GeForce GTX 275 vs GeForce GTX 580

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 580, which comes with a core clock frequency of 772 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1002 MHz. It also uses a 384-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It features 512 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 275		219 Watts
GeForce GTX 580		244 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (11%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 580 should be a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 275 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 275		127008 MB/sec
	Difference: 65376 (51%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 275 will be a bit (more or less 2%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 580. (explain)

GeForce GTX 275		50640 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 580		49408 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1232 (2%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 will be a lot (more or less 109%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 275, and will be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 275		17724 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19332 (109%)

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 max amount of information (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.