GeForce 8600 GT Mac Edition vs 9600 GT

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Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking1034not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.04no data
Power efficiency0.91no data
ArchitectureTesla (2006−2010)Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code nameG94G84
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date21 February 2008 (16 years ago)17 April 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$179 $159

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores6432
Core clock speed650 MHz600 MHz
Number of transistors505 million289 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)96 Watt47 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate20.809.600
Floating-point processing power0.208 TFLOPS0.0928 TFLOPS
ROPs168
TMUs3216

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).

Bus support16x PCI-E 2.0no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 1.0 x16
Length229 mm170 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width1-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pinNone
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 typeGDDR3GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount512 MB128 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed900 MHz750 MHz
Memory bandwidth57.6 GB/s24 GB/s

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 ConnectorsHDTVTwo Dual Link DVI2x DVI
Multi monitor support+no data
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIS/PDIFno data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX11.1 (10_0)11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model4.04.0
OpenGL2.13.3
OpenCL1.11.1
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA+1.1

Pros & cons summary


Recency 21 February 2008 17 April 2007
Maximum RAM amount 512 MB 128 MB
Chip lithography 65 nm 80 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 96 Watt 47 Watt

9600 GT has an age advantage of 10 months, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 23.1% more advanced lithography process.

8600 GT Mac Edition, on the other hand, has 104.3% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce 9600 GT and GeForce 8600 GT Mac Edition. 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.

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NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
GeForce 9600 GT
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT Mac Edition
GeForce 8600 GT Mac Edition

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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