GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 460 SE

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460 SE, which comes with a core clock speed of 650 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 850 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 288 SPUs, 48 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 SE		150 Watts
	Difference: 103 Watts (219%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 460 SE should perform a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		108800 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 86400 (386%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 SE will be quite a bit (approximately 261%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		31200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22560 (261%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 SE is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 SE		20800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16480 (381%)

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: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.