NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains only one directly comparable benchmark between these two cards, and the result is decisive. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 scores 112,821 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 scores 15,283 points. The RTX 3070 leads by 638.2%, a margin that reflects the generational gulf between the two architectures. This is not a close contest by any metric; the RTX 3070 delivers over seven times the raw compute throughput in this workload.

The average benchmark score reinforces the gap, though the comparison is less straightforward because each card has a different benchmark sample set. The RTX 3070 has a recorded average score of 17,208 across ten tests, while the GTX 580 has a single recorded score of 15,283. The RTX 3070 also outperforms its nearest rivals in the database, sitting 0.7% above the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17,083), 1% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17,037), and 1.1% above the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17,019). It trails the NVIDIA Tesla K40c by 1.5% (17,468), which places it in a tight cluster of similarly performing cards.

The GTX 580, by contrast, is bracketed by much newer hardware. Its average score of 15,283 puts it 0% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (15,290), 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon 680M (15,270), 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (15,199), and 0.7% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7600 (15,171). This suggests the GTX 580, despite its age, still lands in a performance neighborhood occupied by modern entry-level and integrated-class parts, but it is far removed from the RTX 3070's tier.

Looking at the RTX 3070's individual benchmark results, the data shows a wide spread across different API tests. It scores 22,214 in Passmark G3D, 11,195 in Passmark GPU Compute, 21,022 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 3,162 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The lower scores in Passmark DirectX tests (150 in DX10, 182 in DX11, 85 in DX12, and 247 in DX9) and the Passmark G2D score of 1,001 reflect the specific nature of those workloads, but the overall picture is one of a card that dominates legacy and modern compute tasks alike. The GTX 580 has no comparable per-test data beyond the OpenCL result, so the head-to-head analysis must rely on that single point, which is overwhelmingly in favor of the RTX 3070.

The percentile rankings tell a similar story. The RTX 3070 sits at the 61st percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the GTX 580 sits at the 58th percentile. Despite the massive raw score advantage, both cards are within three percentile points of each other, which reflects the database's broader distribution of hardware including many higher-end modern cards that push the RTX 3070 down relative to its absolute performance.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the superior card by a wide margin in the only directly comparable benchmark. The 638.2% lead in Geekbench OpenCL is not a marginal improvement; it is a complete generational replacement. The RTX 3070 also holds a higher average benchmark score (17,208 versus 15,283) and a higher percentile ranking (61 versus 58). Anyone choosing between these two based on performance data should select the RTX 3070 without hesitation.

The GTX 580 is not without context, however. Its average score of 15,283 places it within 0.7% of modern cards like the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, which means it still holds a baseline level of capability for older workloads. But the RTX 3070 is in a different class entirely, outperforming the GTX 580 by roughly sevenfold in the one test where both have recorded scores. The RTX 3070's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, GTX 690, HD 7970M, and Tesla K40c, all of which are far closer in performance to the RTX 3070 than the GTX 580 is.

For a user prioritizing raw compute performance, the RTX 3070 is the only rational choice from this data. For a user constrained to the GTX 580's capabilities, the data shows it remains viable for basic tasks, but it is not competitive with the RTX 3070 in any measurable way.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 wins the only recorded head-to-head benchmark, and it wins by an enormous margin. Its strengths lie in modern compute workloads, as evidenced by its 112,821 Geekbench OpenCL score and its 21,022 Geekbench Vulkan score. It also demonstrates strong DirectX 12 capability with a 3,162 score in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, and its Passmark G3D score of 22,214 indicates solid general 3D performance. The card's 61st percentile ranking places it above the majority of GPUs in the database, and its average score of 17,208 is competitive with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and NVIDIA GTX 690, both of which are within 1% of its performance.

