GeForce 8600 GS vs GT 230M

Place in the ranking	1217	1365
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	1.66	0.36
Architecture	Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013)	Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code name	GT216	G84
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	15 June 2009 (15 years ago)	17 April 2007 (17 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 cores	48	16
Core clock speed	500 MHz	540 MHz
Number of transistors	486 million	289 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	23 Watt	47 Watt
Texture fill rate	8.000	4.320
Floating-point processing power	0.1056 TFLOPS	0.03808 TFLOPS
Gigaflops	158	no data
ROPs	8	8
TMUs	16	8

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 size	medium sized	no data
Bus support	PCI-E 2.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 1.0 x16
Width	no data	1-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	None

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	GDDR3	DDR2
Maximum RAM amount	Up to 1 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	Up to 600 (DDR2), Up to 800 (GDDR3), Up to 1066 (GDDR3) MHz	400 MHz
Memory bandwidth	16 (DDR2), 25 (DDR3)	12.8 GB/s
Shared memory	-	no data

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 Connectors	Dual Link DVIVGADisplayPortHDMISingle Link DVI	1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video
HDMI	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
Audio input for HDMI	HDA	no data

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

Power management

8.0

no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_1)	11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model	4.1	4.0
OpenGL	2.1	3.3
OpenCL	1.1	1.1
Vulkan	N/A	N/A
CUDA	+	1.1

Synthetic benchmark performance

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

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GT 230M 0.55
+129%

8600 GS 0.24

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.

GT 230M 212
+133%

8600 GS 91

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

3−4
+200%

1−2

−200%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2	0−1
Hitman 3	5−6 +150%	2−3 −150%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−33 +150%	12−14 −150%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Far Cry New Dawn	1−2	0−1
Hitman 3	5−6 +150%	2−3 −150%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11 +150%	4−5 −150%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−33 +150%	12−14 −150%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Hitman 3	5−6 +150%	2−3 −150%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11 +150%	4−5 −150%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−33 +150%	12−14 −150%

1440p
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

1−2

0−1

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	0−1	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2	0−1
Far Cry 5	1−2	0−1
Hitman 3	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2	0−1

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4
+200%

1−2

−200%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2	0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

0−1

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.55	0.24
Recency	15 June 2009	17 April 2007
Chip lithography	40 nm	80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	23 Watt	47 Watt

GT 230M has a 129.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 104.3% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GT 230M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 8600 GS in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GT 230M is a notebook card while GeForce 8600 GS is a desktop one.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.