GeForce GTX 580 3GB vs GeForce GTX 950

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 950, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 1024 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM runs at a frequency of 1652 MHz on this particular model. It features 768 SPUs along with 48 TAUs and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 950		90 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 154 Watts (171%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 950 in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 950		105728 MB/sec
	Difference: 86656 (82%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB is a bit (approximately 1%) better at AF than the GeForce GTX 950. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 950		49152 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 256 (1%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be just a bit (more or less 13%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 950, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 950		32768 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 4288 (13%)

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 (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. It is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock 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 one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. 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 many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.