GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 440 3GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 440 3GB, which has a core clock speed of 594 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also makes use of a 192-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 144 SPUs, 24 TAUs, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 440 3GB		56 Watts
	Difference: 9 Watts (19%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GT 440 3GB should in theory be much better than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		43200 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 30400 (238%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 440 3GB is quite a bit (about 65%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5616 (65%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 3GB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 3GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9936 (230%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video 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 maximum number of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure 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 drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.