NVIDIA started GeForce GTX 590 sales 24 March 2011 at a recommended price of $699 . This is a desktop graphics card based on a Fermi 2.0 architecture and made with 40 nm manufacturing process. It is primarily aimed at gamer market. 3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU) of GDDR5 memory clocked at 1.71 GHz are supplied, and together with 768-bit (384-bit per GPU) memory interface this creates a bandwidth of 327.7 GB/s.

Compatibility-wise, this is a dual-slot graphics card attached via PCIe 2.0 x16 interface. Its manufacturer default version has a length of 279 mm. Two 8-pin power connectors are required, and power consumption is at 365 Watt.

Primary details

Some basic facts about GeForce GTX 590: architecture, market segment, release date etc.

Place in the ranking	494
Place by popularity	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.74
Power efficiency	1.65	of 100.00 (Radeon 890M)
Architecture	Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)
GPU code name	GF110
Market segment	Desktop
Release date	24 March 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$699	of 14,999 (Quadro Plex 7000)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Detailed specifications

GeForce GTX 590's specs such as number of shaders, GPU base clock, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of GeForce GTX 590's performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider its benchmark and gaming test results.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	1024	of 21760 (GeForce RTX 5090)
Core clock speed	607 MHz	of 2610 MHz (Radeon RX 6500 XT)
Number of transistors	3,000 million	of 208,000 million (B200 SXM 192 GB)
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	of 3 nm (Arc Graphics 140V)
Power consumption (TDP)	365 Watt	of 2400 Watt (Data Center GPU Max Subsystem)
Maximum GPU temperature	97 °C
Texture fill rate	38.91	of 2,554 (Radeon Instinct MI300X)
Floating-point processing power	1.244 TFLOPS	of 109.7 (GeForce RTX 5090)
ROPs	48	of 192 (Radeon RX 7900 XTX)
TMUs	64	of 1280 (Data Center GPU Max NEXT)

Form factor & compatibility

This section provides details about the physical dimensions of GeForce GTX 590 and its compatibility with other computer components. This information is useful when selecting a computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards, it includes details about the interface and bus (for motherboard compatibility) and additional power connectors (for power supply compatibility).

Bus support	16x PCI-E 2.0
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	279 mm
Height	4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 8-pin
SLI options	+

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of memory installed on GeForce GTX 590: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Note that GPUs integrated into processors have no dedicated memory and use a shared part of system RAM instead.

Memory type	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU)	of 294912 (Radeon Instinct MI325X)
Memory bus width	768-bit (384-bit per GPU)	of 8192 Bit (Radeon Instinct MI250X)
Memory clock speed	1707 MHz	of 20000 (RTX 5000 Ada Generation Mobile)
Memory bandwidth	327.7 GB/s	of 5,171 GB/s (Radeon Instinct MI300X)
Shared memory	-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on GeForce GTX 590. As a rule, this section is relevant only for desktop reference graphics cards, since for notebook ones the availability of certain video outputs depends on the laptop model, while non-reference desktop models can (though not necessarily will) bear a different set of video ports.

Display Connectors	Three Dual Link DVI-IMini DisplayPort
Multi monitor support	+
HDMI	+
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI	Internal

API compatibility

APIs supported by GeForce GTX 590, sometimes including their particular versions.

DirectX	12 (11_0)
Shader Model	5.1
OpenGL	4.2	of 4.6 (GeForce RTX 4090)
OpenCL	1.1
Vulkan	N/A
CUDA	+

Benchmark performance

Synthetic benchmark performance of GeForce GTX 590. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 590 8.66

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 590 3341

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GTX 590 9167

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTX 590 25720

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 590 6680

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

GTX 590 12811

Gaming performance

Let's see how good GeForce GTX 590 is for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in frames per second. Comparisons with game system requirements are included, but remember that sometimes official requirements may reflect reality inaccurately.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular modern games across different resolutions:

900p	47
Full HD	111
1200p	112

Cost per frame, $

1080p

6.30

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

14−16

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14
Battlefield 5	24−27
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16
Far Cry 5	20−22
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27
Forza Horizon 4	55−60
Hitman 3	16−18
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50
Metro Exodus	24−27
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14
Battlefield 5	24−27
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16
Far Cry 5	20−22
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27
Forza Horizon 4	55−60
Hitman 3	16−18
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50
Metro Exodus	24−27
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16
Far Cry 5	20−22
Forza Horizon 4	55−60
Hitman 3	16−18
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	27−30
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

24−27

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18
Far Cry New Dawn	12−14

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5
Far Cry 5	10−11
Forza Horizon 4	35−40
Hitman 3	12−14
Horizon Zero Dawn	18−20
Metro Exodus	10−12
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	9−10
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	8−9
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

14−16

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	8−9
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7
Hitman 3	5−6
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35
Metro Exodus	6−7
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6−7

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	4−5
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2
Far Cry 5	5−6
Forza Horizon 4	10−11
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5
Watch Dogs: Legion	3−4

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

8−9

Closest competitors

GeForce GTX 590's performance relative to its closest rivals among desktop graphics cards.

Radeon HD 7850 115.7

Radeon RX 560 109.24

GeForce GTX 750 100.12

GeForce GTX 590 100

GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 99.88

Radeon RX 560X 98.85

Radeon R7 260X 95.38

AMD equivalent

According to our data, the closest AMD alternative to GeForce GTX 590 is Radeon RX 560X, which is slower by 1% and lower by 3 positions in our ranking.