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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 315

Intro

The GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 has a clock speed of 540 MHz and a GDDR3 memory frequency of 700 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 80 nm design. It is comprised of 32 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GT 315, which features GPU core speed of 625 MHz, and 512 MB of DDR3 memory set to run at 790 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is comprised of 48 Stream Processors, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 47 Watts
GeForce GT 315 52 Watts
Difference: 5 Watts (11%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GT 315 should perform a small bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 315 25280 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 22400 MB/sec
Difference: 2880 (13%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 315 should be a bit (more or less 16%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 315 10000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 8640 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 1360 (16%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GT 315 is a better choice, though only just barely. (explain)

GeForce GT 315 5000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3 4320 Mpixels/sec
Difference: 680 (16%)

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 256MB GDDR3

Amazon.com

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GeForce GT 315

Amazon.com

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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 256MB GDDR3 GeForce GT 315
Manufacturer nVidia nVidia
Year April 2007 November 2009
Code Name G84 GT216
Memory 256 MB 512 MB
Core Speed 540 MHz 625 MHz
Memory Speed 1400 MHz 1580 MHz
Power (Max TDP) 47 watts 52 watts
Bandwidth 22400 MB/sec 25280 MB/sec
Texel Rate 8640 Mtexels/sec 10000 Mtexels/sec
Pixel Rate 4320 Mpixels/sec 5000 Mpixels/sec
Unified Shaders 32 48
Texture Mapping Units 16 16
Render Output Units 8 8
Bus Type GDDR3 DDR3
Bus Width 128-bit 128-bit
Fab Process 80 nm 40 nm
Transistors 289 million 486 million
Bus PCIe x16 PCIe 2.0
DirectX Version DirectX 10 DirectX 10.1
OpenGL Version OpenGL 3.0 OpenGL 3.2

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better 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 amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.

Display Prices

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GeForce 8600 GT 256MB GDDR3

Amazon.com

Check prices at:

GeForce GT 315

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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