GeForce GTX 285 2GB vs GeForce GTX 580

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce GTX 580, which has a core clock frequency of 772 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1002 MHz. It also features a 384-bit bus, and makes use of a 40 nm design. It is comprised of 512 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		204 Watts
GeForce GTX 580		244 Watts
	Difference: 40 Watts (20%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 580, in theory, should perform much faster than the GeForce GTX 285 2GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 285 2GB		158976 MB/sec
	Difference: 33408 (21%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 285 2GB will be just a bit (more or less 5%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 580. (explain)

GeForce GTX 285 2GB		51840 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 580		49408 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 2432 (5%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 will be much (about 79%) better at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 285 2GB, and will be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 285 2GB		20736 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 16320 (79%)

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 largest amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If the card has DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs 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 output rate also depends on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.