GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 970, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 1050 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 1750 MHz on this model. It features 1664 SPUs along with 104 TAUs and 64 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
	Difference: 70 Watts (93%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 970 should be 600% faster than the GeForce 8600 GTS overall, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 192000 (600%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 is quite a bit (approximately 911%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GTS. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 98400 (911%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 is quite a bit (more or less 1144%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8600 GTS, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 61800 (1144%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can 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 Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of 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.