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

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 285 1GB, which comes with a clock speed of 648 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 1242 MHz. It also makes use of a 512-bit bus, and uses a 55 nm design. It is made up of 240 SPUs, 80 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

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

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 285 1GB is 1142% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general, due to its greater bandwidth. (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 should be a lot (about 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 should be quite a bit (more or less 380%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and will be capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (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: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, 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 are applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher 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 a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.