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GeForce 8400 GS 512MB vs GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Intro

The GeForce 8400 GS 512MB has core speeds of 650 MHz on the GPU, and 400 MHz on the 512 MB of DDR2 memory. It features 16 SPUs as well as 8 Texture Address Units and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Compare all that to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 540 MHz, and 512 MB of DDR2 RAM set to run at 400 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 32 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 40 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 47 Watts
Difference: 7 Watts (18%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 should in theory be much faster than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB in general. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 12800 MB/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 6400 MB/sec
Difference: 6400 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 should be much (approximately 66%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 8640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 5200 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 3440 (66%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 will be a lot (more or less 66%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 8400 GS 512MB, and capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 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

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GeForce 8400 GS 512MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Amazon.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.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 8400 GS 512MB GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year June 2007 April 2007
Code Name G86 G84
Memory 512 MB 512 MB
Core Speed 650 MHz 540 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 800 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 40 watts 47 watts
Bandwidth 6400 MB/sec 12800 MB/sec
Texel Rate 5200 Mtexels/sec 8640 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 2600 Mpixels/sec 4320 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 16 32
Texture Mapping Units 8 16
Render Output Units 4 8
Bus Type DDR2 DDR2
Bus Width 64-bit 128-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 80 nm
Transistors 210 million 289 million
Bus PCIe x16, PCI PCIe x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.0

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. 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 fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8400 GS 512MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Amazon.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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