GeForce GTX 580 3GB vs Radeon R9 295X2

Intro

Compare that to the Radeon R9 295X2, which features GPU core speed of 1018 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1250 MHz through a 512-bit bus. It also features 2816 Stream Processors, 176 TAUs, and 64 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
Radeon R9 295X2		500 Watts
	Difference: 256 Watts (105%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the Radeon R9 295X2 should be much faster than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB overall. (explain)

Radeon R9 295X2		640000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
	Difference: 447616 (233%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R9 295X2 is quite a bit (more or less 625%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB. (explain)

Radeon R9 295X2		358336 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 308928 (625%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon R9 295X2 is a lot (more or less 252%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

Radeon R9 295X2		130304 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 93248 (252%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.