GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 275

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 275, which has a clock frequency of 633 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 1134 MHz. It also makes use of a 448-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 55 nm design. It features 240 SPUs, 80 TAUs, and 28 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 275		219 Watts
	Difference: 172 Watts (366%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 275 will be 892% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 275		127008 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 114208 (892%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 275 will be much (more or less 486%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 275		50640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 42000 (486%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 275 is superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 275		17724 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 13404 (310%)

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 largest amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of 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 amount of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. 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 also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.