Cleeve said:
Still, it should be properly re-done with the same compression settings on all images involved.
Just because there is a size difference in the JPG doesn't mean the same settings weren't used.
If you use a program like Photoshop, and say set the JPG quality to "10," it will use as much compression as it can to achieve a quality "10" JPG image. The smooth gradient in the NV40 image was likely more difficult to compress without artifacting than the less smooth gradient in the ATI image, so you got a larger filesize on the NV40 image. I've saved different high resolution JPGs with the same resolution at the same compression level and have gotten sizes between 900kb and 3.5mb depending on the content of the image.