GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 220 GDDR3

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 220 GDDR3, which features a clock frequency of 625 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 1012 MHz. It also features a 128-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 48 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 220 GDDR3		58 Watts
	Difference: 11 Watts (23%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 220 GDDR3 should in theory perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 220 GDDR3		32384 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 19584 (153%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 220 GDDR3 is just a bit (more or less 16%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 220 GDDR3		10000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1360 (16%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 220 GDDR3 is just a bit (about 16%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GT 220 GDDR3		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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core 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 rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.