GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 560

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 560, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 810 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 1001 MHz on this particular card. It features 336 SPUs as well as 56 Texture Address Units and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 560		150 Watts
	Difference: 103 Watts (219%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 560, in theory, should be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		128128 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 105728 (472%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 560 will be much (about 425%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		45360 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 36720 (425%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 560 will be quite a bit (more or less 500%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560		25920 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 21600 (500%)

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 largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount 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 filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.