GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GT 1030

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 1030, which uses a 16 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 1265 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a frequency of 1502 MHz on this model. It features 384 SPUs as well as 32 Texture Address Units and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 1030		30 Watts
GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (150%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GT 1030 should perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GTS in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 1030		49152 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 17152 (54%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 1030 should be a lot (about 275%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GTS. (explain)

GeForce GT 1030		40480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29680 (275%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 1030 is a lot (about 275%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GTS, and able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GT 1030		20240 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 14840 (275%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number 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 filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.