GeForce 8800 GTX vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which has a GPU core clock speed of 772 MHz, and 3072 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1002 MHz through a 384-bit bus. It also features 512 SPUs, 64 TAUs, and 48 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8800 GTX		155 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 89 Watts (57%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB should theoretically be a lot better than the GeForce 8800 GTX overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		86400 MB/sec
	Difference: 105984 (123%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB should be much (approximately 34%) more effective at AF than the GeForce 8800 GTX. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		36800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 12608 (34%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is superior to the GeForce 8800 GTX, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GTX		13800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 23256 (169%)

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 largest amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in one second. It is calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type memory, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card could possibly record to the 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 the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the max fill rate.