GEFORCE

NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS

NVIDIA graphics card specifications and benchmark scores

512 MB
VRAM
MHz Boost
20W
TDP
128
Bus Width

At a Glance

NVIDIA
VRAM 512 MB
Shaders 16
Bus Width 128-bit
TDP 20W
Memory Type DDR2
Architecture Tesla
nm
Process 80 nm
Released May 2007

NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS Specifications

GeForce 8600M GS GPU Core

Shader units and compute resources

The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS GPU core specifications define its raw processing power for graphics and compute workloads. Shading units (also called CUDA cores, stream processors, or execution units depending on manufacturer) handle the parallel calculations required for rendering. TMUs (Texture Mapping Units) process texture data, while ROPs (Render Output Units) handle final pixel output. Higher shader counts generally translate to better GPU benchmark performance, especially in demanding games and 3D applications.

Shading Units
16
Shaders
16
TMUs
8
ROPs
4
SM Count
1

8600M GS Clock Speeds

GPU and memory frequencies

Clock speeds directly impact the GeForce 8600M GS's performance in GPU benchmarks and real-world gaming. The base clock represents the minimum guaranteed frequency, while the boost clock indicates peak performance under optimal thermal conditions. Memory clock speed affects texture loading and frame buffer operations. The GeForce 8600M GS by NVIDIA dynamically adjusts frequencies based on workload, temperature, and power limits to maximize performance while maintaining stability.

GPU Clock
450 MHz
Memory Clock
400 MHz 800 Mbps effective
Shader Clock
900 MHz
GDDR GDDR 6X 6X

NVIDIA's GeForce 8600M GS Memory

VRAM capacity and bandwidth

VRAM (Video RAM) is dedicated memory for storing textures, frame buffers, and shader data. The GeForce 8600M GS's memory capacity determines how well it handles high-resolution textures and multiple displays. Memory bandwidth, measured in GB/s, affects how quickly data moves between the GPU and VRAM. Higher bandwidth improves performance in memory-intensive scenarios like 4K gaming. The memory bus width and type (GDDR6, GDDR6X, HBM) significantly influence overall GPU benchmark scores.

Memory Size
512 MB
VRAM
512 MB
Memory Type
DDR2
VRAM Type
DDR2
Memory Bus
128 bit
Bus Width
128-bit
Bandwidth
12.80 GB/s

GeForce 8600M GS by NVIDIA Cache

On-chip cache hierarchy

On-chip cache provides ultra-fast data access for the 8600M GS, reducing the need to fetch data from slower VRAM. L1 and L2 caches store frequently accessed data close to the compute units. AMD's Infinity Cache (L3) dramatically increases effective bandwidth, improving GPU benchmark performance without requiring wider memory buses. Larger cache sizes help maintain high frame rates in memory-bound scenarios and reduce power consumption by minimizing VRAM accesses.

L2 Cache
32 KB

8600M GS Theoretical Performance

Compute and fill rates

Theoretical performance metrics provide a baseline for comparing the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS against other graphics cards. FP32 (single-precision) performance, measured in TFLOPS, indicates compute capability for gaming and general GPU workloads. FP64 (double-precision) matters for scientific computing. Pixel and texture fill rates determine how quickly the GPU can render complex scenes. While real-world GPU benchmark results depend on many factors, these specifications help predict relative performance levels.

FP32 (Float)
28.80 GFLOPS
Pixel Rate
1.800 GPixel/s
Texture Rate
3.600 GTexel/s

Tesla Architecture & Process

Manufacturing and design details

The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS is built on NVIDIA's Tesla architecture, which defines how the GPU processes graphics and compute workloads. The manufacturing process node affects power efficiency, thermal characteristics, and maximum clock speeds. Smaller process nodes pack more transistors into the same die area, enabling higher performance per watt. Understanding the architecture helps predict how the 8600M GS will perform in GPU benchmarks compared to previous generations.

Architecture
Tesla
GPU Name
G86
Process Node
80 nm
Foundry
TSMC
Transistors
210 million
Die Size
127 mm²
Density
1.7M / mm²

NVIDIA's GeForce 8600M GS Power & Thermal

TDP and power requirements

Power specifications for the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS determine PSU requirements and thermal management needs. TDP (Thermal Design Power) indicates the heat output under typical loads, guiding cooler selection. Power connector requirements ensure adequate power delivery for stable operation during demanding GPU benchmarks. The suggested PSU wattage accounts for the entire system, not just the graphics card. Efficient power delivery enables the GeForce 8600M GS to maintain boost clocks without throttling.

TDP
20 W
TDP
20W
Power Connectors
None

GeForce 8600M GS by NVIDIA Physical & Connectivity

Dimensions and outputs

Physical dimensions of the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS are critical for case compatibility. Card length, height, and slot width determine whether it fits in your chassis. The PCIe interface version affects bandwidth for communication with the CPU. Display outputs define monitor connectivity options, with modern cards supporting multiple high-resolution displays simultaneously. Verify these specifications against your case and motherboard before purchasing to ensure a proper fit.

