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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 640 DDR3

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 has a GPU clock speed of 540 MHz, and the 512 MB of DDR2 memory runs at 400 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 32 SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 640 DDR3, which comes with GPU clock speed of 900 MHz, and 2048 MB of DDR3 RAM running at 1782 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 384 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 47 Watts
GeForce GT 640 DDR3 65 Watts
Difference: 18 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GT 640 DDR3 should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3 57024 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 12800 MB/sec
Difference: 44224 (346%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 640 DDR3 is quite a bit (more or less 233%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3 28800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 20160 (233%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 640 DDR3 will be quite a bit (about 233%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and should be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GT 640 DDR3 14400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 4320 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 10080 (233%)

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 512MB DDR2

Amazon.com

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GeForce GT 640 DDR3

Amazon.com

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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 512MB DDR2 GeForce GT 640 DDR3
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 June 2012
Code Name G84 GK107
Memory 512 MB 2048 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 900 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 3564 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 65 watts
Bandwidth 12800 MB/sec 57024 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 28800 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 14400 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 384
Texture Mapping Units 16 32
Render Output Units 8 16
Bus Type DDR2 DDR3
Bus Width 128-bit 128-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 28 nm
Transistors 289 million 1300 million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 11.0
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 4.2

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher 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 per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of colour 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 rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GT 640 DDR3

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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