GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB, which comes with a core clock frequency of 550 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 850 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 96 SPUs, 32 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		70 Watts
	Difference: 23 Watts (49%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		54400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 32000 (143%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB is a lot (more or less 104%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		17600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8960 (104%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB is the winner, though not by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 1GB		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 80 (2%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at 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 card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output 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 potential to get to the max fill rate.