GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 285 1GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 285 1GB, which features core speeds of 648 MHz on the GPU, and 1242 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 240 SPUs as well as 80 Texture Address Units and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 285 1GB		204 Watts
	Difference: 157 Watts (334%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 285 1GB, in theory, should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 1GB		158976 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 146176 (1142%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 1GB will be a lot (approximately 500%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 1GB		51840 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 43200 (500%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 1GB will be a lot (more or less 380%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 1GB		20736 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16416 (380%)

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 past the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.