NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580: characteristics, test. Game video cards

Fans of computer games dream that their PC could pull out any new action. For this, every year we have to update our hardware. In addition to the need to replace certain parts of the computer, there are times when it is necessary to completely replace all parts. Today we will talk about gaming graphics cards, in particular about nVidia GeForce GTX 580.

Confrontation

As in all areas of technology, this segment also has two main competitors. NVidia and AMD annually release video cards, competing with each other in speed, quality and optimization. Each new model from AMD entails a similar one from nVidia. The choice between these two companies is absolutely individual. Someone had a successful experience using nVidia, someone completely trusts AMD.

Of course, in periods when one or another model of a video card appears on the technocene from these companies, a lot of disputes arise in the press and on forums. Especially among those who really understand this issue and have their views and views. These conflicts are endlessly accompanied by a huge number of reviews and tests. On how to make the right choice when buying a game video card, we'll talk later, and now consider a well-forgotten new nVidia GTX 580.

Heart of the giant

This model of the video card appeared in 2010. After it was released a huge number of real gaming giants, which are not just an order of magnitude better - they are a hundred times more productive.

Nevertheless, there were those who are still devoted to the beloved GTX 580. The characteristics of this video card turned out really impressive. The graphics processor that fit in the flagship of GF110. Before that, video processors with index 104, 106 and 108 were already released, but they all belonged to the four-hundredth version of the "vidhody".

The new generation began to work on the "heart" of the GF110. It was modified from the hundredth version, which was placed in GTX 465, 470 and 480. The difference between these flagships was the amount of activity of the kernel blocks.

Modification

To understand how much the new "brain" has become better than the previous one, you need to emphasize some details. Both models (100/110) have four clusters, responsible for processing graphics. Each of them structurally resembles a separate GPU. Clusters are equipped with everything they need to process graphics. They do not have only memory controllers and ROPs.

The scheme for both processors is the same. It consists of four clusters that have four multiprocessors each. They contain 32 CUDA cores. It turns out a total of 512 pieces. The scheme also includes 8 blocks of ROP in six groups, in the total of 48 pieces. Each of the six categories has its own 64-bit memory controller. There are also two levels of cache memory. The first has a stock of 256 KB, and the second - at 768 KB.

And now it is worth going closer to the truth. It turned out that such a scheme was presented first for the GF100, but due to uncertain circumstances, the market was more "raw" graphics processor. According to official data, the developer was not able to release high-quality crystals, and therefore during the production part of the active core blocks had to be suspended.

Such an event could not pass by specialists. Therefore, the Internet spread the view that Nvidia decided to slow down and save the potential for the future, as if hinting at the version that later settled in the GTX 580. The characteristics of the new "heart", which were conceived earlier, were embodied only in GF110.

Implementation

Due to the fact that there are differences between the two GPU models, I do not want to call the GF110 an updated version. The architecture of texture blocks has also undergone changes. Thanks to this process of processing and filtering textures occurs without losing cycles. Although this scheme is not new, yet in this model it was able to realize itself to the full.

We also touched on the Raster Engine. He received an advanced block, which deals with the rejection of surfaces that are not visible in the frame. Added new file formats. The implementation turned out to be "cheers". The developers said that the performance of the new graphics processor should increase. In practice, his work in games improved by 6-7% on average.

The main thing

So, it is now clear that the new video card has become much more productive, despite the fact that the graphics processor did not receive any major changes in architecture with respect to its predecessor GF100. Now there is an opportunity to evaluate the very GTX 580.

The characteristics of the video card have improved noticeably. This is especially noticeable in comparison with the previous model GTX 480. The core clock speed increased by 72 units and became 772 MHz. The parameters of the clock frequency of the shader domain changed: 1544 MHz.

The type of graphics memory and its volume remained unchanged, as well as the width of the bus. The indicators of real and effective frequency of graphics memory 1002/4008 vs. 924/3696 have noticeably increased. This improvement led to the fact that the memory bandwidth also expanded to 192.4 GB / s. Obviously, such indicators could not ignore other characteristics. Hence the increase in the filling rate of the scene by several units, and also the mathematical productivity has increased.

