GeForce 8600 GS (OEM) vs GeForce GT 640 DDR3

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 640 DDR3, which features GPU core speed of 900 MHz, and 2048 MB of DDR3 RAM running at 1782 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 384 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		47 Watts
GeForce GT 640 DDR3		65 Watts
	Difference: 18 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 640 DDR3 should theoretically be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GS (OEM) in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		57024 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 44224 (346%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 640 DDR3 is much (about 233%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GS (OEM). (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		28800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 20160 (233%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 640 DDR3 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3		14400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 10080 (233%)

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 (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.