GeForce 9800 GTX vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which features a clock frequency of 772 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1002 MHz. It also uses a 384-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It 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 9800 GTX		140 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 104 Watts (74%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should theoretically be much superior to the GeForce 9800 GTX overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX		70400 MB/sec
	Difference: 121984 (173%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB will be just a bit (more or less 14%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce 9800 GTX. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX		43200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 6208 (14%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be quite a bit (approximately 243%) faster with regards to FSAA than the GeForce 9800 GTX, and also will be capable of handling higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 9800 GTX		10800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 26256 (243%)

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 largest amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most 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 worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called 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 of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.