GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core speed at 772 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a speed of 1002 MHz on this model. It features 512 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		143 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 101 Watts (71%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should theoretically perform much faster than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		63360 MB/sec
	Difference: 129024 (204%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB will be quite a bit (more or less 101%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		24624 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 24784 (101%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB is quite a bit (approximately 261%) faster with regards to AA than the GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB, and also able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) 640MB		10260 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 26796 (261%)

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 information (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better 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 number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock 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 processed per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.