GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which features a core clock frequency of 772 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1002 MHz. It also uses a 384-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 512 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 48 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 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 197 Watts (419%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is 1403% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 overall, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179584 (1403%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be a lot (more or less 472%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 40768 (472%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		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

Specifications

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

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure 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 outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.