GeForce GTX 580 3GB vs GeForce GTX 590

Intro

Compare all of that to the GeForce GTX 590, which comes with GPU core speed of 607 MHz, and 1536 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 855 MHz through a 384-bit bus. It also is made up of 512 Stream Processors, 64 TAUs, and 48 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
GeForce GTX 590		365 Watts
	Difference: 121 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 590 should be 71% quicker than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 590		328320 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
	Difference: 135936 (71%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 590 will be much (about 57%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 590		77696 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 28288 (57%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 590 is a lot (approximately 57%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, and will be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 590		58272 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 21216 (57%)

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.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface within a second. It is calculated by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, 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 the video card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is calculated by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka 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 potential to get to the max fill rate.