GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB, which comes with a clock frequency of 550 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 800 MHz. It also makes use of a 192-bit bus, and uses a 65 nm design. It is comprised of 96 SPUs, 48 TAUs, and 12 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		84 Watts
	Difference: 37 Watts (79%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		38400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 25600 (200%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB is much (approximately 206%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		26400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 17760 (206%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB		6600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 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

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the 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 bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, 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 worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units 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 output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.