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

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB, which features GPU core speed of 550 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 850 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 96 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

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

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB should theoretically perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

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

Texel Rate

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

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

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB will be a small bit (approximately 2%) better at AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and should be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

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

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling 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 could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.