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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2
Intro
The GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 comes with a GPU core clock speed of 540 MHz, and the 256 MB of DDR2 RAM is set to run at 400 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 32 SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.Compare those specs to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, which has core speeds of 540 MHz on the GPU, and 400 MHz on the 512 MB of DDR2 memory. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 Texture Address Units and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.
Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks
Both cards have the same power consumption.Memory Bandwidth
Both cards have exactly the same memory bandwidth, so in theory they should perform the same. (explain)
Texel Rate
Both cards have exactly the same texel fill rate, so in theory they should perform equally good at at AF. (explain)Pixel Rate
Both cards have exactly the same pixel rate, so in theory they should perform equally good at at full screen anti-aliasing, and be capable of handling the same screen resolutions. (explain)
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
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2Amazon.com
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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2Amazon.com
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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.
Specifications
| Model | GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 | GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | nVidia | nVidia |
| Year | April 2007 | April 2007 |
| Code Name | G84 | G84 |
| Memory | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Core Speed | 540 MHz | 540 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 800 MHz | 800 MHz |
| Power (Max TDP) | 47 watts | 47 watts |
| Bandwidth | 12800 MB/sec | 12800 MB/sec |
| Texel Rate | 8640 Mtexels/sec | 8640 Mtexels/sec |
| Pixel Rate | 4320 Mpixels/sec | 4320 Mpixels/sec |
| Unified Shaders | 32 | 32 |
| Texture Mapping Units | 16 | 16 |
| Render Output Units | 8 | 8 |
| Bus Type | DDR2 | DDR2 |
| Bus Width | 128-bit | 128-bit |
| Fab Process | 80 nm | 80 nm |
| Transistors | 289 million | 289 million |
| Bus | PCIe x16 | PCIe x16 |
| DirectX Version | DirectX 10 | DirectX 10 |
| OpenGL Version | OpenGL 3.0 | OpenGL 3.0 |
Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.
Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock 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 one second.
Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output 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.
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2Amazon.com
Check prices at:
|
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2Amazon.com
Check prices at:
|
Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.
|
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