GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs Geforce GTX 760

Intro

Compare that to the Geforce GTX 760, which has GPU clock speed of 980 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1502 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 1152 Stream Processors, 96 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
Geforce GTX 760		170 Watts
	Difference: 123 Watts (262%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Geforce GTX 760 will be 1402% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 in general, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

Geforce GTX 760		192256 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179456 (1402%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 760 should be quite a bit (more or less 989%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

Geforce GTX 760		94080 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 85440 (989%)

Pixel Rate

The Geforce GTX 760 will be much (about 626%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, and should be able to handle higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

Geforce GTX 760		31360 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 27040 (626%)

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 data (counted in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.