NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 vs NVIDIA T400 Comparison

The NVIDIA T400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 represent two very different eras of GPU design. The T400 is a modern, low-power professional card built on the Turing architecture, while the GTX 580 is a legacy high-end gaming card from the Fermi generation. Benchmark data shows the T400 holds a lead in the single available head-to-head test, but the specifications reveal a deeper story about how each card achieves its performance. This analysis compares their raw scores, architectural foundations, and practical use cases based strictly on the data provided.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA T400 has a higher average benchmark score of 16,508, compared to 15,283 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. This places the T400 in the 60th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 580 sits in the 58th percentile.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The T400 scores 17,039, which is 11.5% higher than the GTX 580's score of 15,283. The T400 is the winner in this head-to-head benchmark.

Q: What is the difference in power consumption between the two cards?

A: The T400 has a TDP of 30 W and requires no power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 200 W. The GTX 580 has a TDP of 244 W, requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin power connector, and needs a suggested PSU of 550 W.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The GTX 580 has significantly higher memory bandwidth at 192.4 GB/s, thanks to a 384-bit bus, compared to the T400's 80.00 GB/s over a 64-bit bus. However, the T400 uses faster GDDR6 memory at 10 Gbps effective, while the GTX 580 uses GDDR5 at 4 Gbps effective.

Q: Do both cards support modern graphics APIs?

A: The T400 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 580 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support listed.

Q: What are the physical size differences between the cards?

A: The GTX 580 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm (10.5 inches) in length and 111 mm (4.4 inches) in height. The T400 is a single-slot card, though its exact dimensions are not listed.

The Verdict

The benchmark data clearly favors the NVIDIA T400. It wins the only head-to-head test available, the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark, with a score of 17,039 versus 15,283 for the GTX 580 — an 11.5% advantage. The T400 also holds a higher average benchmark score (16,508 vs 15,283) and a better percentile ranking (60th vs 58th). For raw compute performance in modern workloads, the T400 is the superior choice.

However, the GTX 580 is not without its own strengths. It offers substantially more memory bandwidth (192.4 GB/s vs 80.00 GB/s) and nearly double the texture fill rate (49.41 GTexel/s vs 34.20 GTexel/s). For legacy applications or workloads that are heavily dependent on memory throughput, the GTX 580's architecture may still have relevance.

The T400 is the clear pick for anyone needing a low-power, single-slot card with modern API support and better overall benchmark results. The GTX 580, despite its age and high power draw, retains a niche for scenarios where its wider memory bus and higher fill rates matter more than raw compute scores.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test. Here, the NVIDIA T400 scores 17,039, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 scores 15,283. The T400 wins by 11.5%, which is a decisive margin in synthetic compute workloads.

This result is notable because the GTX 580 has a higher rated FP32 performance of 1.581 TFLOPS, compared to 1,094.4 GFLOPS for the T400. Despite the GTX 580's theoretical compute advantage, the T400 delivers better real-world OpenCL performance. This suggests the T400's modern Turing architecture is more efficient at executing these workloads, or that the GDDR6 memory and higher boost clock (1425 MHz vs the GTX 580's unspecified base/boost) compensate for its lower raw FLOP count.

The GTX 580 does not win any head-to-head benchmark in this dataset. The T400 secures one win, and there are no tests where the GTX 580 comes out ahead. This means the data shows a unidirectional performance relationship: the T400 is faster in the tested workload.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification. The T400 uses 2 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, delivering 80.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 580 uses 1536 MB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 192.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

Clock speeds tell a different story. The T400 has a base clock of 420 MHz and a boost clock of 1425 MHz, with memory running at 1250 MHz (10 Gbps effective). The GTX 580's base and boost clocks are not listed, but its memory runs at 1002 MHz (4 Gbps effective).

Compute resources differ significantly. The T400 has 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The GTX 580 has 512 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The GTX 580's pixel rate is 24.70 GPixel/s versus 22.80 GPixel/s for the T400, and its texture rate is 49.41 GTexel/s versus 34.20 GTexel/s.

Power and physical requirements are starkly different. The T400 is a 30 W single-slot card with no power connectors and a 200 W suggested PSU. The GTX 580 is a 244 W dual-slot card requiring one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector, with a 550 W suggested PSU.

Interface and display outputs also differ. The T400 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 and offers three mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The GTX 580 uses PCIe 2.0 x16 and offers two DVI and one mini-HDMI 1.3a output.

Architecture Differences

The T400 is built on the Turing architecture using the TU117 chip, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. It contains 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 23.5 million per square millimeter. It is part of the Quadro Turing (Tx000) generation.

The GTX 580 is built on the Fermi 2.0 architecture using the GF110 chip, fabricated on a 40 nm process at TSMC. It contains 3,000 million transistors on a much larger 520 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of only 5.8 million per square millimeter. It belongs to the GeForce 500 generation.

The T400 supports FP16 at 2.189 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) and has 1,094.4 GFLOPS of FP32 performance. The GTX 580 has 1.581 TFLOPS of FP32 performance but no listed FP16 capability. Neither card features RT or tensor cores.

API support reflects the architectural divide. The T400 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 580 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support listed. The T400's smaller, denser chip on a modern process node represents a fundamental generational leap over the GTX 580's older, larger Fermi design.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA T400 wins in scenarios that favor modern compute efficiency and low power draw. Its 11.5% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and higher average score make it the better choice for general-purpose compute tasks, particularly those that leverage modern APIs like Vulkan 1.4. The T400's 30 W TDP, single-slot design, and lack of power connectors make it ideal for compact systems, workstation environments, or multi-GPU setups where power and space are constrained. Its GDDR6 memory and higher boost clock of 1425 MHz also give it an edge in latency-sensitive workloads.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 wins in scenarios that depend on memory bandwidth and raw fill rates. Its 192.4 GB/s of bandwidth is more than double the T400's 80.00 GB/s, which is critical for large texture sets or high-resolution framebuffers. The GTX 580's texture rate of 49.41 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 24.70 GPixel/s both exceed the T400's figures (34.20 GTexel/s and 22.80 GPixel/s, respectively). For legacy applications written for older DirectX 11_0-era hardware, or workloads that are bandwidth-bound rather than compute-bound, the GTX 580's architecture offers advantages that the modern T400 cannot match. Its 512 shading units and 64 TMUs also provide more parallel throughput in certain traditional graphics workloads.