GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 570

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 570, which has a GPU core clock speed of 732 MHz, and 1280 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 950 MHz through a 320-bit bus. It also is comprised of 480 SPUs, 60 TAUs, and 40 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 570		219 Watts
	Difference: 172 Watts (366%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 570, in theory, should be much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 570		152000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 139200 (1088%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 570 is a lot (approximately 408%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 570		43920 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 35280 (408%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 570 is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 570		29280 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 24960 (578%)

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 information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, 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 texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core 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 in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.