GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 210

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 210, which has core speeds of 589 MHz on the GPU, and 800 MHz on the 512 MB of DDR3 RAM. It features 16 SPUs along with 8 Texture Address Units and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 210		31 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		47 Watts
	Difference: 16 Watts (52%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 will be 75% quicker than the GeForce GT 210 in general, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
GeForce GT 210		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 9600 (75%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 is a lot (approximately 83%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GT 210. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 210		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3928 (83%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 210		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1964 (83%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should 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 applied in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can 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 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 output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.