GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs Radeon R9 380X

Intro

Compare that to the Radeon R9 380X, which makes use of a 28 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 970 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a speed of 1425 MHz on this specific model. It features 2048 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 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
Radeon R9 380X		190 Watts
	Difference: 143 Watts (304%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the Radeon R9 380X should be 714% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

Radeon R9 380X		182400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 160000 (714%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R9 380X will be quite a bit (more or less 1337%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

Radeon R9 380X		124160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 115520 (1337%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon R9 380X should be a lot (more or less 619%) more effective at AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

Radeon R9 380X		31040 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 26720 (619%)

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 maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill 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 max fill rate.