GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 vs Geforce GTX 680

Intro

Compare that to the Geforce GTX 680, which features 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 1GB DDR2		47 Watts
Geforce GTX 680		195 Watts
	Difference: 148 Watts (315%)

Memory Bandwidth

The Geforce GTX 680, in theory, should perform a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 in general. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		192256 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179456 (1402%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 680 is quite a bit (about 1390%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		128768 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 120128 (1390%)

Pixel Rate

The Geforce GTX 680 should be much (approximately 645%) more effective at AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

Geforce GTX 680		32192 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB 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 maximum amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics 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 the 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 - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.