GeForce GT 310 vs GeForce GTX 580

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 580, which features a core clock frequency of 772 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1002 MHz. It also features a 384-bit memory bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 512 SPUs, 64 Texture Address Units, and 48 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 310		31 Watts
GeForce GTX 580		244 Watts
	Difference: 213 Watts (687%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 580 is 1102% quicker than the GeForce GT 310 overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GT 310		16000 MB/sec
	Difference: 176384 (1102%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 should be much (approximately 949%) better at AF than the GeForce GT 310. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 310		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 44696 (949%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 should be a lot (approximately 1473%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce GT 310, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 310		2356 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 34700 (1473%)

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: Bandwidth is the largest amount of information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.