GeForce 8600 GTS vs GeForce GT 230

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 230, which features a GPU core clock speed of 550 MHz, and 1536 MB of DDR3 memory running at 800 MHz through a 192-bit bus. It also features 32 Stream Processors, 16 TAUs, and 8 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 230		65 Watts
GeForce 8600 GTS		75 Watts
	Difference: 10 Watts (15%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GT 230 should perform just a bit faster than the GeForce 8600 GTS overall. (explain)

GeForce GT 230		38400 MB/sec
GeForce 8600 GTS		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 6400 (20%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8600 GTS should be much (about 23%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 230. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		10800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 230		8800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2000 (23%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce 8600 GTS is the winner, by far. (explain)

GeForce 8600 GTS		5400 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 230		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 1000 (23%)

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 information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.