GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 650

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 650, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 1058 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency of 1250 MHz on this particular model. It features 384 SPUs as well as 32 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 650		64 Watts
	Difference: 17 Watts (36%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 650 should be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 650		80000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 57600 (257%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 650 will be a lot (about 292%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 650		33856 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 25216 (292%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 650 is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 650		16928 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 12608 (292%)

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 data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure 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 graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.