GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce 8800 GT 1GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce 8800 GT 1GB, which has a GPU core clock speed of 600 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR3 RAM set to run at 900 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 112 Stream Processors, 56 TAUs, and 16 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		105 Watts
	Difference: 58 Watts (123%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 8800 GT 1GB should theoretically perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		57600 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 44800 (350%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 1GB is a lot (approximately 289%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 24960 (289%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 8800 GT 1GB is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 1GB		9600 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5280 (122%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the 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 applied per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.