GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 970, which has a GPU core clock speed of 1050 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 1664 SPUs, 104 TAUs, and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
	Difference: 98 Watts (209%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 970 should perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 211200 (1650%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 will be quite a bit (more or less 1164%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 100560 (1164%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 should be quite a bit (about 1456%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 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: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, 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 texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This 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 video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.