GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs Radeon R7 240

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon R7 240, which comes with GPU core speed of 730 MHz, and 2048 MB of DDR3 memory running at 900 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 320 SPUs, 20 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon R7 240		30 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		47 Watts
	Difference: 17 Watts (57%)

Memory Bandwidth

The Radeon R7 240 should theoretically perform a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

Radeon R7 240		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (29%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R7 240 will be much (about 69%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3. (explain)

Radeon R7 240		14600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5960 (69%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon R7 240 will be much (about 35%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3, and will be capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

Radeon R7 240		5840 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1520 (35%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at 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 record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.