GeForce GTX 580 3GB vs GeForce GTX 960M

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 960M, which makes use of a 28 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 1096 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a speed of 1000 MHz on this specific model. It features 640 SPUs as well as 40 Texture Address Units and 16 Rasterization Operator Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 960M		65 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 179 Watts (275%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be much faster than the GeForce GTX 960M in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 960M		64000 MB/sec
	Difference: 128384 (201%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB is a bit (more or less 13%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 960M. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 960M		43840 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 5568 (13%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is the winner, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 960M		17536 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 19520 (111%)

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 MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. In the case of DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 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, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the graphics card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly write to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the amount of colour 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 output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.