GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 1080

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 1080, which has core clock speeds of 1607 MHz on the GPU, and 1251 MHz on the 8192 MB of GDDR5X RAM. It features 2560 SPUs along with 160 TAUs and 64 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 1080		180 Watts
	Difference: 133 Watts (283%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 1080 should in theory be much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1080		327680 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 314880 (2460%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1080 will be much (approximately 2876%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1080		257120 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 248480 (2876%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 1080 is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1080		102848 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 98528 (2281%)

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 max amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If 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 are processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units 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 output rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.