GeForce GTX 280 vs GeForce GTX 570

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce GTX 570, which makes use of a 40 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core speed at 732 MHz. The GDDR5 RAM is set to run at a frequency of 950 MHz on this model. It features 480 SPUs along with 60 TAUs and 40 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 570		219 Watts
GeForce GTX 280		236 Watts
	Difference: 17 Watts (8%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 570 should be 7% faster than the GeForce GTX 280 overall, because of its greater data rate. (explain)

GeForce GTX 570		152000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 280		141696 MB/sec
	Difference: 10304 (7%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 280 is a little bit (approximately 10%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 570. (explain)

GeForce GTX 280		48160 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 570		43920 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 4240 (10%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 570 should be a lot (about 52%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 280, and capable of handling higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 570		29280 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 280		19264 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 10016 (52%)

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 maximum amount of data (counted in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the 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 texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units by the core speed of the chip. The better the texel rate, the better the video 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 amount of pixels the graphics card could possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. 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 many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.