GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 320

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 320, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 540 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM is set to run at a speed of 790 MHz on this card. It features 72 SPUs along with 24 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 320		43 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		47 Watts
	Difference: 4 Watts (9%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 320 should in theory be a little bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		25280 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 2880 (13%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 320 should be a lot (approximately 50%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		12960 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4320 (50%)

Pixel Rate

Both cards have the exact same pixel fill rate, so theoretically they should be equally good at at AA, and be capable of handling the same screen resolutions. (explain)

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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core 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 in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.