GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 430 (OEM)

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 430 (OEM), which has a core clock frequency of 700 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 96 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 4 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		60 Watts
	Difference: 13 Watts (28%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 430 (OEM) should be 29% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		28800 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (29%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 (OEM) should be a lot (approximately 30%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2560 (30%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 (OEM)		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1520 (54%)

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 megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface 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 card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.