GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce RTX 3090

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce RTX 3090, which makes use of a 8 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 1395 MHz. The GDDR6X memory works at a speed of 1219 MHz on this card. It features 10496 SPUs as well as 328 Texture Address Units and 112 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

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

Performance-wise, the GeForce RTX 3090 should theoretically be a lot better 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 (more or less 5196%) more effective at anisotropic 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 quite a bit (approximately 3517%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one 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 filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.