GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 465

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 465, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 607 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a frequency of 802 MHz on this specific model. It features 352 SPUs as well as 44 Texture Address Units and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 465		200 Watts
	Difference: 153 Watts (326%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 465 should in theory be much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 465		102592 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 89792 (702%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 465 will be quite a bit (about 209%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 465		26708 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 18068 (209%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 465 should be much (about 350%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 465		19424 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 15104 (350%)

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 max amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video 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 ROPs by the the card's clock speed. 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 also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.