GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 230

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 230, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 550 MHz. The DDR3 RAM runs at a speed of 800 MHz on this card. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 Texture Address Units and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 230		65 Watts
	Difference: 18 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 230 should perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 230		38400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 25600 (200%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 230 should be just a bit (more or less 2%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 230		8800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 160 (2%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 230 will be a little bit (more or less 2%) better at AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GT 230		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 80 (2%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher 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 maximum number of pixels that the graphics 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 number of colour ROPs by the clock 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 rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.