GPU Purchase Guide: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Classified Ultra

Introduction

Acquiring the best GPU for PC is the primary concern of gaming enthusiasts who are planning to upgrade their system or custom build the one. For the said reason, the graphics adapter or GPU is the crucial component of your PC when it comes to performance. But, the purchase decision before getting a suitable GPU can be an overwhelming task due to the variety of factors and features that fuel your decision equation.

To make an informed decision, it is mandatory to get rich knowledge about the features and utilities of a certain product. This article is intended to give you a complete how-know about Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 580 classified ultra and whether you should buy it for your next gaming machine or not.

EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Classified Ultra – Introduction

The EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Classified is introduced to sustain the requirements of an average individual, from gamers to the top overclocking experts around the globe. This renowned Nvidia product can spare you from worrying about space or the limitations of your motherboard’s dimension.

This GPU offers a 14+3 Phase Power Design that can ensure over 1000W of power output, and the revised cooling mechanism in place with an 8CM fan that boosts efficiency up to 30%. Its sleek and accurate voltage control mechanism is influenced by: 

  • The NEC Proadlizer
  • Super Low ESR SP-Cap capacitors
  • High-frequency 3MHz capsuled inductors

Additionally, the integrated voltage probe points indicator allows you to observe the overall and instant TDP easily. It’s fully compatible with EVGA EVBot that allows overclocking and monitoring of your GPU with special OC BIOS to attain utmost overclock performance.

Specifications and Features – Explained

  • GPU’s memory: 

GPU memory is one of the very crucial factors to consider. It is recommended to buy a GPU with at least 3GB of memory or above for an aesthetic gaming experience. GTX 580 features 3GB of GDDR5 memory. If you want to play games with the maximum configuration limits and activate high-resolution texture or shadow options, you have to increase your budget for a smooth gaming experience with no lacks. For instance, very high-end gaming with 4K screen resolution requires at least 8GB of memory.

  • System Dimensions and Board:

You have to make sure that your system’s case has rich space for your next graphic unit. Check the overall dimensions of your PC case. GPUs offer multiple interface options like slim, single-slot, dual-slot, or even triple-slot. High-end GPUs can occupy large volumes and cover two or more expansion slots, as the latest-gen GPUs are heavier and bulkier than most previous-gen modules. Even if your GPU only covers one or two slots of your motherboard, but it can possess a big heatsink and cooling fan overlap the adjacent extension slots. GTX 580 has 6.15in (156.21mm) height and horizontally covers 11in (280mm) which requires a motherboard with at least one GPU slot.

Power Consumption: The power input or power consumption of GPU or CPU is known as Thermal Design Power (TDP). TDP is the measure of heat dissipation of the CPU or GPU at stock settings. Consider this rule of thumb, let suppose you’re using a 300-watt power supply with an overclocked CPU that consumes 95-watts of power and you want to install a GPU with 250-watt power consumption, you need more power. Over 600W power supply unit – PSU is a perfect choice for many previous-gen GPUs. For GTX 580 having 244W TDP, you need a 600 Watt or greater power supply with a minimum of 42 Amp with the +12-volt rail. But if you’re going to install modern-gen GPUs like 3080/RX 6800 XT, it is mandatory to acquire a higher-power power supply, especially if your card has overclocking feature.

  • Power Connectors: All high-performance graphic cards consume more power than the usual maximum power output of 75W that the mainstream x16 PCIe slot offers. High-end GPUs demand additional PCIe power connectors with 6 and 8 pin options. Some GPUs feature one or more than one connector, with 6 and 8 pin ports that can be found on the same GPU. For GTX 580 has a 6-pin PCIe power connector and two 8 pin PCIe power connectors. If your power supply doesn’t have the designated or additional connectors, you have no choice but to replace your power supply.
  • Ports: Some monitors have an HDMI interface, some offer DisplayPort, and some older units also feature Digital Visual Interface – DVI. Ensure that the card you purchase is compatible with the interface that your display screen (LED, LCD or Monitor) has. GTX 580 features Two dual-link DVI-I connectors and one Dual-link HDCP interface. HDCP is the latest digital technology that relies on DVI and HDMI cables and you often see the abbreviation alternatively used as DVI/HDCP or HDMI/HDCP grouped together.
  • Clock speed:

This is another important factor in determining the fate of your gaming experience. Some GPUs offer overclocking features, which marginally improve the fps performance on high resolutions. But clock speed alone isn’t the magic want, as GPU’s memory, VRAM memory and integrated technology are the primary variables in determining the performance. GTX 580 features a Base/Core Clock (the speed of the GPU’s chip) frequency of 900 MHZ and a Memory Clock frequency (the speed of the VRAM on the GPU) of 4212 MHz.

  • Stream Processors: 

Equally important as clock frequency, stream processors are the theoretical indicators of GPU’s performance. Keep in mind, the comparative analysis of core counts within the same architecture is more beneficial than a comparison among different models. For instance, a comparison of AMD and Nvidia GPUs on the basis of merely a core count is less meaningful. In Nvidia CUDA cores are GPU’s equivalent of CPU cores. GTX 580 has 512 CUDA Cores.

  • Floating-point operations per second:

Trillions of floating-point operations (TFLOPs) can be used to measure the maximum theoretical performance of a GPU. It can be used to determine how faster the chip is compared to another in the same generation. Like stream processors, comparing TFLOPs across architectures is less fruitful. GTX 850 features FP32 (float) performance of 1.843 TFLOPS FP64 (double) performance of 230.4 GFLOPS.

  • Memory speed/bandwidth: 

Just like higher clock frequency, faster memory is the important factor to determine the performance of your GPU. The architectures like GTX 580 with GDDR5 memory are significantly faster than those with the GDDR4 memory modules due to better memory bandwidth. GTX 580 features, Memory Bit Width of 384 Bit, Memory Speed of 0.4ns and Memory Bandwidth of 202.1 GB/s.

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