GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB, which features clock speeds of 513 MHz on the GPU, and 792 MHz on the 320 MB of GDDR3 RAM. It features 96 SPUs as well as 48 TAUs and 20 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		143 Watts
	Difference: 96 Watts (204%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB, in theory, should perform a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		63360 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 50560 (395%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB will be a lot (approximately 185%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		24624 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 15984 (185%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		10260 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5940 (138%)

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 information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

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