GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 130

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 130, which has GPU core speed of 500 MHz, and 768 MB of DDR2 RAM set to run at 250 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also is comprised of 48 SPUs, 24 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 130		75 Watts
	Difference: 28 Watts (60%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 is 7% faster than the GeForce GT 130 overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 130		12000 MB/sec
	Difference: 800 (7%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 130 will be a lot (approximately 39%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 130		12000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3360 (39%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 130 should be quite a bit (more or less 85%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, and will be able to handle higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GT 130		8000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3680 (85%)

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 largest amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core 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 fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.