GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 660 Ti

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which features a clock speed of 915 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1500 MHz. It also features a 192-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It features 1344 SPUs, 112 TAUs, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 660 Ti		150 Watts
	Difference: 103 Watts (219%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti should in theory be a lot better than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		144000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 131200 (1025%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 Ti should be quite a bit (approximately 1086%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		102480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 93840 (1086%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 Ti is quite a bit (about 408%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, and able to handle higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		21960 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If 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 high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock 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 applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core 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 output rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.