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Introduction
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The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT is the mobile version of the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT. It is based on the G84 GPU used by the GeForce 8600 GT. As such, it is similar to the GeForce 8600 GT desktop GPU in specifications.
Both are DirectX 10 GPUs with 32 stream processors and a 128-bit memory bus. They even have the same memory speed of 700 MHz and memory bandwidth of 22.4 GB/s.
The only difference is the core clock speed. The mobile GeForce 8600M GT runs at 475 MHz while the desktop GeForce 8600 GT is 13.7 % faster at 540 MHz.
To save money though, some manufacturers like Dell opt to use slower 400 MHz DDR2 memory, instead of the 700 MHz GDDR3 memory officially specified for the GeForce 8600M GT. This reduces its memory bandwidth by 43 %.
The lower-end NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS, in comparison, is based on the smaller G86M GPU. Unlike the GeForce 8600M GT which has 32 stream processors and runs at a relatively low clock speed of 475 MHz, the GeForce 8600M GS only has 16 stream processors. So, while it runs at a higher clock speed of 600 MHz, it actually delivers a much lower performance than the "slower-running" GeForce 8600M GT.
Before we go into the tests, let's take a look at how the GeForce 8600M GT compares to its desktop counterpart, and a selection of desktop and mobile GPUs. For ease of comparison, we highlighted the mobile GPUs.
GeForce 8600 GT |
GeForce 8600M GT |
GeForce 8600M GT (Dell) |
GeForce 8600M GS |
GeForce 7600 GT |
GeForce Go 7600 GT |
|
Architecture |
G84 |
G84M |
G84M |
G84M |
G73 |
G73M |
Manufacturing Process |
0.08 Micron |
0.08 Micron |
0.08 Micron |
0.08 Micron |
0.09 Micron |
0.09 Micron |
Transistor Count |
289 Million |
289 Million |
289 Million |
210 Million |
177 Million |
177 Million |
DirectX Support |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
9.0c |
9.0c |
Interface |
PCI Express |
PCI Express |
PCI Express |
PCI Express |
PCI Express |
PCI Express |
Stream
Processors |
32 |
32 |
32 |
16 |
- |
- |
Vertex
Shaders |
- |
- |
- |
- |
5 |
5 |
Vertex
Shader Version |
4.0 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Pixel
Shaders |
- |
- |
- |
- |
12 |
12 |
Pixel
Shader Version |
4.0 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
ROPs |
8 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
Core
Speed |
540 MHz |
475 MHz |
475 MHz |
600 MHz |
560 MHz |
500 MHz |
Fill
Rate |
8,640 MTexels/s |
7,600 MTexels/s |
7,600 MTexels/s |
4,800 MTexels/s |
6,720 MTexels/s |
6,000 MTexels/s |
Memory
Bus Width |
128-bits |
128-bits |
128-bits |
128-bits |
128-bits |
128-bits |
Memory
Type |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
GDDR3 |
Memory
Speed |
700 MHz |
700 MHz |
400 MHz |
700 MHz |
700 MHz |
600 MHz |
Memory
Bandwidth |
22.40 GB/s |
22.40 GB/s |
12.80 GB/s |
22.40 GB/s |
22.40 GB/s |
19.20 GB/s |
The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT's specifications are impressive for a mobile GPU. It's more or less a desktop GPU that has been clocked down to reduce the thermal output. You may even be tempted to think it's right between the desktop GeForce 8600 GT and GeForce 7600 GT in performance. Well, that's what we intend to find out today when we compare the performance of the GeForce 8600M GT against a wide range of desktop graphics cards.
Do note that our Dell Inspiron 1520 notebook uses slower 400 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory, instead of the 700 MHz clock speed officially specified for the GeForce 8600M GT. As such, it has a very low memory bandwidth. This will severely impact its performance at the higher resolutions and image quality settings.
Specifications
Here are the specifications of the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT mobile GPU.
Architecture |
• G84M |
Manufacturing Process |
• 0.08 Micron |
Transistor Count |
• 289 Million |
DirectX Support |
• 10 |
Interface |
• PCI Express X16 |
Stream Processors |
• 32 |
Vertex Shader Version |
• 4.0 |
Pixel Shader Version |
• 4.0 |
Textures Per Clock |
• 16 |
ROPs |
• 8 |
Core Clock Speed |
• 475 MHz |
Shader Clock Speed |
• 950 MHz |
Fill Rate |
• 7600 MTexels/s |
Memory Bus Width |
• 128-bits |
Memory Size |
• Up to 512 MB |
Memory Type |
• DDR2 |
Memory Speed |
• 400 GHz (800 MHz DDR) for DDR2 memory |
Memory Bandwidth |
• 12.8 GB/s (DDR2) |
Power Management |
• PowerMizer 7.0 |
DVI Support |
• Single dual-linked DVI, integrated into the GPU |
