Compare any two graphics cards:
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2
IntroThe GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 makes use of a 80 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 540 MHz. The DDR2 memory works at a speed of 400 MHz on this model. It features 32 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.Compare all of that to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, which makes use of a 80 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 540 MHz. The DDR2 RAM runs at a frequency of 400 MHz on this particular model. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 Texture Address Units and 8 ROPs.
Display Graphs
Power Usage and Theoretical BenchmarksBoth cards have the same power consumption.Memory BandwidthBoth cards have the exact same memory bandwidth, so in theory they should have the same performance. (explain)
Texel RateBoth cards have exactly the same texel fill rate, so in theory they should perform equally good at at anisotropic filtering. (explain)Pixel RateBoth cards have the exact same pixel fill rate, so in theory they should be equally good at at anti-aliasing, and be able to handle the same resolutions. (explain)
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
Display Prices
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
Display Specifications
Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions. Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second. Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.
Display Prices
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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