GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 450 (OEM)

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 450 (OEM), which has a clock frequency of 790 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1000 MHz. It also makes use of a 192-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 144 SPUs, 24 Texture Address Units, 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 450 (OEM)		106 Watts
	Difference: 59 Watts (126%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 450 (OEM) should perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 450 (OEM)		96000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 83200 (650%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 450 (OEM) should be much (about 119%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 450 (OEM)		18960 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 10320 (119%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 450 (OEM) is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GT 450 (OEM)		18960 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 14640 (339%)

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 data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.