GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs GeForce GTX 580 3GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GTX 580 3GB, which has GPU core speed of 772 MHz, and 3072 MB of GDDR5 memory running at 1002 MHz through a 384-bit bus. It also features 512 SPUs, 64 Texture Address Units, and 48 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		244 Watts
	Difference: 124 Watts (103%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB should in theory be a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		196608 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		192384 MB/sec
	Difference: 4224 (2%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB is quite a bit (more or less 119%) more effective at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 580 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		108432 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		49408 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 59024 (119%)

Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		72288 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 580 3GB		37056 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 35232 (95%)

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 maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the card will be at handling 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 its local memory in a 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 clock speed. 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 quite a few other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.