Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
GeForce GT 520 vs 8600 GTS
General info
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | not rated | 1102 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Value for money | no data | 0.01 |
| Architecture | Tesla (2006−2010) | Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014) |
| GPU code name | G84 | GF119 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 17 April 2007 (17 years old) | 13 April 2011 (13 years old) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $199 | $59 |
| Current price | $84 (0.4x MSRP) | $88 (1.5x MSRP) |
Value for money
no data
Technical specs
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 | 48 |
| CUDA cores | no data | 48 |
| Core clock speed | 675 MHz | 810 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 289 million | 292 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 80 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 60 Watt | 29 Watt |
| Maximum GPU temperature | no data | 102 °C |
| Texture fill rate | 10.8 billion/sec | 6.5 billion/sec |
| Floating-point performance | 92.8 gflops | 155.52 gflops |
Size and 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 support | no data | 16x PCI-E 2.0 |
| Interface | PCIe 1.0 x16 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | 198 mm | 5.7" (14.5 cm) |
| Height | no data | 2.7" (6.9 cm) |
| Width | 1-slot | 1-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin | None |
| SLI options | + | no data |
Memory
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 | DDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 256 MB | 1 GB (DDR3) |
| Standard memory config per GPU | 256 MB | no data |
| Memory bus width | 128 Bit | 64 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1000 MHz | 900 MHz (DDR3) |
| Memory bandwidth | 32 GB/s | 14.4 GB/s |
Video outputs and ports
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 | Dual Link DVI-IHDMIVGA (optional) |
| Multi monitor support | no data | + |
| HDMI | no data | + |
| Maximum VGA resolution | no data | 2048x1536 |
| Audio input for HDMI | no data | Internal |
API support
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 11.1 (10_0) | 12 (11_0) |
| Shader Model | 4.0 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 2.1 | 4.2 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
| CUDA | 1.1 | + |
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.
Benchmark coverage: 25%
GT 520 outperforms 8600 GTS by 107% in Passmark.
Advantages and disadvantages
| Recency | 17 April 2007 | 13 April 2011 |
| Cost | $199 | $59 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 256 MB | 1 GB (DDR3) |
| Chip lithography | 80 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 60 Watt | 29 Watt |
We couldn't decide between GeForce 8600 GTS and GeForce GT 520. 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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