The GTX 580 has no recorded wins in any head-to-head test, as the data shows zero wins for this card. Its single benchmark score of 15,283 in Geekbench OpenCL is its only datapoint, and it places the card at the 58th percentile. Its nearest rivals include the RTX 2060, Radeon 680M, RTX 3050 OEM, and RX 7600, all within 0.7% of its average score. This means the GTX 580 is competitive with those cards, but none of them approach the RTX 3070's performance level. The GTX 580 wins only in the sense that it remains functional for legacy applications that do not require modern compute features, but the data cannot support any performance advantage over the RTX 3070.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 scores 112,821, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 scores 15,283, giving the RTX 3070 a 638.2% lead.

Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17,208, while the GTX 580 has an average score of 15,283. The RTX 3070's average is higher, though the GTX 580's average is based on a single test.

Q: What percentile does each card rank at?

A: The RTX 3070 ranks at the 61st percentile among all GPUs, while the GTX 580 ranks at the 58th percentile.

Q: Who are the RTX 3070's nearest rivals?

A: The nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (0.7% ahead of the RTX 3070), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (1% behind), AMD Radeon HD 7970M (1.1% behind), and NVIDIA Tesla K40c (1.5% ahead).

Q: Who are the GTX 580's nearest rivals?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (0% difference), AMD Radeon 680M (0.1% behind), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM (0.6% behind), and AMD Radeon RX 7600 (0.7% behind).

Q: How many head-to-head benchmark wins does each card have?

A: The RTX 3070 has 1 win, and the GTX 580 has 0 wins in the recorded head-to-head data.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 3070 is built on the Ampere architecture, using the GA104 chip fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It contains 17,400 million transistors on a die size of 392 mm², giving it a transistor density of 44.4 million transistors per mm². The GTX 580 uses the older Fermi 2.0 architecture, with the GF110 chip built on a 40 nm process at TSMC. It has 3,000 million transistors on a much larger die of 520 mm², resulting in a transistor density of just 5.8 million transistors per mm². The RTX 3070 crams over seven times more transistors into a smaller area, which explains much of its performance advantage.

The RTX 3070 features 5,888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units. It also includes 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores, which the GTX 580 lacks entirely. The GTX 580 has 512 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor core support. The RTX 3070's pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s, versus 24.70 GPixel/s and 49.41 GTexel/s for the GTX 580. The FP32 compute performance is 20.31 TFLOPS for the RTX 3070 and 1.581 TFLOPS for the GTX 580, a roughly thirteenfold difference.

The RTX 3070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX 580 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6 but has no Vulkan support listed. The RTX 3070 uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, while the GTX 580 uses PCIe 2.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the RTX 3070 offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the GTX 580 has 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a. The RTX 3070 uses a single 12-pin power connector, while the GTX 580 requires a 6-pin plus an 8-pin connector, though both have a suggested PSU of 550 W.

Specification Differences

The memory configurations differ substantially. The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s and an effective memory speed of 14 Gbps. The GTX 580 has 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 192.4 GB/s and an effective speed of 4 Gbps. Despite the GTX 580's wider bus, the RTX 3070 delivers more than double the bandwidth.

Clock speeds also differ, though the GTX 580 has no recorded base or boost clocks. The RTX 3070 has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, with a memory clock of 1750 MHz. The GTX 580's memory clock is 1002 MHz. The RTX 3070 has a TDP of 220 W, while the GTX 580 has a TDP of 244 W, meaning the newer card delivers far more performance while drawing less power.

Physical dimensions differ as well. The RTX 3070 is 242 mm (9.5 inches) long and 112 mm (4.4 inches) tall, while the GTX 580 is 267 mm (10.5 inches) long and 111 mm (4.4 inches) tall. Both are dual-slot cards. The RTX 3070 was released on 2020-08-31, and the GTX 580 on 2010-11-08. Both cards are end-of-life, and both had a launch MSRP of 499 USD. The RTX 3070's predecessor is GeForce 20 and its successor is GeForce 40, while the GTX 580's predecessor is GeForce 400 and its successor is GeForce 600.