NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Comparison

# NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 represent two extremes of NVIDIA's GPU lineage—one a modern workstation powerhouse, the other a legacy gaming card from a different era. The benchmark data places both cards at remarkably similar percentile rankings (59th for the RTX PRO 6000, 58th for the GTX 580), yet their raw scores, architectures, and intended purposes could hardly be more different. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell scores 16,408 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, while the GTX 580 scores 15,283 in Geekbench OpenCL—a difference of 7.4% in favor of the newer card, despite a 14-year gap in release dates.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark comparison between these two cards is complicated by the fact that they run entirely different test suites. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell was evaluated using 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, a modern DirectX 12 Ultimate workload, while the GTX 580 was tested with Geekbench OpenCL, a compute-oriented benchmark. This means the delta between them—1,125 points, or roughly 7.4%—reflects not just raw performance differences but also the distinct workloads each card was designed to handle.

In the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell's 3DMark Steel Nomad run, its 16,408 score places it in a tight cluster of competitors. The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 scores 16,415, a mere 7 points higher (0% delta), making the two essentially identical in this test. The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT trails at 16,361, just 0.3% behind, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M sits at 16,351, 0.4% behind. Interestingly, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 actually beats the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell by 0.6% with a score of 16,504, suggesting that the workstation card's advantage lies not in raw gaming throughput but in professional features and memory capacity.

The GTX 580's Geekbench OpenCL score of 15,283 puts it in a similarly competitive bracket. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 scores 15,290, just 0% ahead, while the AMD Radeon 680M achieves 15,270, 0.1% behind. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM and AMD Radeon RX 7600 come in at 15,199 and 15,171, respectively, 0.6% and 0.7% behind the GTX 580. This is a remarkable result for a 2010-era card—it holds its own against modern entry-level GPUs in this specific compute test, though the benchmark itself is likely more favorable to older architectures than modern gaming workloads.

When interpreting these scores, the percentile data is revealing. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell sits at the 59th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 580 sits at the 58th percentile. This near-identical percentile ranking despite vastly different absolute performance levels suggests that the benchmark pool itself has shifted dramatically—the GTX 580 is competing against a much weaker field of legacy hardware, while the RTX PRO 6000 faces modern flagship competition.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two GPUs is staggering, reflecting 14 years of semiconductor evolution. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell uses the GB202 chip built on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 5 nm process node. The GTX 580 uses the GF110 chip based on Fermi 2.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 40 nm process. The die size difference is notable but not as extreme as one might expect: the RTX PRO 6000 measures 750 mm² versus the GTX 580's 520 mm², yet the transistor count tells a far more dramatic story—92,200 million transistors for the Blackwell chip versus just 3,000 million for Fermi. This translates to a transistor density of 122.9 million per square millimeter for the RTX PRO 6000 versus a mere 5.8 million per square millimeter for the GTX 580, a 21-fold improvement in density.

The memory subsystems highlight another generational leap. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell packs 96 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 580 offers just 1,536 MB (1.5 GB) of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, with 192.4 GB/s bandwidth—a 64-fold difference in capacity and a 9.3-fold difference in bandwidth. Clock speeds show a different trend: the RTX PRO 6000 runs at a 1,590 MHz base and 2,617 MHz boost clock, while the GTX 580's memory clock is 1,002 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The RTX PRO 6000's memory runs at 1,750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), a 7x increase in effective data rate.

Compute resources scale similarly. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has 24,064 shading units, 752 texture mapping units, and 192 render output units, alongside 188 ray tracing cores and 752 tensor cores. The GTX 580 has 512 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor cores whatsoever. Pixel rates illustrate the gap: 502.5 GPixel/s for the RTX PRO 6000 versus 24.70 GPixel/s for the GTX 580, a 20-fold difference. Texture rates show 1,968.0 GTexel/s versus 49.41 GTexel/s, a 40-fold gap. FP32 compute is even more lopsided: 126.0 TFLOPS versus 1.581 TFLOPS, an 80-fold difference. The RTX PRO 6000 also supports FP16 at 126.0 TFLOPS (1:1), while the GTX 580 has no FP16 capability listed.

FAQ

Q: Why do both cards have nearly identical percentile rankings despite such different performance levels?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell sits at the 59th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 580 sits at the 58th percentile. This near-match reflects the different benchmark pools each card is ranked against—the RTX PRO 6000 faces modern flagship GPUs in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, while the GTX 580 is ranked among a broader historical field in Geekbench OpenCL, where its 15,283 score remains competitive with modern entry-level cards like the RTX 3050 OEM (15,199).

Q: Can the GTX 580 run modern DirectX 12 games?

