GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTS 150

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTS 150, which comes with a core clock speed of 740 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 500 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 55 nm design. It is comprised of 128 SPUs, 64 Texture Address Units, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTS 150		141 Watts
	Difference: 94 Watts (200%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTS 150 should be much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		32000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 19200 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTS 150 will be quite a bit (more or less 448%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		47360 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 38720 (448%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTS 150 is a lot (more or less 174%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTS 150		11840 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7520 (174%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better 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 are applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core 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 output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.