GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm, which makes use of a 55 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 576 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 999 MHz on this specific model. It features 216 SPUs as well as 72 TAUs and 28 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 260 216SP 55 nm		171 Watts
	Difference: 124 Watts (264%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm is 774% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm		111888 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 99088 (774%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm should be a lot (approximately 380%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm		41472 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 32832 (380%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm should be much (about 273%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and will be able to handle higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 216SP 55 nm		16128 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11808 (273%)

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 information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics 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 maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines 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 rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.