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GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 420

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 features core clock speeds of 540 MHz on the GPU, and 700 MHz on the 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 32 SPUs as well as 16 TAUs and 8 ROPs.

Compare that to the GeForce GT 420, which features clock speeds of 700 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 2048 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 48 SPUs along with 8 Texture Address Units and 4 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 47 Watts
GeForce GT 420 50 Watts
Difference: 3 Watts (6%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GT 420 should in theory be quite a bit superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 420 28800 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 22400 MB/sec
Difference: 6400 (29%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 should be much (more or less 54%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 420. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 8640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 420 5600 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 3040 (54%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 will be much (more or less 54%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce GT 420, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 420 2800 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 1520 (54%)

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

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GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GT 420

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

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

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Model GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 GeForce GT 420
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 September 2010
Code Name G84 GF108
Memory 1024 MB 2048 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 700 MHz
Memory Speed 1400 MHz 1800 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 50 watts
Bandwidth 22400 MB/sec 28800 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 5600 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 2800 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 48
Texture Mapping Units 16 8
Render Output Units 8 4
Bus Type GDDR3 GDDR3
Bus Width 128-bit 128-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 40 nm
Transistors 289 million 585 million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe x16
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 11
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 4.1

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 are processed in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GT 420

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

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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