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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 460

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 comes with core speeds of 540 MHz on the GPU, and 700 MHz on the 256 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 32 SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 460, which features GPU core speed of 675 MHz, and 768 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 900 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also features 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 24 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 460 150 Watts
Difference: 103 Watts (219%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 460 should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 86400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 22400 MB/sec
Difference: 64000 (286%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 will be much (approximately 338%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 29160 (338%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 is superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 16200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 4320 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 11880 (275%)

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

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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3

Amazon.com

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GeForce GTX 460

Amazon.com

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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 GeForce GTX 460
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 July 2010
Code Name G84 GF104
Memory 256 MB 768 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 675 MHz
Memory Speed 1400 MHz 3600 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 150 watts
Bandwidth 22400 MB/sec 86400 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 37800 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 16200 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 336
Texture Mapping Units 16 56
Render Output Units 8 24
Bus Type GDDR3 GDDR5
Bus Width 128-bit 192-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 40 nm
Transistors 289 million 1950 million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 11
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 4.1

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of 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 processed in a second.

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

Display Prices

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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTX 460

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

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