GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 1070

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 1070, which comes with a core clock speed of 1506 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 2000 MHz. It also uses a 256-bit bus, and makes use of a 16 nm design. It features 1920 SPUs, 120 TAUs, and 64 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 1070		150 Watts
	Difference: 103 Watts (219%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 1070 should in theory be a lot faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1070		262144 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 249344 (1948%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1070 will be a lot (approximately 1992%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1070		180720 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 172080 (1992%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 1070 is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1070		96384 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 92064 (2131%)

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 (in units of MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This number 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 card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated 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 drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.