GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GTX 580

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 580, which features clock speeds of 772 MHz on the GPU, and 1002 MHz on the 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 512 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 48 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
GeForce GTX 580		244 Watts
	Difference: 169 Watts (225%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 580 should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 8600 GTS in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		192384 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 160384 (501%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 should be a lot (more or less 357%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GTS. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 38608 (357%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 will be quite a bit (about 586%) better at AA than the GeForce 8600 GTS, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 31656 (586%)

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 data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better 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 processed per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at 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 could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount 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 is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.