GeForce GT 210 vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, 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 is comprised of 512 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 210		31 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 213 Watts (687%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should perform a lot faster than the GeForce GT 210 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GT 210		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179584 (1403%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB is quite a bit (about 949%) better at AF than the GeForce GT 210. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 210		4712 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 44696 (949%)

Pixel Rate

If using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is superior to the GeForce GT 210, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 210		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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once 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, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.