NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in raw compute performance?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server delivers 126.0 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the GTX 580M offers 952.3 GFLOPS. This represents a massive generational leap in arithmetic throughput.

Q: What are the memory capacities and types?

A: The GTX 580M has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server packs 96 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units and texture units?

A: The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server has 24,064 shading units and 752 TMUs. The GTX 580M has 384 shading units and 64 TMUs. The RTX PRO 6000 also adds 188 RT cores and 752 tensor cores, which the GTX 580M lacks entirely.

Q: What is the transistor count difference?

A: The GTX 580M uses 1,950 million transistors on a 332 mm² die fabricated on a 40 nm process. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server uses 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die fabricated on a 5 nm process.

Q: How do their benchmark scores compare?

A: The GTX 580M scores 6,389 in Geekbench OpenCL, placing it in the 37th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server scores 5,996 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 34th percentile. These are different benchmark suites, so direct comparison is not possible.

Q: What are the production statuses and release dates?

A: The GTX 580M is end-of-life and was released on 2011-06-27. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server is active and was released on 2025-03-17.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 580M wins in the Geekbench OpenCL workload, scoring 6,389 points. This places it in the 37th percentile of all GPUs, marginally ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 (6,330, +0.9% delta) and the AMD Radeon R7 M350 (6,327, +1% delta). It ties exactly with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE at 6,389, and comes within 0.3% of the RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell (6,407). The GTX 580M's score is modest but competitive for its era, reflecting a mobile GPU that was designed for high-end gaming laptops.

The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server wins in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, scoring 5,996 points. This places it in the 34th percentile of all GPUs, nearly matching the GeForce GTX 770M (6,000, -0.1% delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 6400 (6,001, -0.1% delta). It edges out the AMD FirePro W4100 (5,987, +0.2% delta) and the NVIDIA Quadro K4000M (5,986, +0.2% delta). While the absolute score is higher than the GTX 580M's, the percentile ranking is slightly lower due to the benchmark's different scoring distribution.

The architecture differences dictate where each GPU excels. The GTX 580M, with its Fermi 2.0 architecture, is built for DirectX 11-era workloads and OpenCL compute. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server, with Blackwell 2.0, targets modern DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 applications, and includes dedicated RT and tensor cores that enable ray tracing and AI acceleration. For legacy compute tasks, the GTX 580M's OpenCL score remains respectable; for contemporary graphics and server workloads, the RTX PRO 6000's feature set is far more comprehensive.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent endpoints of NVIDIA's architectural evolution. The GTX 580M uses the GF114 chip based on Fermi 2.0 architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 40 nm process. It integrates 1,950 million transistors across a 332 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 5.9M per mm². The Fermi 2.0 architecture supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, but no Vulkan. The GTX 580M has no RT cores or tensor cores, reflecting a pre-ray-tracing era.

The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server uses the GB202 chip based on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 5 nm process. It integrates 92,200 million transistors across a 750 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 122.9M per mm² — roughly 21 times denser than the GTX 580M. Blackwell 2.0 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. It includes 188 RT cores and 752 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and tensor operations. The FP16 throughput matches FP32 at 126.0 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), whereas the GTX 580M has no FP16 capability listed.

The memory architecture differs fundamentally. The GTX 580M uses GDDR5 with a 256-bit interface, while the RTX PRO 6000 uses GDDR7 with a 512-bit interface. The RTX PRO 6000 also supports PCIe 5.0 x16, compared to the GTX 580M's MXM-B (3.0) interface. The GTX 580M's slot width is MXM Module, whereas the RTX PRO 6000 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 40 mm in width.

Specification Differences

The specification gap is enormous across nearly every metric. The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server has 24,064 shading units versus the GTX 580M's 384 — a 62.7x difference. TMUs number 752 versus 64, and ROPs 192 versus 32. The RTX PRO 6000's pixel rate is 502.5 GPixel/s versus 9.920 GPixel/s for the GTX 580M, and its texture rate is 1,968.0 GTexel/s versus 39.68 GTexel/s.

Memory specifications diverge sharply: 96 GB of GDDR7 versus 2 GB of GDDR5; 512-bit bus versus 256-bit; 1.79 TB/s bandwidth versus 96.00 GB/s. The RTX PRO 6000 has a base clock of 1590 MHz and boost clock of 2617 MHz, while the GTX 580M has no base or boost clock listed. Memory clock on the GTX 580M is 750 MHz (3 Gbps effective), while the RTX PRO 6000 runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective).

Power and physical specifications differ as well. The RTX PRO 6000 has a TDP of 600 W, requires a 1x 16-pin power connector, and suggests a 1000 W PSU. The GTX 580M has a TDP of 100 W, no power connectors, and no suggested PSU. The RTX PRO 6000 outputs to 4x DisplayPort 2.1b, while the GTX 580M's display outputs are portable-device dependent. The RTX PRO 6000's predecessor is Server Hopper and successor is Server Rubin; the GTX 580M's predecessor is GeForce 400M and successor is GeForce 600M.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Direct head-to-head benchmark data is not available, as the two GPUs were tested with different benchmark suites. The GTX 580M's only benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, scoring 6,389. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE at an identical 6,389 (0% delta), followed by the RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell at 6,407 (-0.3% delta). The GTX 580M outperforms the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 by 0.9% and the AMD Radeon R7 M350 by 1%.

The RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server's only benchmark is 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, scoring 5,996. Its nearest rival is the NVIDIA Quadro K4000M at 5,986 (+0.2% delta), followed by the AMD FirePro W4100 at 5,987 (+0.2% delta). The RTX PRO 6000 trails the GeForce GTX 770M by 0.1% and the AMD Radeon RX 6400 by 0.1%. These deltas suggest that both GPUs sit in a tightly contested mid-range performance band within their respective benchmark environments.

The absence of overlapping benchmarks makes direct comparison impossible, but the data reveals the nature of each GPU's competitive position. The GTX 580M's OpenCL score of 6,389 places it in the 37th percentile, indicating it outperforms roughly 37% of all GPUs in that workload. The RTX PRO 6000's Steel Nomad score of 5,996 places it in the 34th percentile. While the GTX 580M has a higher percentile, this does not imply superiority — the GTX 580M's nearest rivals are all older or lower-tier GPUs, whereas the RTX PRO 6000's rivals include modern GPUs like the RX 6400. The RTX PRO 6000's raw specifications dwarf the GTX 580M's, but its benchmark percentile reflects the competitive landscape of modern GPUs rather than absolute capability.