GeForce GT 430 vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which comes with GPU core speed of 772 MHz, and 3072 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1002 MHz through a 384-bit bus. It also is comprised of 512 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 430		60 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 184 Watts (307%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 430 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GT 430		28800 MB/sec
	Difference: 163584 (568%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB is much (approximately 341%) more effective at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 430. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 430		11200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 38208 (341%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is a better choice, by a large margin. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 430		2800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 34256 (1223%)

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 maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high 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 of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, 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 most pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.