GeForce GTX 570 vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 772 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a speed of 1002 MHz on this specific model. It features 512 SPUs along with 64 Texture Address Units and 48 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 570		219 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (11%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is 27% quicker than the GeForce GTX 570 in general, due to its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 570		152000 MB/sec
	Difference: 40384 (27%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB is a bit (more or less 12%) better at AF than the GeForce GTX 570. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 570		43920 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5488 (12%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB is much (approximately 27%) more effective at AA than the GeForce GTX 570, and able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 570		29280 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 7776 (27%)

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 max amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the faster 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 are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video 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 that the graphics chip can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the the core 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 rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.