GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has set the core frequency at 772 MHz. The GDDR5 memory is set to run at a frequency 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 GTX 1060 3GB		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 124 Watts (103%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB will be 2% faster than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB in general, due to its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		196608 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
	Difference: 4224 (2%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB will be quite a bit (about 119%) better at AF than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		108432 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 59024 (119%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB should be a lot (about 95%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, and will be able to handle higher screen resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		72288 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 35232 (95%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be moved across the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR memory, it must be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster 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 texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate also depends on quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the maximum fill rate.