GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs Radeon HD 4850 1GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 4850 1GB, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 625 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR4 RAM set to run at 993 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 800(160x5) SPUs, 40 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
Radeon HD 4850 1GB		110 Watts
	Difference: 63 Watts (134%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the Radeon HD 4850 1GB should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

Radeon HD 4850 1GB		63552 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 50752 (397%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 4850 1GB will be quite a bit (about 189%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

Radeon HD 4850 1GB		25000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 16360 (189%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon HD 4850 1GB is quite a bit (approximately 131%) better at AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also able to handle higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

Radeon HD 4850 1GB		10000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5680 (131%)

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 (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 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 AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen 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 better the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output 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 max fill rate.