GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 315

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 315, which features GPU clock speed of 625 MHz, and 512 MB of DDR3 memory set to run at 395 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 48 Stream Processors, 16 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

(No game benchmarks for this combination yet.)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 315		52 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (11%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 should perform a bit faster than the GeForce GT 315 overall. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 315		12640 MB/sec
	Difference: 160 (1%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 315 will be just a bit (approximately 16%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		10000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1360 (16%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 315 is superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		5000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 680 (16%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core 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 one second.

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