GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 240 GDDR5

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 550 MHz, and 512 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 850 MHz through a 128-bit bus. It also is made up of 96 SPUs, 32 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 DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		70 Watts
	Difference: 23 Watts (49%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 should in theory perform much faster than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2 in general. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		54400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 41600 (325%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 will be a lot (about 104%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		17600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 8960 (104%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 is a little bit (about 2%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2, and capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		4400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 512MB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 80 (2%)

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 transported across the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the graphics 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 number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.