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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 comes with a GPU clock speed of 540 MHz, and the 256 MB of DDR2 memory runs at 400 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 32 SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Compare those specs to the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512, which comes with clock speeds of 550 MHz on the GPU, and 500 MHz on the 512 MB of DDR2 RAM. It features 96 SPUs as well as 48 TAUs and 12 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 47 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 84 Watts
Difference: 37 Watts (79%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 should theoretically be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 16000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 12800 MB/sec
Difference: 3200 (25%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 will be much (about 206%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 17760 (206%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512 6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 4320 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 2280 (53%)

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

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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 September 2008
Code Name G84 G92
Memory 256 MB 512 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 550 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 1000 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 84 watts
Bandwidth 12800 MB/sec 16000 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 26400 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 6600 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 96
Texture Mapping Units 16 48
Render Output Units 8 12
Bus Type DDR2 DDR2
Bus Width 128-bit 128-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 65 nm
Transistors 289 million 754 million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe x16 2.0
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.0

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses 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 higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce 9600 GSO ASUS 512

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

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