GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile vs 8600M GT Mac Edition

Primary details

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

Place in the rankingnot rated163
Place by popularitynot in top-10089
Power efficiencyno data28.23
ArchitectureTesla (2006−2010)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameG84GA106
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date5 October 2007 (17 years ago)12 January 2021 (3 years ago)

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 cores323840
Core clock speed470 MHz900 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1425 MHz
Number of transistors289 million13,250 million
Manufacturing process technology80 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)20 Watt80 Watt
Texture fill rate7.520171.0
Floating-point processing power0.06016 TFLOPS10.94 TFLOPS
ROPs848
TMUs16120
Tensor Coresno data120
Ray Tracing Coresno data30

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).

Laptop sizeno datalarge
InterfaceMXM-IIPCIe 4.0 x16

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 typeGDDR3GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount512 MB6 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed635 MHz1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth20.32 GB/s336.0 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 ConnectorsNo outputsNo outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.1 (10_0)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model4.06.5
OpenGL3.34.6
OpenCL1.12.0
VulkanN/A1.2
CUDA1.18.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 5 October 2007 12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount 512 MB 6 GB
Chip lithography 80 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 20 Watt 80 Watt

8600M GT Mac Edition has 300% lower power consumption.

RTX 3060 Mobile, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 13 years, a 1100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 900% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between GeForce 8600M GT Mac Edition and GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile. 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.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT Mac Edition
GeForce 8600M GT Mac Edition
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile
GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile

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.


2 3 votes

Rate GeForce 8600M GT Mac Edition on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
4.1 4914 votes

Rate GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.