GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce 8800 GTX

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce 8800 GTX, which uses a 90 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 575 MHz. The GDDR3 memory is set to run at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular model. It features 128 SPUs along with 64 Texture Address Units and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTX		155 Watts
	Difference: 108 Watts (230%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8800 GTX should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		86400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 73600 (575%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTX is a lot (more or less 326%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		36800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 28160 (326%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTX should be a lot (about 219%) better at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTX		13800 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 9480 (219%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's 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 output 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 get to the max fill rate.