GeForce GTS 150 vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which features GPU clock 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 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTS 150		141 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 103 Watts (73%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should perform a lot faster than the GeForce GTS 150 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GTS 150		32000 MB/sec
	Difference: 160384 (501%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB will be just a bit (more or less 4%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTS 150. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTS 150		47360 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2048 (4%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB is much (approximately 213%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTS 150, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTS 150		11840 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 25216 (213%)

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 information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. The number is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

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