GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce RTX 3090

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce RTX 3090, which has a core clock speed of 1395 MHz and a GDDR6X memory speed of 1219 MHz. It also makes use of a 384-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 8 nm design. It is comprised of 10496 SPUs, 328 Texture Address Units, and 112 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce RTX 3090		350 Watts
	Difference: 303 Watts (645%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce RTX 3090 should perform a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3090		958668 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 945868 (7390%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3090 will be a lot (approximately 5196%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3090		457560 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 448920 (5196%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3090 is a lot (approximately 3517%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also able to handle higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3090		156240 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 151920 (3517%)

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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called 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 bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.