GeForce 8500 GT vs GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, which features a clock speed of 540 MHz and a DDR2 memory frequency of 400 MHz. It also features a 128-bit bus, and uses a 80 nm design. It is made up of 32 SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8500 GT		45 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
	Difference: 2 Watts (4%)

Memory Bandwidth

Both cards have the exact same memory bandwidth, so in theory they should have the same performance. (explain)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 should be much (about 140%) better at AF than the GeForce 8500 GT. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		3600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5040 (140%)

Pixel Rate

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 is superior to the GeForce 8500 GT, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		1800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2520 (140%)

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 max amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 processed per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.