GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB, which has clock speeds of 513 MHz on the GPU, and 792 MHz on the 320 MB of GDDR3 RAM. It features 96 SPUs as well as 48 TAUs and 20 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		143 Watts
	Difference: 96 Watts (204%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		63360 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 50560 (395%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB will be much (more or less 185%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		24624 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 15984 (185%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB will be a lot (more or less 138%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 320MB		10260 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5940 (138%)

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 maximum amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.