GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 980 Ti

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which comes with a core clock frequency of 1000 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1750 MHz. It also makes use of a 384-bit bus, and uses a 28 nm design. It features 2816 SPUs, 176 TAUs, and 96 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 980 Ti		250 Watts
	Difference: 203 Watts (432%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 980 Ti should in theory perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980 Ti		336000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 323200 (2525%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 Ti is a lot (about 1937%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980 Ti		176000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 167360 (1937%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980 Ti		96000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, 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 anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high 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 amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines 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 rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.