GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 220 GDDR3

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 220 GDDR3, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 625 MHz. The GDDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 1012 MHz on this specific model. It features 48 SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

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

Theoretically, the GeForce GT 220 GDDR3 should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (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 a small bit (more or less 16%) more effective at AF 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 will be a little bit (more or less 16%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also will be able to handle higher resolutions better. (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 data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock 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 applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of 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 colour ROPs by the clock 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 fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.