GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs Geforce GTX 670

Intro

Compare all of that to the Geforce GTX 670, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 915 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a frequency of 1500 MHz on this model. It features 1344 SPUs along with 112 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
Geforce GTX 670		170 Watts
	Difference: 123 Watts (262%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the Geforce GTX 670 will be 1400% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

Geforce GTX 670		192000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179200 (1400%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 670 will be a lot (more or less 1086%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

Geforce GTX 670		102480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 93840 (1086%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the Geforce GTX 670 is superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, by a large margin. (explain)

Geforce GTX 670		29280 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high 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 of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.