GeForce 8600 GS (OEM) vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 970, which features GPU clock speed of 1050 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 1664 Stream Processors, 104 Texture Address Units, and 64 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
	Difference: 98 Watts (209%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 970 will be 1650% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GS (OEM) in general, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 211200 (1650%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 should be much (approximately 1164%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GS (OEM). (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 100560 (1164%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 970 is superior to the GeForce 8600 GS (OEM), by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GS (OEM)		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 62880 (1456%)

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 largest amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 can be processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount 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 filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.