GeForce GTX 580 3GB vs GeForce GTX 960

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 960, which comes with a core clock frequency of 1127 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1750 MHz. It also uses a 128-bit memory bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It is made up of 1024 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 960		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 124 Watts (103%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is 72% faster than the GeForce GTX 960 in general, due to its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 960		112000 MB/sec
	Difference: 80384 (72%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 960 is much (about 46%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 960		72128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 22720 (46%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is the winner, but not by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 960		36064 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 992 (3%)

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.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.