GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 320

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 320, which features a GPU core clock speed of 540 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory set to run at 790 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 72 Stream Processors, 24 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 320		43 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
	Difference: 4 Watts (9%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GT 320 should in theory be a small bit superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		25280 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 2880 (13%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 320 will be quite a bit (more or less 50%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 320		12960 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4320 (50%)

Pixel Rate

Both cards have the exact same pixel fill rate, so in theory they should be equally good at at anti-aliasing, 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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, 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 are processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.