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GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 420

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 comes with a GPU core clock speed of 540 MHz, and the 1024 MB of GDDR3 memory is set to run at 700 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also features 32 SPUs, 16 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 420, which comes with core 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 TAUs and 4 ROPs.

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

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 420 will be 29% faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 in general, due to its greater data rate. (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 will be a lot (approximately 54%) better 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

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 is the winner, and very much so. (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

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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 (counted in MB 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 clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum 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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