GeForce 8600M GT vs Radeon HD 5850
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 586 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.79 | no data |
| Architecture | Terascale 2 (2009−2015) | G8x (2007−2008) |
| GPU code name | Cypress | G84M |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 30 September 2009 (14 years ago) | 9 June 2007 (16 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $299 | no data |
| Current price | $120 (0.4x MSRP) | $414 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 | 1440 | 32 |
| Core clock speed | 725 MHz | 475 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 2,154 million | 289 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 40 nm | 80 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 151 Watt | 20 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 52.20 | 7.600 |
| Floating-point performance | 2,088.0 gflops | 60.8 gflops |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on Radeon HD 5850 and GeForce 8600M GT compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.
| Laptop size | no data | medium sized |
| Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | MXM-II |
| Length | 241 mm | no data |
| 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 | 1 GB | 512 MB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 2000 MHz | 700 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 128.0 GB/s | 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 | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort | No outputs |
| HDMI | + | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 11.2 (11_0) | 11.1 (10_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| OpenGL | 4.4 | 3.3 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
| CUDA | no data | 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%
Radeon HD 5850 outperforms GeForce 8600M GT by 2134% in Passmark.
3DMark Vantage Performance
3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.
Benchmark coverage: 17%
Radeon HD 5850 outperforms GeForce 8600M GT by 1176% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 30 September 2009 | 9 June 2007 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 512 MB |
| Chip lithography | 40 nm | 80 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 151 Watt | 20 Watt |
We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 5850 and GeForce 8600M GT. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Radeon HD 5850 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
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