GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTS 250 512MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTS 250 512MB, which has a clock speed of 738 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 1100 MHz. It also features a 256-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 65/55 nm design. It is made up of 128 SPUs, 64 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTS 250 512MB		145 Watts
	Difference: 98 Watts (209%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTS 250 512MB is 450% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		70400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 57600 (450%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB should be much (about 447%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		47232 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 38592 (447%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 250 512MB is quite a bit (approximately 173%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTS 250 512MB		11808 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7488 (173%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount 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 processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core 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 fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.