GeForce 825M vs GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, which uses a 80 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 540 MHz. The DDR2 memory works at a speed of 400 MHz on this card. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 Texture Address Units and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 825M		33 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
	Difference: 14 Watts (42%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 825M should perform a small bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce 825M		14400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 1600 (13%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 825M should be much (approximately 57%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 825M		13600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4960 (57%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 825M is quite a bit (more or less 57%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also will be able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce 825M		6800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2480 (57%)

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 megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the graphics card will be at handling 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 that the graphics chip can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.