GeForce 8500 GT vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which has a core clock frequency of 772 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1002 MHz. It also makes use of a 384-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It 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 8500 GT		45 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 199 Watts (442%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should theoretically perform much faster than the GeForce 8500 GT overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179584 (1403%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be much (about 1272%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce 8500 GT. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		3600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 45808 (1272%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is superior to the GeForce 8500 GT, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		1800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 35256 (1959%)

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 data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.