A: The GTX 580 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), which means it can run DirectX 12 titles but only at the feature level of DirectX 11. It lacks support for DirectX 12 Ultimate features and Vulkan is not listed in its API support. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell, by contrast, supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: How does memory capacity affect real-world workstation use?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell's 96 GB of GDDR7 memory is 64 times larger than the GTX 580's 1,536 MB. For workloads like large model training, high-resolution rendering, or massive dataset processing, this capacity difference is likely the single most important factor, as the GTX 580 would run out of memory on tasks the RTX PRO 6000 can handle with ease.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell has a TDP of 600 W with a suggested 1000 W power supply, while the GTX 580 draws 244 W with a 550 W suggested PSU. The RTX PRO 6000 consumes 2.5 times more power, though its FP32 compute per watt is dramatically higher given the 80-fold performance advantage.

Q: Are these cards from the same product generation?

A: No. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell was released on 2025-03-17 with a launch MSRP of 8,565 USD, while the GTX 580 launched on 2010-11-08 with a launch MSRP of 499 USD. The GTX 580 is end-of-life, with the GeForce 600 as its successor, while the RTX PRO 6000 is active production and succeeds the Workstation Ada line.

Q: Which card has better display output capabilities?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell offers 4x DisplayPort 2.1b outputs, supporting modern high-resolution, high-refresh-rate monitors. The GTX 580 provides 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a, which limits it to older display standards.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell uses the GB202 chip on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, while the GTX 580 uses GF110 on Fermi 2.0. Process nodes are 5 nm versus 40 nm, with transistor counts of 92,200 million versus 3,000 million and die sizes of 750 mm² versus 520 mm². The RTX PRO 6000 has 24,064 shading units, 752 TMUs, 192 ROPs, 188 RT cores, and 752 tensor cores; the GTX 580 has 512 shading units, 64 TMUs, 48 ROPs, and no RT or tensor cores. Memory differs in size (96 GB versus 1,536 MB), type (GDDR7 versus GDDR5), bus width (512-bit versus 384-bit), and bandwidth (1.79 TB/s versus 192.4 GB/s). Clock speeds show base 1,590 MHz and boost 2,617 MHz for the RTX PRO 6000, while the GTX 580 has no base or boost clocks listed, only a memory clock of 1,002 MHz (4 Gbps effective). Pixel rate is 502.5 GPixel/s versus 24.70 GPixel/s, texture rate is 1,968.0 GTexel/s versus 49.41 GTexel/s, and FP32 is 126.0 TFLOPS versus 1.581 TFLOPS. TDP is 600 W versus 244 W, with power connectors of 1x 16-pin versus 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin. Bus interface is PCIe 5.0 x16 versus PCIe 2.0 x16. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 2.1b versus 2x DVI + 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a. API support includes DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus DirectX 12 (11_0), and Vulkan 1.4 versus no Vulkan. Dimensions are 304 mm x 137 mm x 40 mm versus 267 mm x 111 mm with no width listed.

The Verdict

The data makes the choice clear for virtually any modern workload: the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is the only viable option. Its 80-fold advantage in FP32 compute, 64-fold advantage in memory capacity, and 9.3-fold advantage in memory bandwidth place it in an entirely different performance class. The GTX 580's benchmark score of 15,283 in Geekbench OpenCL, while competitive with modern entry-level cards in that specific test, cannot compensate for its lack of ray tracing, tensor cores, Vulkan support, and modern display outputs. The GTX 580's DirectX 12 (11_0) support means it cannot fully utilize modern DirectX 12 features, and its 1.5 GB memory is insufficient for contemporary applications. The RTX PRO 6000's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 16,408, while only 0.6% behind the RTX 5090 D V2, demonstrates that it holds its own even among modern flagship GPUs. The 7.4% overall benchmark score difference between the two cards is misleading—the RTX PRO 6000's advantages in architecture, memory, and features make it the clear choice for any professional or compute-intensive task.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell wins in every modern workload category: ray-traced rendering (188 RT cores), AI acceleration (752 tensor cores), large dataset processing (96 GB memory), high-resolution display output (DisplayPort 2.1b), and compute-heavy tasks (126.0 TFLOPS FP32). Its 5 nm process node and 92,200 million transistors enable 122.9 million transistors per square millimeter, making it exceptionally efficient despite its 600 W TDP. The GTX 580, however, retains one practical advantage: its 244 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU make it far easier to integrate into legacy systems, and its 2x DVI outputs may be useful for older monitors. In terms of benchmark positioning, the GTX 580's 15,283 Geekbench OpenCL score edges out the RTX 3050 OEM (15,199) and RX 7600 (15,171) by 0.6% and 0.7% respectively, suggesting it can still handle basic compute tasks competitively. The RTX PRO 6000's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon PRO W7500, matches its score within 0%, but the RTX PRO 6000's massive memory advantage and professional feature set make it the superior choice for workstation use. Ultimately, the GTX 580 is a historical artifact with niche compatibility value, while the RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell is a forward-looking professional tool.