GeForce 8600 GTS vs Radeon RX 470

Place in the ranking	263	1252
Place by popularity	46	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	17.96	0.01
Power efficiency	12.10	0.47
Architecture	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)	Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code name	Ellesmere	G84
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	4 August 2016 (8 years ago)	17 April 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$179	$199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 470 has 179500% better value for money than 8600 GTS.

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	2048	32
Core clock speed	926 MHz	675 MHz
Boost clock speed	1206 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	5,700 million	289 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	60 Watt
Texture fill rate	154.4	10.80
Floating-point processing power	4.94 TFLOPS	0.0928 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	8
TMUs	128	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	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 1.0 x16
Length	241 mm	198 mm
Width	2-slot	1-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	1x 6-pin
SLI options	-	+

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	4 GB	256 MB
Standard memory config per GPU	no data	256 MB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	1650 MHz	1000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	211.2 GB/s	32 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	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
HDMI	+	-

Supported technologies

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

FreeSync

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_0)	11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model	6.4	4.0
OpenGL	4.6	2.1
OpenCL	2.0	1.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	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.

RX 470 21.05
+5034%

8600 GTS 0.41

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.

RX 470 8096
+5024%

8600 GTS 158

Gaming performance

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

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD	71 +7000%	1−2 −7000%
1440p	39	0−1
4K	38	0−1

Cost per frame, $

1080p	2.52 +7793%	199.00 −7793%
1440p	4.59	no data
4K	4.71	no data

RX 470 has 7793% lower cost per frame in 1080p

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	35−40	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45	0−1
Elden Ring	65−70 +6600%	1−2 −6600%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +6500%	1−2 −6500%
Counter-Strike 2	35−40	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45	0−1
Forza Horizon 4	105 +5150%	2−3 −5150%
Metro Exodus	74 +7300%	1−2 −7300%
Red Dead Redemption 2	45−50	0−1
Valorant	85−90 +8400%	1−2 −8400%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +6500%	1−2 −6500%
Counter-Strike 2	35−40	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45	0−1
Dota 2	48	0−1
Elden Ring	65−70 +6600%	1−2 −6600%
Far Cry 5	52 +5100%	1−2 −5100%
Fortnite	110−120 +5400%	2−3 −5400%
Forza Horizon 4	88 +8700%	1−2 −8700%
Grand Theft Auto V	73 +7200%	1−2 −7200%
Metro Exodus	34	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	71 +7000%	1−2 −7000%
Red Dead Redemption 2	45−50	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	65−70 +6600%	1−2 −6600%
Valorant	85−90 +8400%	1−2 −8400%
World of Tanks	230−240 +5850%	4−5 −5850%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +6500%	1−2 −6500%
Counter-Strike 2	35−40	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45	0−1
Dota 2	70−75 +7300%	1−2 −7300%
Far Cry 5	65−70 +6800%	1−2 −6800%
Forza Horizon 4	67 +6600%	1−2 −6600%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	59 +5800%	1−2 −5800%
Valorant	85−90 +8400%	1−2 −8400%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	33	0−1
Elden Ring	35−40	0−1
Grand Theft Auto V	33	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	170−180 +5667%	3−4 −5667%
Red Dead Redemption 2	18−20	0−1
World of Tanks	140−150 +7000%	2−3 −7000%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	40−45	0−1
Counter-Strike 2	18−20	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18	0−1
Far Cry 5	55−60 +5700%	1−2 −5700%
Forza Horizon 4	51	0−1
Metro Exodus	46	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	27−30	0−1
Valorant	55−60 +5400%	1−2 −5400%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	18−20	0−1
Dota 2	33	0−1
Elden Ring	16−18	0−1
Grand Theft Auto V	33	0−1
Metro Exodus	16−18	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	62 +6100%	1−2 −6100%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	33	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	21−24	0−1
Counter-Strike 2	18−20	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7	0−1
Dota 2	86 +8500%	1−2 −8500%
Far Cry 5	27−30	0−1
Fortnite	25	0−1
Forza Horizon 4	25	0−1
Valorant	24−27	0−1

This is how RX 470 and 8600 GTS compete in popular games:

RX 470 is 7000% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	21.05	0.41
Recency	4 August 2016	17 April 2007
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	256 MB
Chip lithography	14 nm	80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	60 Watt

RX 470 has a 5034.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 471.4% more advanced lithography process.

8600 GTS, on the other hand, has 100% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 470 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 8600 GTS in performance tests.

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