GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce 9800 GT 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB, which has GPU clock speed of 600 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory set to run at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 112 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		105 Watts
	Difference: 58 Watts (123%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce 9800 GT 1GB should in theory be a lot better than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 44800 (350%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 1GB is a lot (about 289%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 24960 (289%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9800 GT 1GB is quite a bit (about 122%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 9800 GT 1GB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5280 (122%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This 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 processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.