GeForce GTX 550 Ti vs GeForce GTX 580

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 580, which features GPU core speed of 772 MHz, and 1536 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1002 MHz through a 384-bit bus. It also features 512 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 48 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Benchmarks

These are real-world performance benchmarks that were submitted by Hardware Compare users. The scores seen here are the average of all benchmarks submitted for each respective test and hardware.

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Score

GeForce GTX 580		4956 points
GeForce GTX 550 Ti		1897 points
	Difference: 3059 (161%)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 550 Ti		116 Watts
GeForce GTX 580		244 Watts
	Difference: 128 Watts (110%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 580 is 95% quicker than the GeForce GTX 550 Ti in general, because of its higher bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 550 Ti		98496 MB/sec
	Difference: 93888 (95%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 should be much (about 72%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 550 Ti. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 550 Ti		28800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 20608 (72%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 is much (approximately 72%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 550 Ti, and also should be capable of handling higher screen resolutions without losing too much performance. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 550 Ti		21600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 15456 (72%)

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 (in units of megabytes per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster 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 number of 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 clock speed of the chip. The higher 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's 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 fill rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.