GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 860M

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 860M, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 797 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency of 1000 MHz on this model. It features 1152 SPUs as well as 96 TAUs and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 860M		45 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
	Difference: 2 Watts (4%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 860M is 400% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		64000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 51200 (400%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 860M will be quite a bit (about 786%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		76512 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 67872 (786%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 860M is a lot (more or less 195%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, and also able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 860M		12752 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 8432 (195%)

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 maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units 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 processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. 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 quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.