GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GT 420

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 420, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a frequency of 900 MHz on this card. It features 48 SPUs along with 8 TAUs and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 8600 GTS should theoretically perform just a bit faster than the GeForce GT 420 in general. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (11%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GTS should be a lot (about 93%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5200 (93%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 8600 GTS is superior to the GeForce GT 420, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2600 (93%)

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 information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the 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 that the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.