GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 vs GeForce GT 130

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GT 130, which features GPU clock speed of 500 MHz, and 768 MB of DDR2 RAM running at 250 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also is comprised of 48 Stream Processors, 24 TAUs, and 16 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		47 Watts
GeForce GT 130		75 Watts
	Difference: 28 Watts (60%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2 is 7% faster than the GeForce GT 130 overall, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		12800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 130		12000 MB/sec
	Difference: 800 (7%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GT 130 will be much (about 39%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2. (explain)

GeForce GT 130		12000 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		8640 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 3360 (39%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 130 is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GT 130		8000 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8600 GT 1GB DDR2		4320 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3680 (85%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called 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 - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.