GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 vs GeForce GTX 560 Ti

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 560 Ti, which features GPU core speed of 822 MHz, and 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1002 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also features 384 Stream Processors, 64 Texture Address Units, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		47 Watts
GeForce GTX 560 Ti		170 Watts
	Difference: 123 Watts (262%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti, in theory, should be much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560 Ti		128256 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		22400 MB/sec
	Difference: 105856 (473%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti is much (more or less 509%) better at AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560 Ti		52608 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 43968 (509%)

Pixel Rate

If using lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 560 Ti is the winner, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 560 Ti		26304 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB GDDR3		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 21984 (509%)

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 max amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out 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 graphics 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 the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.