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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 210

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 features a GPU core clock speed of 540 MHz, and the 512 MB of DDR2 memory runs at 400 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 32 Stream Processors, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

Compare all that 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 as well as 8 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 210		31 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
	Difference: 16 Watts (52%)

Memory Bandwidth

Both cards have the exact same memory bandwidth, so in theory they should have the same performance. (explain)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 is a lot (more or less 83%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GT 210. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 210		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3928 (83%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 will be quite a bit (approximately 83%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce GT 210, and should be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		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

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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

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GeForce GT 210

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Specifications

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Model	GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2	GeForce GT 210
Manufacturer	nVidia	nVidia
Year	April 2007	October 2009
Code Name	G84	GT218
Memory	512 MB	512 MB
Core Speed	540 MHz	589 MHz
Memory Speed	800 MHz	1600 MHz
Power (Max TDP)	47 watts	31 watts
Bandwidth	12800 MB/sec	12800 MB/sec
Texel Rate	8640 Mtexels/sec	4712 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate	4320 Mpixels/sec	2356 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders	32	16
Texture Mapping Units	16	8
Render Output Units	8	4
Bus Type	DDR2	DDR3
Bus Width	128-bit	64-bit
Fab Process	80 nm	40 nm
Transistors	289 million	260 million
Bus	PCIe x16	PCIe 2.0
DirectX Version	DirectX 10	DirectX 10.1
OpenGL Version	OpenGL 3.0	OpenGL 3.2

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the 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 number of pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.

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