GeForce GTS 150 vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which has core speeds of 772 MHz on the GPU, and 1002 MHz on the 3072 MB of GDDR5 memory. It features 512 SPUs as well as 64 Texture Address Units and 48 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

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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

As far as performance goes, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should theoretically be much superior to 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 should be just a bit (approximately 4%) more effective at texture 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 (more or less 213%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTS 150, and should be able to handle higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (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 max amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core 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 the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core 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 rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.