GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs Geforce GTX 680

Intro

Compare all that to the Geforce GTX 680, which comes with GPU clock speed of 1006 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 1502 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 1536 SPUs, 128 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
Geforce GTX 680		195 Watts
	Difference: 148 Watts (315%)

Memory Bandwidth

The Geforce GTX 680 should theoretically be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		192256 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179456 (1402%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 680 is quite a bit (approximately 1390%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		128768 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 120128 (1390%)

Pixel Rate

The Geforce GTX 680 is much (more or less 645%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		32192 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 27872 (645%)

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 largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video 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 most pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.