Causes of improvement

The growth of many characteristics is associated with a number of reasons:

• The most important of them is that in nVidia GeForce GTX 580 it was still possible to start activation of all kernel blocks.
• The frequencies of the graphics processor and video memory improved by an average of 9%.
• Improved and the architecture of texture blocks and raster engines.

Reliability in detail

The designers of nVidia were able to improve the characteristics of the materials in the GTX 580. It's not so easy now to bend the PCB. The length remains the same, so the whole body looks compact enough. Especially considering that the card was released in 2010. At the present time, of course, it looks large.

The panel has three connectors, one for mini-HDMI, the other two two-channel DVI. In principle, this set was enough for all gamers, although the competitors of NVIDIA still made more opportunities for the user. The only issue in all this beauty remains the presence of two grids that cover the openings for the exit of heated air. If the first is in a quite familiar place and blows air to the back panel, then the second is located on the reverse side.

Pay

Now it's worth peeking under the casing of the GTX 580. The price, by the way, at the time of this flagship's release was $ 500, which was insignificant for such a giant, albeit expensive. But back to the interior.

To distinguish the board from the previous model can be based on the read characteristics. The new design lost the same connector for air intake by the turbine, but for some reason the marking itself was preserved. Previously, there were also traditional electrolytic "banks", now they replaced the ceramic capacitors in their place. But the main visible difference is the presence of additional microcircuits, which are responsible for hardware monitoring of the load. They monitor the current that comes on the board through the connectors.

Cooling

The previous model of the video card was equipped with a very sophisticated cooling system. This was due to the fact that there was still a need to cope with the power of the "burning" GF100. Despite all its engineering masterpiece, the system was not able to solve a number of tasks that needed to be remedied later by the developers of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. They created the evaporation chamber technology. At that time, it had long been promoted in the market. Liked her use and the company AMD.

When disassembling it is easy to separate from the main body. The rigid metal frame on which the evaporation chamber is housed is the support for the entire structure. The cooling system works simply: a special liquid evaporates from the heating side, condenses on the cooled part and again flows back. On these sides are not the tube, as it was before, but the plates that cover the heat-distributing cover of the processor.

Tests

The GTX 580 was tested successfully, and not one. Although there were unsuccessful "exams". For example, checking the filtering of RGB8 textures showed that the new model is much weaker than its competitors from AMD. But the testing of the shader speed showed good results, especially with respect to the GTX 480. But in many of them the new model has significantly lost to its competitors.

As a result, testing "vidhody" showed that it turned out to be the best in performance and consumer characteristics. It is allocated by a large number of active blocks, has an increased clock frequency, as well as some architectural changes.

Clones

There are clones of this video card. Based on the GF110, it has become the strongest in its segment. The GTX 580, the price of which was very high, became the most powerful. But competition is always present. Manufacturers decided to produce modified versions. They differed from the original in that they had a factory overclock or an improved cooling system.

One such successful project was the Zotac GeForce GTX 580. Here we use a standard reference turbine. The design did not differ anything remarkable. The core has 6 phases of the power node. The chips are from Samsung. "Viduha" improved, as indicated by the increased core frequency to 810/1620 MHz.

This variation of the model is practically no different from the original. Its advantage remains factory overclocking, although not significant. But the increased power affects the noise and heating. Gamers were pleased with the bundle, which included a new toy, Prince of Persia.

Modernity

It is worth noting that now it is difficult to assess this flagship, since the GTX 580 is much outdated and looks very weak against the background of others. The year 2016 really turned out to be fruitful for this segment. Gaming video cards have become even better and more powerful.

Make their rating is not easy, given that even gamers preferences differ. NVidia introduced GeForce GTX 1080, while AMD released the model on the market worse. But the Radeon RX 480 still managed to enter the middle segment and compete there. From the last company everyone has already stopped waiting for some giants. And gaming video cards nVidia "miss" aside, as there is no competition from "the worst enemy."

Those who are willing to give less than 5 thousand rubles for "vidkhu" should look at GIGABYTE GV-N730D5OC-1GI. In the price category up to 10 thousand rubles is the Palit GeForce GTX750Ti StormX Dual, which, although before last generation, still can cope with almost all games. Those who are ready to part with 15 thousand rubles, the market has prepared two competitors - GTX 960 and R9 380. If you are ready to spend 20 thousand rubles and more, take a closer look at the GeForce GTX 1080.