NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M is a legacy mobile graphics solution whose benchmark data places it in a narrow performance band, effectively tied with several much newer entry-level parts. With an average OpenCL score of 6389, it sits at the 36th percentile of all GPUs, indicating that while it is far from competitive by modern standards, it remains marginally ahead of a few contemporary low-end integrated and discrete options. The data shows a GPU that was competent for its 2011-era generation but has since been overtaken by both integrated graphics progress and low-end dedicated silicon.

Benchmark Performance

The GTX 580M’s sole benchmark result, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 6389, serves as the primary quantitative reference. Against its immediate rivals, the performance deltas are remarkably small, indicating that this old Fermi part lands in a performance no-man's-land where architectural age and clock speed differences nearly cancel out.

The closest competitor is the NVIDIA Quadro P2000, which scores 6364. The GTX 580M leads by a mere 0.4%, a margin statistically indistinguishable from a tie. This is notable because the Quadro P2000 is a professional workstation card from a much later generation, yet the data shows the older gaming-oriented chip holding a razor-thin edge in this specific compute workload.

The Intel UHD Graphics 730, an integrated solution, scores 6425. The GTX 580M trails this iGPU by 0.6%. This is a critical finding: a dedicated mobile GPU from 2011 is slightly slower than a modern integrated graphics processor found in desktop CPUs. The performance gap is negligible, meaning that for OpenCL compute tasks, the integrated solution offers equivalent capability while consuming far less power and space.

Similarly, the NVIDIA GeForce MX230 scores 6445, placing the GTX 580M 0.9% behind this entry-level laptop GPU. The MX230 is a low-power part designed for basic acceleration, and the data suggests the old Fermi chip is essentially performance-equivalent, despite the massive generational gap. The final rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE, scores 6326, with the GTX 580M leading by 1.0%. This is the only rival where the 580M shows a clear, albeit small, advantage.

The overall picture is one of stagnation: the GTX 580M delivers compute performance that is within 1% of all four nearest rivals, a cluster spanning integrated graphics, entry-level mobile, professional workstation, and an older desktop part. The 36th percentile ranking confirms that this performance level is below the median of all GPUs, placing it in the lower third of the historical performance distribution.

How It Compares

NVIDIA Quadro P2000: The 580M edges out the Quadro P2000 by 0.4%, a lead that is effectively negligible. The data indicates that despite the Quadro’s professional positioning and newer architecture, the 580M’s raw compute output in OpenCL matches it. The Quadro likely offers better driver optimization for professional applications, but the raw benchmark score shows no performance advantage.

Intel UHD Graphics 730: The integrated Intel solution is 0.6% faster than the 580M. This comparison is the most damning for the older chip. The data shows that a modern iGPU, which shares system memory and has no dedicated VRAM, can match and slightly exceed a dedicated 100-watt mobile GPU from 2011. The benchmark results indicate that the GTX 580M offers no performance reason to choose it over this integrated alternative.

NVIDIA GeForce MX230: The MX230, a low-end discrete laptop GPU, leads the 580M by 0.9%. This is a narrow margin, but it reinforces the trend that even the most basic modern discrete solutions have caught up to and surpassed the Fermi generation. The data suggests that the 580M is functionally obsolete in compute workloads when compared to even the weakest contemporary offerings.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE: The 580M’s only clear victory is against the GTX 460 SE, a desktop part from the same Fermi generation, where it leads by 1.0%. This is expected, as the 580M is a mobile variant with a higher clocked memory and potentially better binning. The small margin, however, shows that even within its own generation, the performance scaling was minimal.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The GTX 580M has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The architecture, Fermi 2.0, predates hardware-accelerated ray tracing by several generations. The chip, designated GF114, contains 384 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation pipelines. These are fixed-function units that handle traditional rasterization and compute, but they offer no support for modern AI-accelerated features like DLSS or real-time ray tracing.

The API support is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6. While the DirectX 12 entry appears modern, the "11_0" qualifier indicates that the hardware only supports the feature level of DirectX 11, meaning it cannot utilize DirectX 12-specific rendering features such as bindless resources or explicit multi-adapter. The absence of Vulkan support is a significant limitation, as many modern games and applications rely on this API for cross-platform performance. The data shows a GPU that is confined to legacy rendering paths, making it unsuitable for current-generation titles that require DirectX 12 Ultimate or Vulkan features.

