GeForce 8600M GT vs Radeon HD 4860
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | not rated | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Architecture | TeraScale (2005−2013) | G8x (2007−2008) |
| GPU code name | RV790 | G84M |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 9 September 2009 (14 years ago) | 9 June 2007 (17 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
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 | 640 | 32 |
| Core clock speed | 700 MHz | 475 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 959 million | 289 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 55 nm | 80 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 20 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 22.40 | 7.600 |
| Floating-point performance | 896.0 gflops | 60.8 gflops |
| Floating-point performance | 0.896 gflops | 0.0608 gflops |
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 | no data | medium sized |
| Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | MXM-II |
| Width | 2-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 2x 6-pin | 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 | GDDR5 | GDDR3, GDDR2 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 3000 MHz | 700 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 96 GB/s | 12.8 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 Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x S-Video | No outputs |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 10.1 (10_1) | 11.1 (10_0) |
| Shader Model | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| OpenGL | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
| CUDA | - | 1.1 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 9 September 2009 | 9 June 2007 |
| Chip lithography | 55 nm | 80 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 20 Watt |
ATI HD 4860 has an age advantage of 2 years, and a 45.5% more advanced lithography process.
8600M GT, on the other hand, has 550% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 4860 and GeForce 8600M GT. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Radeon HD 4860 is a desktop card while GeForce 8600M GT is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
