GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GTX 880M

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 880M, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 954 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a frequency of 1000 MHz on this specific model. It features 1536 SPUs as well as 128 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
GeForce GTX 880M		130 Watts
	Difference: 55 Watts (73%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 880M should theoretically be much superior to the GeForce 8600 GTS overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 880M		128000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 96000 (300%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 880M will be quite a bit (approximately 1031%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GTS. (explain)

GeForce GTX 880M		122112 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 111312 (1031%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 880M should be a lot (more or less 465%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GTS, and will be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 880M		30528 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 25128 (465%)

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 transported over the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling 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 that the graphics chip could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.