GeForce GTX 580 3GB vs GeForce GTX 590

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 590, which features a GPU core clock speed of 607 MHz, and 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 855 MHz through a 384-bit bus. It also is made up of 512 Stream Processors, 64 TAUs, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
GeForce GTX 590		365 Watts
	Difference: 121 Watts (50%)

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce GTX 590 should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 590		328320 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
	Difference: 135936 (71%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 590 should be a lot (more or less 57%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 590		77696 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 28288 (57%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 590 is much (approximately 57%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, and should be able to handle higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 590		58272 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 21216 (57%)

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.

One or more cards in this comparison are multi-core. This means that their bandwidth, texel and pixel rates are theoretically doubled - this does not mean the card will actually perform twice as fast, but only that it should in theory be able to. Actual game benchmarks will give a more accurate idea of what it's capable of.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the 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 in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core 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 a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core clock speed. 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 output rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the maximum fill rate.