GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 660 Ti

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which comes with a core clock speed of 915 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1500 MHz. It also makes use of a 192-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It is comprised of 1344 SPUs, 112 TAUs, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 660 Ti		150 Watts
	Difference: 103 Watts (219%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 660 Ti should theoretically be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		144000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 121600 (543%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 Ti should be a lot (about 1086%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		102480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 93840 (1086%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 Ti will be quite a bit (about 408%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3, and also will be able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		21960 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 17640 (408%)

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 largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the 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 most pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.