GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs Geforce GTX 760

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Geforce GTX 760, which comes with a core clock speed of 980 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1502 MHz. It also features a 256-bit bus, and uses a 28 nm design. It is made up of 1152 SPUs, 96 Texture Address Units, 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 760		170 Watts
	Difference: 123 Watts (262%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the Geforce GTX 760 will be 1402% quicker than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

Geforce GTX 760		192256 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179456 (1402%)

Texel Rate

The Geforce GTX 760 will be much (more or less 989%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

Geforce GTX 760		94080 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 85440 (989%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the Geforce GTX 760 is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

Geforce GTX 760		31360 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 27040 (626%)

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: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR memory, it should 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 anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card 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 number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.