GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce RTX 4090

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce RTX 4090, which features a core clock speed of 2235 MHz and a GDDR6X memory speed of 1325 MHz. It also features a 384-bit memory bus, and uses a 4 nm design. It features 16384 SPUs, 512 TAUs, and 176 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce RTX 4090		450 Watts
	Difference: 403 Watts (857%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce RTX 4090 should be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce RTX 4090		1042432 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 1029632 (8044%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 4090 will be much (approximately 13144%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce RTX 4090		1144320 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1135680 (13144%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce RTX 4090 is superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce RTX 4090		393360 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 389040 (9006%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, 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 texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. 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 output rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.