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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs Radeon HD 3470 256MB

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 has a GPU core speed of 540 MHz, and the 512 MB of DDR2 memory runs at 400 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 32 Stream Processors, 16 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Compare all of that to the Radeon HD 3470 256MB, which uses a 55 nm design. AMD has clocked the core frequency at 800 MHz. The DDR2 memory runs at a speed of 950 MHz on this particular model. It features 40(8x5) SPUs along with 4 TAUs and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Memory Bandwidth

The Radeon HD 3470 256MB should theoretically be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

Radeon HD 3470 256MB 30400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 12800 MB/sec
Difference: 17600 (138%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 should be quite a bit (approximately 170%) better at anisotropic filtering than the Radeon HD 3470 256MB. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 8640 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 256MB 3200 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 5440 (170%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 will be quite a bit (approximately 35%) better at AA than the Radeon HD 3470 256MB, and will be able to handle higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 4320 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 3470 256MB 3200 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 1120 (35%)

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

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GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Amazon.com

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Radeon HD 3470 256MB

Amazon.com

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Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

Specifications

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Model GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 Radeon HD 3470 256MB
Manufacturer nVidia AMD
Year April 2007 2008
Code Name G84 RV620 PRO
Memory 512 MB 256 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 800 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 1900 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts (Unknown) watts
Bandwidth 12800 MB/sec 30400 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 3200 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 3200 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 40(8x5)
Texture Mapping Units 16 4
Render Output Units 8 4
Bus Type DDR2 DDR2
Bus Width 128-bit 128-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 55 nm
Transistors 289 million (Unknown) million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe 2.0 x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10.1
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.0

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Radeon HD 3470 256MB

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

Please note that the price comparisons are based on search keywords - sometimes it might show cards with very similar names that are not exactly the same as the one chosen in the comparison. We do try to filter out the wrong results as best we can, though.

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