Slot Width
MXM Module
Bus Interface
MXM-II
Display Outputs
Portable Device Dependent
Display Outputs
Portable Device Dependent

NVIDIA API Support

Graphics and compute APIs

API support determines which games and applications can fully utilize the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS. DirectX 12 Ultimate enables advanced features like ray tracing and variable rate shading. Vulkan provides cross-platform graphics capabilities with low-level hardware access. OpenGL remains important for professional applications and older games. CUDA (NVIDIA) and OpenCL enable GPU compute for video editing, 3D rendering, and scientific applications. Higher API versions unlock newer graphical features in GPU benchmarks and games.

DirectX
11.1 (10_0)
DirectX
11.1 (10_0)
OpenGL
3.3
OpenGL
3.3
OpenCL
1.1
CUDA
1.1
Shader Model
4.0

GeForce 8600M GS Product Information

Release and pricing details

The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS is manufactured by NVIDIA as part of their graphics card lineup. Release date and launch pricing provide context for comparing GPU benchmark results with competing products from the same era. Understanding the product lifecycle helps evaluate whether the GeForce 8600M GS by NVIDIA represents good value at current market prices. Predecessor and successor information aids in tracking generational improvements and planning future upgrades.

Manufacturer
NVIDIA
Release Date
May 2007
Production
End-of-life
Predecessor
GeForce Go 7
Successor
GeForce 9M

GeForce 8600M GS Benchmark Scores

No benchmark data available for this GPU.

About NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS

The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS is an end-of-life mobile GPU from the GeForce 8M (8000M) generation, built around the G86 chip on the Tesla architecture. The fact pack places it on TSMC's 80 nm process, with 210 million transistors on a 127 mm² die and a transistor density of 1.7M per square millimeter. The database record contains no benchmark scores and no nearestRivals entries, so the analysis must be driven by the specification fields rather than measured frame rates. The only positional value is percentileVsAllGpus: 50, which places this GPU at the midpoint of the tracked GPU population.

Who Should Consider It

The GeForce 8600M GS is best suited to systems where a low-power, compact mobile GPU is the priority. The fact pack lists a 20 W TDP, no power connectors, an MXM Module slot width, and an MXM-II bus interface. That combination describes a laptop-oriented module rather than a desktop card. The display output field is "Portable Device Dependent", meaning the module is expected to drive whatever panel the host portable device provides. Users with such a system are the natural audience.

The compute and fill-rate numbers help define the workload ceiling. The GPU has 16 shading units, 8 TMUs, and 4 ROPs. Its FP32 throughput is 28.80 GFLOPS, its pixel rate is 1.800 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 3.600 GTexel/s. These are not large numbers. They indicate a part designed for modest rendering loads, with a small shader array and limited pixel output. In practical terms, the data supports use in applications that do not demand large amounts of geometry, texture filtering, or frame-buffer writes.

Memory capacity and bandwidth reinforce that picture. With 512 MB of DDR2 memory on a 128-bit bus and 12.80 GB/s of bandwidth, the GPU has a limited memory pool and a limited data transfer budget. High-resolution frame buffers, large texture sets, and heavy shader workloads would all have to fit within that envelope. The benchmark record does not provide any per-game or per-resolution scores, so a specific resolution and settings recommendation cannot be derived from the measured data. The specification profile, however, points toward lower resolution, lighter settings, and less demanding rendering scenarios.

Users who require Vulkan support should not consider this GPU, because the Vulkan field is null. DirectX 11.1 (10_0) and OpenGL 3.3 are listed, so the module fits within those API environments. The lack of RT core and tensor core entries means there is no ray tracing or tensor hardware indicated in the data. This is a rasterization-oriented mobile part with an older feature profile.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals array in the fact pack is empty. There are no rival names, no rival scores, and no deltaPct values to cite. As a result, this section cannot offer one-paragraph comparisons against specific named GPUs, because no such data is present.

The only comparative signal is the database percentile. percentileVsAllGpus is 50, which places the 8600M GS exactly at the middle of the GPU distribution tracked in the database. That said, the average benchmark score is 0 and the benchmarks array is empty, so the percentile is not corroborated by any measured score in the record.

Without nearestRivals data, no statement such as "ahead of" or "behind" any product can be made from the fact pack. There are no exact percentage deltas to compute, and any attempt to invent them would violate the available record. The honest conclusion is that this product's comparative position is undefined in the supplied data.

Memory Subsystem

The memory subsystem is fully specified in the fact pack. The GeForce 8600M GS uses 512 MB of DDR2 memory, connected across a 128-bit bus. The memory clock is 400 MHz, with an effective rate of 800 Mbps. The resulting memory bandwidth is 12.80 GB/s.

This is a modest memory configuration. The 512 MB capacity limits how much texture data and geometry data can be stored locally. The 128-bit bus width is the interface between memory and GPU core, and the 12.80 GB/s bandwidth is the ceiling for data movement. At high resolutions, the frame buffer and texture reads all compete for that same bandwidth. A larger frame buffer requires more memory writes; more detailed textures require more memory reads. With only 512 MB of memory available, both the capacity and the bandwidth become constraints.

