GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which has GPU clock speed of 772 MHz, and 3072 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 1002 MHz through a 384-bit bus. It also features 512 Stream Processors, 64 Texture Address Units, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		70 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 174 Watts (249%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be quite a bit faster than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		54400 MB/sec
	Difference: 137984 (254%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be a lot (about 181%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		17600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 31808 (181%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be much (more or less 742%) more effective at AA than the GeForce GT 240 GDDR5, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions more effectively. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GT 240 GDDR5		4400 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 32656 (742%)

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 maximum amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the bandwidth is, 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 are processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly record to the local memory per 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 output rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.