Power and Cooling

The GTX 580M carries a thermal design power (TDP) of 100 W. This is a substantial power draw for a mobile component, especially considering its modern performance level is on par with integrated graphics that consume a fraction of that power. The module uses an MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module) form factor with an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface, which is a standardized slot for laptop graphics upgrades. The slot width is listed as "MXM Module," indicating a dedicated and sizable board.

The power connectors are listed as "None," meaning the GPU draws all its power directly through the MXM slot interface. This simplifies installation in compatible laptops, as no external power cables are required. However, the 100 W TDP still places significant thermal burden on the laptop’s cooling solution, which must dissipate that heat within a constrained chassis. There is no suggested PSU requirement provided, but the 100 W TDP suggests that the host laptop must have a robust power delivery system and cooling design to sustain performance without thermal throttling.

FAQ

Q: What is the GTX 580M’s performance level compared to modern integrated graphics?

A: The benchmark data shows it is 0.6% slower than the Intel UHD Graphics 730, meaning its compute performance is effectively equivalent to a modern entry-level iGPU.

Q: Does the GTX 580M support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The GPU has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, and its Fermi 2.0 architecture predates hardware-accelerated ray tracing entirely.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of the GTX 580M?

A: The GPU has a 256-bit memory bus with GDDR5 memory running at 750 MHz (3 Gbps effective), yielding a bandwidth of 96.00 GB/s.

Q: Which APIs does the GTX 580M support?

A: It supports DirectX 12 (11_0 feature level) and OpenGL 4.6. It does not support Vulkan.

Q: How does the GTX 580M compare to the NVIDIA Quadro P2000?

A: The GTX 580M scores 6389, which is 0.4% higher than the Quadro P2000's 6364, making the two effectively tied in OpenCL performance.

Q: What is the power consumption of the GTX 580M?

A: The TDP is 100 W, and it requires no external power connectors, drawing all power from the MXM slot.

Memory Subsystem

The GTX 580M is equipped with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus. The memory clock is 750 MHz, translating to 3 Gbps effective data rate. This configuration yields a peak bandwidth of 96.00 GB/s. For its time, this was a substantial memory subsystem, but modern standards show its limitations.

The 96.00 GB/s bandwidth is the primary constraint for high-resolution gaming. At 1080p, this bandwidth is marginal, and at higher resolutions like 1440p or 4K, the GPU would struggle to feed its 384 shading units with texture and geometry data. The 2 GB VRAM capacity is also restrictive for modern titles, which often exceed this allocation at high detail settings. The data indicates that the memory subsystem is sufficient only for low-resolution, low-detail workloads. The 256-bit bus is wide, but the low memory clock caps the effective throughput, making the GPU more compute-bound than memory-bound in some legacy tasks, yet severely bandwidth-limited in modern high-resolution scenarios.

Who Should Consider It

The benchmark data positions the GTX 580M as a part for legacy systems and specific low-demand use cases. Given its performance parity with modern integrated graphics and entry-level discrete GPUs, the only justification for consideration is if it is already installed in an MXM-compatible laptop and the user has no intent to play modern games.

For gaming, the scores suggest it is only viable for esports titles and older games at 720p or low-settings 1080p. The 0.4% lead over the Quadro P2000 and 1.0% lead over the GTX 460 SE indicate that it can handle early-2010s game libraries at playable frame rates, but any title released after 2015 will likely exceed its capabilities. The lack of Vulkan support and DirectX 12 feature level 11_0 means that many contemporary games will not even run, or will fall back to compatibility modes with severe performance penalties.

For compute tasks, the OpenCL score of 6389 is sufficient for basic GPGPU workloads like simple image processing or legacy CUDA applications, but the 100 W TDP makes it an inefficient choice compared to the Intel UHD Graphics 730, which delivers equivalent performance with far lower power consumption. The GTX 580M should only be considered by users who have a compatible MXM laptop and require a drop-in replacement for a failed GPU, with the understanding that its performance is strictly entry-level by modern standards.