GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 430 1GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 900 MHz on this model. It features 96 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

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

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GT 430 1GB should theoretically be a lot better than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 in general. (explain)

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

Texel Rate

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

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

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 is superior to the GeForce GT 430 1GB, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 1GB		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 largest amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, 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 card can 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 Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.