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GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 580

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 uses a 80 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 540 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a speed of 700 MHz on this particular model. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 580, which features GPU clock speed of 772 MHz, and 1536 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1002 MHz through a 384-bit bus. It also is comprised of 512 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 47 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 244 Watts
Difference: 197 Watts (419%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 580 should be much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 192384 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 22400 MB/sec
Difference: 169984 (759%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 should be quite a bit (more or less 472%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 40768 (472%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 will be a lot (more or less 758%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 4320 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 32736 (758%)

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 1GB GDDR3

Amazon.com

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GeForce GTX 580

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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 GeForce GTX 580
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 November 2010
Code Name G84 GF110
Memory 1024 MB 1536 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 772 MHz
Memory Speed 1400 MHz 4008 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 244 watts
Bandwidth 22400 MB/sec 192384 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 49408 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 37056 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 512
Texture Mapping Units 16 64
Render Output Units 8 48
Bus Type GDDR3 GDDR5
Bus Width 128-bit 384-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 40 nm
Transistors 289 million 3000 million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 11
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 4.1

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 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 high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum 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 better the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units 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 rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.

Display Prices

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GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTX 580

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

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