GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce 9600 GT 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce 9600 GT 1GB, which has a core clock speed of 650 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 65/55 nm design. It features 64 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		95 Watts
	Difference: 48 Watts (102%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB, in theory, should perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 44800 (350%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB will be a lot (approximately 141%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		20800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12160 (141%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB should be a lot (approximately 141%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce 9600 GT 1GB		10400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		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 maximum amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total 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 texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs 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 also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.