GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce 8800 GT 256MB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB, which features a core clock frequency of 600 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 700 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 65 nm design. It is comprised of 112 SPUs, 56 Texture Address Units, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 30 Watts (40%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GTS overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 12800 (40%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be much (more or less 211%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GTS. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22800 (211%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB will be a lot (more or less 78%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GTS, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 4200 (78%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines 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 rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.