GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 780 Ti

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 780 Ti, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 875 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency of 1750 MHz on this specific model. It features 2880 SPUs as well as 240 TAUs and 48 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 780 Ti		250 Watts
	Difference: 203 Watts (432%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 780 Ti, in theory, should perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 780 Ti		336000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 323200 (2525%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 780 Ti will be much (about 2331%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 780 Ti		210000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 201360 (2331%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 780 Ti is much (more or less 872%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and should be able to handle higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 780 Ti		42000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 37680 (872%)

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 max amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock 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 write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. 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 rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.