GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GT 640 DDR3

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 640 DDR3, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 900 MHz. The DDR3 RAM works at a frequency of 1782 MHz on this card. It features 384 SPUs along with 32 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		65 Watts
GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (15%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 640 DDR3 should theoretically be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GTS overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		57024 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 25024 (78%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 640 DDR3 will be much (about 167%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GTS. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		28800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 18000 (167%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 640 DDR3 should be a lot (approximately 167%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GTS, and able to handle higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		14400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9000 (167%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the clock 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 also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.