GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 850M

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 850M, which comes with a core clock frequency of 876 MHz and a DDR3 memory frequency of 1000 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It is made up of 640 SPUs, 40 Texture Address Units, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 850M		40 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
	Difference: 7 Watts (18%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 850M should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 850M		32000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 19200 (150%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 850M is much (approximately 306%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 850M		35040 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 26400 (306%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 850M should be much (about 224%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, and also should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 850M		14016 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9696 (224%)

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 data (counted in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics 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 graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of 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.