Compare any two graphics cards:
VS

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 uses a 80 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 540 MHz. The DDR2 memory works at a speed of 400 MHz on this card. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, which has GPU core speed of 576 MHz, and 896 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 999 MHz through a 448-bit bus. It also is comprised of 216 SPUs, 72 Texture Address Units, and 28 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 47 Watts
GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 202 Watts
Difference: 155 Watts (330%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 111888 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 12800 MB/sec
Difference: 99088 (774%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 should be much (more or less 380%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 41472 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 32832 (380%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 will be a lot (approximately 273%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 16128 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 4320 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 11808 (273%)

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

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

Display Specifications

Hide Specifications

Model GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 GeForce GTX 260 Core 216
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 September 16, 2008
Code Name G84 G200
Memory 512 MB 896 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 576 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 1998 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 202 watts
Bandwidth 12800 MB/sec 111888 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 41472 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 16128 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 216
Texture Mapping Units 16 72
Render Output Units 8 28
Bus Type DDR2 GDDR3
Bus Width 128-bit 448-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 65 nm
Transistors 289 million 1400 million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe x16 2.0
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.1

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GTX 260 Core 216

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Comments

Be the first to leave a comment!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*

WordPress Anti Spam by WP-SpamShield