Compare any two graphics cards:
VS

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 430 (OEM)

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 has a clock frequency of 540 MHz and a DDR2 memory frequency of 400 MHz. It also makes use of a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 80 nm design. It features 32 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Compare all that to the GeForce GT 430 (OEM), which features a core clock frequency of 700 MHz and a GDDR3 memory speed of 900 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 96 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 4 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 47 Watts
GeForce GT 430 (OEM) 60 Watts
Difference: 13 Watts (28%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 430 (OEM) should perform quite a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 (OEM) 28800 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 12800 MB/sec
Difference: 16000 (125%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 430 (OEM) will be quite a bit (approximately 30%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 430 (OEM) 11200 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 2560 (30%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 should be a lot (about 54%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GT 430 (OEM), and also able to handle higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 4320 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430 (OEM) 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

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GT 430 (OEM)

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

Display Specifications

Hide Specifications

Model GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 GeForce GT 430 (OEM)
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 October 2010
Code Name G84 GF108
Memory 512 MB 2048 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 700 MHz
Memory Speed 800 MHz 1800 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 60 watts
Bandwidth 12800 MB/sec 28800 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 11200 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 2800 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 96
Texture Mapping Units 16 16
Render Output Units 8 4
Bus Type DDR2 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: Memory bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, 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 number of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.

Display Prices

Hide Prices

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GT 430 (OEM)

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.

Comments

Be the first to leave a comment!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*

WordPress Anti Spam by WP-SpamShield