GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 vs GeForce GT 315

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 315, which has a clock frequency of 625 MHz and a DDR3 memory frequency of 790 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 48 SPUs, 16 Texture Address Units, and 8 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GT 315		52 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (11%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GT 315 should perform just a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3 overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		25280 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 2880 (13%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 315 should be a bit (approximately 16%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		10000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 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 superior to the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB GDDR3, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		5000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB 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

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR memory, it 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, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to its local memory in one 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 called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.