GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs Geforce GTX 780

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Geforce GTX 780, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 863 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a speed of 1502 MHz on this specific model. It features 2304 SPUs as well as 192 TAUs and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
Geforce GTX 780		250 Watts
	Difference: 203 Watts (432%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the Geforce GTX 780 should in theory be quite a bit better than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

Geforce GTX 780		288384 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 265984 (1187%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 780 will be quite a bit (more or less 1818%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

Geforce GTX 780		165696 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 157056 (1818%)

Pixel Rate

The Geforce GTX 780 should be much (about 859%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and also able to handle higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

Geforce GTX 780		41424 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 37104 (859%)

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 (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video 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 write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out 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 output rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.