GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 660 Ti

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 660 Ti, which features a core clock frequency of 915 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1500 MHz. It also features a 192-bit bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It features 1344 SPUs, 112 Texture Address Units, and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 660 Ti		150 Watts
	Difference: 103 Watts (219%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		144000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 121600 (543%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 660 Ti should be a lot (more or less 1086%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		102480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 93840 (1086%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 660 Ti is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 660 Ti		21960 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 17640 (408%)

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 maximum amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card 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 most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core 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 is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.