GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GTX 460 2GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 460 2GB, which features a clock speed of 675 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 900 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 336 SPUs, 56 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
GeForce GTX 460 2GB		160 Watts
	Difference: 85 Watts (113%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 460 2GB should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 8600 GTS in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		115200 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 83200 (260%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be quite a bit (approximately 250%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GTS. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 27000 (250%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 2GB should be much (more or less 300%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GTS, and capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460 2GB		21600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16200 (300%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, 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 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 graphics card will be at 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 video card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate 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 rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.