GeForce 8300 GS (OEM) vs GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Intro

Compare those specs 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 memory is set to run at a frequency of 400 MHz on this model. It features 32 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8300 GS (OEM)		40 Watts
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
	Difference: 7 Watts (18%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 should theoretically be a lot superior to the GeForce 8300 GS (OEM) overall. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
GeForce 8300 GS (OEM)		6400 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (100%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 should be a lot (about 380%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8300 GS (OEM). (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8300 GS (OEM)		1800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6840 (380%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 should be much (about 380%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce 8300 GS (OEM), and also should be able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8300 GS (OEM)		900 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3420 (380%)

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 largest amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs 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 fill rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.