GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3, which comes with a clock frequency of 540 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 700 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit bus, and uses a 80 nm design. It is made up of 32 SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		40 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		47 Watts
	Difference: 7 Watts (18%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 should in theory be much better than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB overall. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 16000 (250%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 should be much (more or less 66%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		5200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3440 (66%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 is much (approximately 66%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB		2600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1720 (66%)

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 information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.