GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 650

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 650, which comes with a core clock speed of 1058 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1250 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit memory bus, and uses a 28 nm design. It features 384 SPUs, 32 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 650		64 Watts
	Difference: 17 Watts (36%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 650 should theoretically perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 650		80000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 67200 (525%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 650 should be much (approximately 292%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 650		33856 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 25216 (292%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 650 is much (approximately 292%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2, and will be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 650		16928 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels 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 colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant 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.