GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 315

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GT 315, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 625 MHz. The DDR3 memory works at a frequency of 790 MHz on this specific model. It features 48 SPUs along with 16 Texture Address Units and 8 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 315		52 Watts
	Difference: 5 Watts (11%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 315 should theoretically perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		25280 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 12480 (98%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 315 is a bit (approximately 16%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		10000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1360 (16%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 315 is a bit (about 16%) better at AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and able to handle higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GT 315		5000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, 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, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock 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 rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.