GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 970, which uses a 28 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 1050 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a frequency of 1750 MHz on this particular card. It features 1664 SPUs as well as 104 Texture Address Units and 64 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 970		145 Watts
	Difference: 98 Watts (209%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 970 should be much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 211200 (1650%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 970 is quite a bit (more or less 1164%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 100560 (1164%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 970 is superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 62880 (1456%)

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 largest amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 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 anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video 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 maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.