GeForce 8600M GT Mac Edition vs FX 5900
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 1512 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Architecture | Rankine (2003−2005) | Tesla (2006−2010) |
| GPU code name | NV35 | G84 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 12 May 2003 (22 years ago) | 5 October 2007 (17 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $399 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.
Performance to price scatter graph
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 cores | no data | 32 |
| Core clock speed | 400 MHz | 470 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 135 million | 289 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 130 nm | 80 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | no data | 20 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 3.200 | 7.520 |
| Floating-point processing power | no data | 0.06016 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 4 | 8 |
| TMUs | 8 | 16 |
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 | AGP 8x | MXM-II |
| Length | 218 mm | no data |
| Width | 1-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x Molex | no data |
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 | DDR | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 425 MHz | 635 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 27.2 GB/s | 20.32 GB/s |
Connectivity and outputs
This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.
| Display Connectors | 1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video | No outputs |
API and SDK compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 9.0a | 11.1 (10_0) |
| Shader Model | no data | 4.0 |
| OpenGL | 1.5 (2.1) | 3.3 |
| OpenCL | N/A | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
| CUDA | - | 1.1 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 12 May 2003 | 5 October 2007 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Chip lithography | 130 nm | 80 nm |
8600M GT Mac Edition has an age advantage of 4 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 62.5% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between GeForce FX 5900 and GeForce 8600M GT Mac Edition. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that GeForce FX 5900 is a desktop graphics card while GeForce 8600M GT Mac Edition is a notebook one.
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