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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 features a GPU core clock speed of 540 MHz, and the 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM is set to run at 700 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 32 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB, which comes with core clock speeds of 550 MHz on the GPU, and 850 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 96 SPUs as well as 32 Texture Address Units and 8 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 47 Watts
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB 70 Watts
Difference: 23 Watts (49%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB is 143% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB 54400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 22400 MB/sec
Difference: 32000 (143%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB is quite a bit (approximately 104%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB 17600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 8960 (104%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB is the winner, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB 4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 4320 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 80 (2%)

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

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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3

Amazon.com

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GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB

Amazon.com

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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 November 2009
Code Name G84 GT215
Memory 512 MB 1024 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 550 MHz
Memory Speed 1400 MHz 3400 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 70 watts
Bandwidth 22400 MB/sec 54400 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 17600 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 4400 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 96
Texture Mapping Units 16 32
Render Output Units 8 8
Bus Type GDDR3 GDDR5
Bus Width 128-bit 128-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 40 nm
Transistors 289 million 289 million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10.1
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.2

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better 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 can be applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one 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. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

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