GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB, which comes with a clock speed of 550 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 850 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is made up of 96 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		70 Watts
	Difference: 23 Watts (49%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB should theoretically perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		54400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (325%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB will be quite a bit (more or less 104%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8960 (104%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB is a better choice, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		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

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.