The pixel rate adds another limiting factor. At 1.800 GPixel/s, the GPU can write only so many pixels per second. Even before memory bandwidth is exhausted, the ROP count of 4 sets a hard ceiling on pixel throughput. The texture rate of 3.600 GTexel/s similarly limits how many texels can be sampled per second with the 8 TMUs. Together, these numbers describe a memory subsystem intended for small workloads and lower resolutions, not for high-resolution, high-texture rendering.

FAQ

Q: What memory specifications are listed for the 8600M GS?

A: The GPU has 512 MB of DDR2 memory, a 128-bit bus width, a 400 MHz memory clock with 800 Mbps effective transfer rate, and 12.80 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

Q: Does the 8600M GS require external power connectors?

A: No. The power connector field is "None". The TDP is 20 W, the slot width is "MXM Module", and the bus interface is "MXM-II".

Q: What API support does the GPU include?

A: The DirectX field is "11.1 (10_0)" and the OpenGL field is "3.3". Vulkan is not listed in the fact pack.

Q: Are there RT cores or tensor cores?

A: No. The fact pack lists no RT cores and no tensor cores. The core configuration shown is 16 shading units, 8 TMUs, and 4 ROPs.

Q: What are the pixel, texture, and compute rates?

A: The pixel rate is 1.800 GPixel/s, the texture rate is 3.600 GTexel/s, and the FP32 compute rate is 28.80 GFLOPS.

Q: When was it released and what is its production status?

A: The release date is 2007-04-30T17:00:00.000Z. The production status is "End-of-life". Its predecessor is the GeForce Go 7 and its successor is the GeForce 9M.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The fact pack does not provide any RT core count or tensor core count. No hardware ray tracing acceleration is represented in the data, and no tensor pipeline is represented either. The feature set is therefore defined by the Tesla architecture, the G86 chip, and the API fields.

The supported APIs are DirectX 11.1 (10_0), OpenGL 3.3, and no Vulkan. The DirectX entry is specifically written as "11.1 (10_0)", which pairs the DirectX 11.1 API with a 10_0 feature level. That is the DirectX ceiling listed for the GPU. OpenGL 3.3 is the corresponding OpenGL ceiling. The absence of Vulkan means Vulkan-only workloads cannot be assumed to work on this module.

For rasterization, the GPU has 16 shading units, 8 texture mapping units, and 4 ROPs. These are the functional building blocks for conventional rendering. The feature set does not extend into ray tracing or tensor acceleration based on the supplied fields. This is a legacy mobile GPU with a fixed-function rasterization core and an API profile anchored in DirectX 10-level functionality and OpenGL 3.3.

Power and Cooling

The thermal design power of the 8600M GS is 20 W. That figure appears in the TDP field and is the only thermal specification in the fact pack. The power connector field is "None", so no external power cables are listed. The slot width is "MXM Module", and the bus interface is "MXM-II". The suggested PSU field is null, meaning the data contains no power supply recommendation.

Because the module uses an MXM form factor and no external connectors, power delivery is through the module interface itself. The host portable device determines the actual cooling solution. No dimensions are listed for the module, so length, height, and width data are not available. The display outputs are described as "Portable Device Dependent", which reinforces that this is not a standalone desktop GPU with fixed display connectors. The 20 W TDP is the key power and cooling number in the record.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmarks array is empty, and the average benchmark score is 0. There are no measured scores to analyze. The nearestRivals array is also empty, so no deltaPct values are available for percentage comparisons against named rivals.

The only positional value is percentileVsAllGpus: 50. That places the GPU at the midpoint of the database's GPU distribution. However, because the average benchmark score is 0, the percentile should be treated as a data-record placement rather than as the result of tested workloads.

The quantitative performance anchors in the fact pack are the memory bandwidth of 12.80 GB/s, the pixel rate of 1.800 GPixel/s, the texture rate of 3.600 GTexel/s, and the FP32 throughput of 28.80 GFLOPS. These four figures describe a small mobile GPU with modest capacities in every measured domain. The 4 ROPs sustain 1.800 GPixel/s. The 8 TMUs sustain 3.600 GTexel/s. The 16 shading units deliver 28.80 GFLOPS of FP32 compute. The 128-bit DDR2 memory interface provides 12.80 GB/s.

No rival data exists to translate these figures into a percentage lead or deficit. The fact pack has no scores and no nearestRivals entries, so any claim that the 8600M GS is a specific percentage faster or slower than another product would be unsupported. What the data shows is a low-power, mobile-oriented GPU with bounded pixel throughput, bounded texture throughput, bounded memory bandwidth, and no ray tracing or tensor acceleration.

The AMD Equivalent of GeForce 8600M GS

Looking for a similar graphics card from AMD? The AMD Radeon RX 480 offers comparable performance and features in the AMD lineup.

AMD Radeon RX 480

AMD • 8 GB VRAM

View Specs Compare

Popular NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS Comparisons

See how the GeForce 8600M GS stacks up against similar graphics cards from the same generation and competing brands.

Compare GeForce 8600M GS with Other GPUs

Select another GPU to compare specifications and benchmarks side-by-side.

Browse GPUs