GeForce GTX 280 vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which comes with a core clock speed of 772 MHz and a GDDR5 memory speed of 1002 MHz. It also makes use of a 384-bit bus, and uses a 40 nm design. It features 512 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 8 Watts (3%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be 36% quicker than the GeForce GTX 280 overall, because of its greater bandwidth. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
	Difference: 50688 (36%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be a little bit (approximately 3%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 280. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 1248 (3%)

Pixel Rate

If running with high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is superior to the GeForce GTX 280, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 17792 (92%)

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 (measured in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface within a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster 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 are processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher the texel rate, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core 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 fill rate also depends on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.