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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 980M

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 makes use of a 80 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 540 MHz. The DDR2 RAM works at a speed of 400 MHz on this particular model. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 980M, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 1038 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a speed of 1000 MHz on this model. It features 1536 SPUs along with 96 TAUs and 64 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 47 Watts
GeForce GTX 980M 100 Watts
Difference: 53 Watts (113%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 980M should in theory perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M 128000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 12800 MB/sec
Difference: 115200 (900%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980M is quite a bit (about 1053%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M 99648 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 91008 (1053%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980M is much (about 1438%) better at AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, and will be capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980M 66432 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 4320 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 62112 (1438%)

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

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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2

Amazon.com

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GeForce GTX 980M

Amazon.com

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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 GeForce GTX 980M
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 October 7 2014
Code Name G84 GM204
Memory 256 MB 4096 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 1038 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 4000 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 100 watts
Bandwidth 12800 MB/sec 128000 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 99648 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 66432 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 1536
Texture Mapping Units 16 96
Render Output Units 8 64
Bus Type DDR2 GDDR5
Bus Width 128-bit 256-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 28 nm
Transistors 289 million (Unknown) million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 12
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 4.5

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed 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 higher this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTX 980M

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

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