GeForce 8600 GTS vs Geforce GTX 680

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Geforce GTX 680, which features GPU core speed of 1006 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 1502 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 1536 SPUs, 128 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
Geforce GTX 680		195 Watts
	Difference: 120 Watts (160%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the Geforce GTX 680 is 501% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GTS overall, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		192256 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 160256 (501%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 680 is a lot (more or less 1092%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GTS. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		128768 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 117968 (1092%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the Geforce GTX 680 is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		32192 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 26792 (496%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen 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 amount of texture units of the card by the core 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 in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in one 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 outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.