GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 285 2GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 285 2GB, which has clock speeds of 648 MHz on the GPU, and 1242 MHz on the 2048 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 240 SPUs along with 80 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 285 2GB		204 Watts
	Difference: 157 Watts (334%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 285 2GB should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		158976 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 146176 (1142%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 2GB will be much (more or less 500%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		51840 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 43200 (500%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 2GB will be much (more or less 380%) more effective at AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		20736 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16416 (380%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

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