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GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 430

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 makes use of a 80 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 540 MHz. The DDR2 RAM runs at a frequency of 400 MHz on this particular model. It features 32 SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Compare that to the GeForce GT 430, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 900 MHz on this specific card. It features 96 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 4 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 47 Watts
GeForce GT 430 60 Watts
Difference: 13 Watts (28%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GT 430 should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 28800 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 12800 MB/sec
Difference: 16000 (125%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 is a lot (more or less 30%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 2560 (30%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 is quite a bit (more or less 54%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 430, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 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

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GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2

Amazon.com

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GeForce GT 430

Amazon.com

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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

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Model GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 GeForce GT 430
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 October 2010
Code Name G84 GF108
Memory 1024 MB 512 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 700 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 1800 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 60 watts
Bandwidth 12800 MB/sec 28800 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 11200 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 2800 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 96
Texture Mapping Units 16 16
Render Output Units 8 4
Bus Type DDR2 GDDR3
Bus Width 128-bit 128-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 40 nm
Transistors 289 million 585 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 information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

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GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GT 430

Amazon.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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