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

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3, which features core speeds of 540 MHz on the GPU, and 700 MHz on the 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM. It features 32 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

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

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 should in theory perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB in general. (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 will be a lot (approximately 66%) more effective at AF 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 should be quite a bit (about 66%) better at AA than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better 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 are processed per second. This number 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 applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock 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 rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.