GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce 9600 GT 1GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB, which comes with a core clock frequency of 650 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also features a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 65/55 nm design. It is made up of 64 SPUs, 32 Texture Address Units, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		95 Watts
	Difference: 48 Watts (102%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB, in theory, should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 35200 (157%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB is a lot (approximately 141%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12160 (141%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 6080 (141%)

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 data (in units of MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called 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, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.