GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 vs GeForce GTX 460

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 460, which has GPU core speed of 675 MHz, and 768 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 900 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also features 336 SPUs, 56 Texture Address Units, and 24 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 460		150 Watts
	Difference: 103 Watts (219%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 460 should in theory be quite a bit better than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		86400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 73600 (575%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 should be quite a bit (approximately 338%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		37800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29160 (338%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 460 is quite a bit (approximately 275%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2, and also will be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 460		16200 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 256MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 11880 (275%)

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 largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, 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 can be processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video 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 amount 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 fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.