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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs Radeon HD 6950 2GB
Intro
The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 comes with a clock frequency of 540 MHz and a DDR2 memory frequency of 400 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and uses a 80 nm design. It is made up of 32 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.Compare those specs to the Radeon HD 6950 2GB, which features a GPU core clock speed of 800 MHz, and 2048 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1250 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 1408 SPUs, 88 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.
Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks
Power Consumption (Max TDP)
| GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 |
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47 Watts |
| Radeon HD 6950 2GB |
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200 Watts |
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Memory Bandwidth
In theory, the Radeon HD 6950 2GB will be 1150% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general, due to its higher data rate. (explain)
| Radeon HD 6950 2GB |
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160000 MB/sec |
| GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 |
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12800 MB/sec |
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Texel Rate
The Radeon HD 6950 2GB will be much (approximately 715%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)| Radeon HD 6950 2GB |
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70400 Mtexels/sec |
| GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 |
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8640 Mtexels/sec |
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Pixel Rate
If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the Radeon HD 6950 2GB is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)| Radeon HD 6950 2GB |
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25600 Mpixels/sec |
| GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 |
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4320 Mpixels/sec |
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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
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2Amazon.com
Check prices at:
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Radeon HD 6950 2GBAmazon.com
Check prices at:
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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
| Model | GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 | Radeon HD 6950 2GB |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | nVidia | AMD |
| Year | April 2007 | December 2010 |
| Code Name | G84 | Cayman Pro |
| Memory | 512 MB | 2048 MB |
| Core Speed | 540 MHz | 800 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 800 MHz | 5000 MHz |
| Power (Max TDP) | 47 watts | 200 watts |
| Bandwidth | 12800 MB/sec | 160000 MB/sec |
| Texel Rate | 8640 Mtexels/sec | 70400 Mtexels/sec |
| Pixel Rate | 4320 Mpixels/sec | 25600 Mpixels/sec |
| Unified Shaders | 32 | 1408 |
| Texture Mapping Units | 16 | 88 |
| Render Output Units | 8 | 32 |
| Bus Type | DDR2 | GDDR5 |
| Bus Width | 128-bit | 256-bit |
| Fab Process | 80 nm | 40 nm |
| Transistors | 289 million | 2640 million |
| Bus | PCIe x16 | PCIe x16 |
| DirectX Version | DirectX 10 | DirectX 11 |
| OpenGL Version | OpenGL 3.0 | OpenGL 4.1 |
Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across 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 it uses DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.
Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.
Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2Amazon.com
Check prices at:
|
Radeon HD 6950 2GBAmazon.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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