GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 980 Ti

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which has core speeds of 1000 MHz on the GPU, and 1750 MHz on the 6144 MB of GDDR5 RAM. It features 2816 SPUs as well as 176 TAUs and 96 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 980 Ti		250 Watts
	Difference: 203 Watts (432%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti should be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980 Ti		336000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 313600 (1400%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 Ti will be quite a bit (about 1937%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980 Ti		176000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 167360 (1937%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 Ti will be a lot (more or less 2122%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and will be capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980 Ti		96000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 91680 (2122%)

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 maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen 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 of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. 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 is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.