GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 970, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 1050 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM works at a frequency of 1750 MHz on this model. It features 1664 SPUs along with 104 TAUs and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
	Difference: 98 Watts (209%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 970 is 1650% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 211200 (1650%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 is much (approximately 1164%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 100560 (1164%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 970 is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. 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 per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka 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 of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.