GeForce RTX 3090 vs 8600 GTS
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | not rated | 24 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 22.32 |
| Architecture | Tesla (2006−2010) | Ampere (2020−2024) |
| GPU code name | G84 | Ampere GA102 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 17 April 2007 (17 years ago) | 24 September 2020 (3 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $199 | $1,499 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
Detailed specifications
General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 32 | 10496 |
| Core clock speed | 675 MHz | 1400 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 1700 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 289 million | 28,300 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 80 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 60 Watt | 350 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 10.80 | 556.0 |
| Floating-point performance | 0.0928 gflops | 35.58 gflops |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Interface | PCIe 1.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
| Length | 198 mm | 313 mm |
| Width | 1-slot | 3-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin | 1x 12-pin |
| SLI options | + | - |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | GDDR3 | GDDR6X |
| Maximum RAM amount | 256 MB | 24 GB |
| Standard memory config per GPU | 256 MB | no data |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 384 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1000 MHz | 19500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 32 GB/s | 936.2 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | - |
Connectivity and outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.
| Display Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x S-Video | 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort |
| HDMI | - | + |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 11.1 (10_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | 4.0 | 6.5 |
| OpenGL | 2.1 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | 2.0 |
| Vulkan | N/A | 1.2 |
| CUDA | 1.1 | 8.5 |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.
Passmark
This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 17 April 2007 | 24 September 2020 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 256 MB | 24 GB |
| Chip lithography | 80 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 60 Watt | 350 Watt |
8600 GTS has 483.3% lower power consumption.
RTX 3090, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 13 years, a 9500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 900% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between GeForce 8600 GTS and GeForce RTX 3090. We've got no test results to judge.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
