GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs Radeon R9 390X 8G

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon R9 390X 8G, which uses a 28 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 1050 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM works at a frequency of 1500 MHz on this specific model. It features 2816 SPUs as well as 176 Texture Address Units and 64 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
Radeon R9 390X 8G		275 Watts
	Difference: 228 Watts (485%)

Memory Bandwidth

The Radeon R9 390X 8G should in theory perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

Radeon R9 390X 8G		384000 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 361600 (1614%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R9 390X 8G is a lot (more or less 2039%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

Radeon R9 390X 8G		184800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 176160 (2039%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon R9 390X 8G will be quite a bit (more or less 1456%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3, and will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

Radeon R9 390X 8G		67200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. 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 many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.