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 440 3GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 594 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a speed of 900 MHz on this specific model. 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 9600 GSO 384MB		84 Watts
	Difference: 28 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 440 3GB should in theory perform a small bit faster than the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		38400 MB/sec
	Difference: 4800 (13%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB should be quite a bit (about 85%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 440 3GB. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12144 (85%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 3GB is much (approximately 116%) more effective at AA than the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB, and should be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		6600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7656 (116%)

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 over the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.