GeForce 8600 GT Mac Edition vs Radeon HD 7870 XT
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 382 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 3.93 | no data |
| Architecture | GCN 1.0 (2012−2020) | Tesla (2006−2010) |
| GPU code name | Tahiti | G84 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 19 November 2012 (11 years ago) | 17 April 2007 (17 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $270 | $159 |
| Current price | $133 (0.5x MSRP) | no data |
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 | 1536 | 32 |
| Core clock speed | 925 MHz | 600 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 975 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 4,313 million | 289 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 80 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 185 Watt | 47 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 93.60 | 9.600 |
| Floating-point performance | 2,995 gflops | 92.8 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).
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 1.0 x16 |
| Length | 267 mm | 170 mm |
| Width | 2-slot | 1-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 2x 6-pin | 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 | GDDR5 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 128 MB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 6000 MHz | 1500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 192.0 GB/s | 24 GB/s |
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 | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort | 2x DVI |
| HDMI | + | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 11.1 (10_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 3.3 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | N/A |
| CUDA | no data | 1.1 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 19 November 2012 | 17 April 2007 |
| Cost | $270 | $159 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 128 MB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 80 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 185 Watt | 47 Watt |
We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 7870 XT and GeForce 8600 GT Mac Edition. 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.
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