GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce 8800 GT 256MB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB, which has GPU core speed of 600 MHz, and 256 MB of GDDR3 memory running at 700 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also 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 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 58 Watts (123%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 32000 (250%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is much (approximately 289%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 24960 (289%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is much (approximately 122%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and will be able to handle higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5280 (122%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's 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 are applied per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the 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 most pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.