GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 560 Ti

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, which comes with clock speeds of 822 MHz on the GPU, and 1002 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 384 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 32 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 560 Ti		170 Watts
	Difference: 123 Watts (262%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti should be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560 Ti		128256 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 105856 (473%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti is a lot (about 509%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560 Ti		52608 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 43968 (509%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti will be quite a bit (about 509%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and also capable of handling higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560 Ti		26304 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 21984 (509%)

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 maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed 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 higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel 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 max fill rate.