GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 950M

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 950M, which features core speeds of 914 MHz on the GPU, and 1000 MHz on the 2048 MB of DDR3 RAM. It features 640 SPUs as well as 40 TAUs and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 950M		55 Watts
	Difference: 8 Watts (17%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 950M should be 150% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 in general, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950M		32000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 19200 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 950M should be quite a bit (approximately 323%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950M		36560 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 27920 (323%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 950M should be quite a bit (approximately 239%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2, and able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 950M		14624 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 10304 (239%)

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 MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. 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 calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock 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 processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of 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 ROPs by the the card's 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 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 get to the maximum fill rate.