GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GT 420

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 420, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 700 MHz. The GDDR3 memory runs at a frequency of 900 MHz on this particular model. It features 48 SPUs as well as 8 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 420		50 Watts
GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce 8600 GTS should in theory be a little bit faster than the GeForce GT 420 in general. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
GeForce GT 420		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 3200 (11%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GTS will be a lot (about 93%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420		5600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5200 (93%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 8600 GTS is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 2600 (93%)

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 data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved over the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed 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 the texel rate, the better the card will be at 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 can possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines 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 lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.