GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 970, which has a clock speed of 1050 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1750 MHz. It also features a 256-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It is made up of 1664 SPUs, 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 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
	Difference: 98 Watts (209%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 970 is 900% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 201600 (900%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 is quite a bit (approximately 1164%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 100560 (1164%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 will be quite a bit (about 1456%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		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: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one 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 higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.