AMD Radeon Pro 460 vs AMD Radeon RX 560X Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 560X and AMD Radeon Pro 460 are both 14 nm GCN 4.0 parts built by GlobalFoundries with 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, but they target different environments: the RX 560X is a dual-slot desktop card, while the Pro 460 is an integrated graphics processor for portable Macs. Benchmark data shows the RX 560X leading in shared tests, but the Pro 460 counters with a Metal score that the desktop card cannot match. This analysis breaks down their performance, specifications, and architectural positioning using only the provided facts.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 560X wins with a score of 17020 against 15284 for the AMD Radeon Pro 460, a delta of 11.4%.

Q: How large is the Vulkan performance gap between the two?

A: The RX 560X scores 20231 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the Pro 460 scores 16816. That is a 20.3% advantage for the RX 560X.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro 460 have any benchmark where it beats the RX 560X?

A: The data lists a Geekbench Metal result for the Pro 460 of 20426, but no corresponding Metal score exists for the RX 560X in the head-to-head results. Therefore, a direct comparison in that test is not possible from the provided data.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The RX 560X has an average benchmark score of 18626, placing it at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. The Pro 460 averages 17509, sitting at the 61st percentile.

Q: How do the two compare to their nearest rivals in average score?

A: The RX 560X is essentially tied with the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT (18685, -0.3%) and slightly ahead of the AMD FirePro D500 (18533, +0.5%). The Pro 460 is nearly matched with the NVIDIA Tesla K40c (17468, +0.2%) and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17551, -0.2%).

Q: What are the thermal design power (TDP) ratings?

A: The RX 560X is rated at 75 W, while the Pro 460 is rated at 35 W. The RX 560X also lists a suggested power supply of 250 W, whereas the Pro 460 has none specified.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear performance hierarchy for users who prioritize raw compute in OpenCL and Vulkan: the AMD Radeon RX 560X is the stronger card. It wins both shared head-to-head tests with double-digit margins, and its average score (18626) outpaces the Pro 460 (17509) by roughly 6.4%. The RX 560X also holds a higher percentile rank (62nd vs 61st), reinforcing its slight edge in the broader GPU landscape.

However, the choice is not purely about speed. The Pro 460 is a 35 W IGP with no power connectors, designed for portable devices, whereas the RX 560X is a 75 W dual-slot card requiring a 250 W power supply. For a desktop build with room for a discrete card, the RX 560X is the obvious pick based on performance data. For a space- and power-constrained system where the GPU must be integrated, the Pro 460 is the only viable option, and its Metal score of 20426 suggests it holds its own in Apple-centric workloads. The verdict: pick the RX 560X for raw performance, pick the Pro 460 for integration efficiency and Metal compatibility.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data is one-sided, with the RX 560X winning both tests where scores are available for both cards. The first test, Geekbench OpenCL, shows the RX 560X at 17020 versus 15284 for the Pro 460, a delta of 11.4%. This is a solid but not overwhelming lead, indicating that the RX 560X's higher clock speeds translate into a meaningful compute advantage in this workload.

The second test, Geekbench Vulkan, reveals a much larger gap. Here, the RX 560X scores 20231 against 16816, which is a 20.3% difference. This suggests that the RX 560X is particularly well-suited to Vulkan workloads, likely due to its higher boost clock and memory bandwidth. The Pro 460's slower 1270 MHz memory clock and 81.28 GB/s bandwidth are a clear handicap in this scenario, whereas the RX 560X's 1750 MHz memory and 112.0 GB/s bandwidth provide a significant throughput advantage.

Interestingly, the Pro 460 has a Geekbench Metal score of 20426, which is higher than either of the RX 560X's scores in OpenCL or Vulkan. However, since the RX 560X has no Metal score listed, this cannot be used to declare a winner. The data simply shows that the Pro 460 excels in the Metal API, while the RX 560X dominates the two cross-platform tests. The final tally is 2 wins for the RX 560X and 0 for the Pro 460 in direct comparisons.

Specification Differences

The two cards share a foundation but diverge significantly in clock speeds and power. The base clock of the RX 560X is 1175 MHz, which is 325 MHz higher than the Pro 460's 850 MHz base. The boost clocks follow the same trend: 1275 MHz for the RX 560X versus 907 MHz for the Pro 460. This clock advantage directly explains the RX 560X's performance lead, as both cards have identical core configurations (1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, 16 ROPs).

Memory clocks also differ, with the RX 560X running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) versus 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective) for the Pro 460. Both have 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, but the higher clock gives the RX 560X a bandwidth of 112.0 GB/s compared to 81.28 GB/s for the Pro 460. This 30.7 GB/s difference is likely a major factor in the Vulkan benchmark gap.

Power consumption is another differentiator: the RX 560X draws 75 W, while the Pro 460 draws just 35 W. The RX 560X is a dual-slot card with no power connectors and a suggested PSU of 250 W, while the Pro 460 is an IGP with no slot width, no PSU suggestion, and portable-device-dependent display outputs. The RX 560X offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, whereas the Pro 460's outputs are not fixed. The RX 560X measures 170 mm (6.7 inches) in length; the Pro 460 has no listed dimensions.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs are built on GCN 4.0 architecture using a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, with identical transistor counts (3,000 million) and die size (123 mm²). The transistor density is also the same at 24.4M per mm². This means the architectural core is essentially identical, with the same 1024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. Neither card supports ray tracing or tensor cores, as those fields are null.

The key architectural difference lies in the chip implementation. The RX 560X uses the Polaris 21 chip and belongs to the Polaris (RX 500X) generation, while the Pro 460 uses the Baffin chip and is part of the Radeon Pro Mac (400 Series) generation. Despite the different names, both are GCN 4.0 parts, so the microarchitecture is the same. The real differentiation comes from clock speeds and thermal design, not from architectural features.

The RX 560X's higher clocks (1175/1275 MHz) versus the Pro 460's lower clocks (850/907 MHz) are the primary architectural differentiator in practice. This leads to higher pixel rates (20.40 GPixel/s vs 14.51 GPixel/s), texture rates (81.60 GTexel/s vs 58.05 GTexel/s), and FP32 throughput (2.611 TFLOPS vs 1.858 TFLOPS). Both support DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, with identical FP16 performance at 1:1 ratio. The RX 560X was released later (2018-04-10) than the Pro 460 (2016-10-29), and the RX 560X lists a predecessor (Polaris) and successor (Vega), while the Pro 460 has neither. Both are end-of-life products.