GeForce 8600 GTS vs GTX 260

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Primary details

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

Place in the ranking747not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.14no data
Power efficiency1.20no data
ArchitectureTesla 2.0 (2007−2013)Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code nameGT200G84
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date16 June 2008 (16 years ago)17 April 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$449 $199

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 cores19232
Core clock speed576 MHz675 MHz
Number of transistors1,400 million289 million
Manufacturing process technology65 nm80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)182 Watt60 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °Cno data
Texture fill rate36.8610.80
Floating-point processing power0.4769 TFLOPS0.0928 TFLOPS
ROPs288
TMUs6416

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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 1.0 x16
Length267 mm198 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 6-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 typeGDDR3GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount896 MB256 MB
Standard memory config per GPUno data256 MB
Memory bus width448 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed999 MHz1000 MHz
Memory bandwidth111.9 GB/s32 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVIHDTV2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI+-
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
OpenGL2.12.1
OpenCL1.11.1
VulkanN/AN/A
CUDA+1.1

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.



Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. 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.

GTX 260 1215
+669%
8600 GTS 158

Pros & cons summary


Recency 16 June 2008 17 April 2007
Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 256 MB
Chip lithography 65 nm 80 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt 60 Watt

GTX 260 has an age advantage of 1 year, a 250% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 23.1% more advanced lithography process.

8600 GTS, on the other hand, has 203.3% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 260 and GeForce 8600 GTS. 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 GTX 260
GeForce GTX 260
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS
GeForce 8600 GTS

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.8 599 votes

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3.2 199 votes

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Questions & comments

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