GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 980

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 980, which has GPU core speed of 1126 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 2048 Stream Processors, 128 Texture Address Units, and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 980		165 Watts
	Difference: 118 Watts (251%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 980 should theoretically perform a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 201600 (900%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 is much (more or less 1568%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		144128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 135488 (1568%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 should be quite a bit (more or less 1568%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		72064 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 67744 (1568%)

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 maximum amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units 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 in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.