GeForce 8500 GT vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which uses a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 772 MHz. The GDDR5 memory works at a speed of 1002 MHz on this specific card. It features 512 SPUs along with 64 TAUs and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce 8500 GT		45 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 199 Watts (442%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 580 3GB is 1403% quicker than the GeForce 8500 GT overall, due to its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		12800 MB/sec
	Difference: 179584 (1403%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 580 3GB will be much (more or less 1272%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce 8500 GT. (explain)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		3600 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 45808 (1272%)

Pixel Rate

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

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8500 GT		1800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 35256 (1959%)

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 information (counted in MB per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. In the case of 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 better 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 can be processed in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better 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 per second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.