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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 460 1GB

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 comes with clock speeds of 540 MHz on the GPU, and 400 MHz on the 256 MB of DDR2 RAM. It features 32 SPUs along with 16 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 460 1GB, which features a core clock speed of 675 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also makes use of a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 336 SPUs, 56 TAUs, and 32 Raster Operation Units.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 47 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 1GB 160 Watts
Difference: 113 Watts (240%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB should theoretically perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB 115200 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 12800 MB/sec
Difference: 102400 (800%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 1GB is quite a bit (about 338%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB 37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 29160 (338%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 460 1GB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 1GB 21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 4320 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 17280 (400%)

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 DDR2

Amazon.com

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GeForce GTX 460 1GB

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.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 GeForce GTX 460 1GB
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 July 2010
Code Name G84 GF104
Memory 256 MB 1024 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 675 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 3600 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 160 watts
Bandwidth 12800 MB/sec 115200 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 37800 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 21600 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 336
Texture Mapping Units 16 56
Render Output Units 8 32
Bus Type DDR2 GDDR5
Bus Width 128-bit 256-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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. 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 also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTX 460 1GB

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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