AMD Radeon Pro 460 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile and AMD Radeon Pro 460 represent two distinct eras of mobile graphics, separated by nearly five years of architectural evolution. The benchmark data confirms a decisive performance gulf, with the RTX 3060 Mobile leading in every shared test, yet the Radeon Pro 460 holds its own in the broader percentile rankings. In the two directly comparable benchmarks, the GeForce delivers a 420% advantage in Geekbench OpenCL (79,483 vs. 15,284) and a 377.8% lead in Geekbench Vulkan (80,344 vs. 16,816). These are not marginal improvements; they represent a generational leap in raw compute and API efficiency.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only overlapping tests in the dataset are Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile dominates both. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3060 Mobile scores 79,483 against the Radeon Pro 460’s 15,284, a delta of 420%. This is the single largest victory in the comparison, driven by the NVIDIA part’s 3,840 shading units versus 1,024 on the AMD chip, alongside a 10.94 TFLOPS FP32 throughput against 1.858 TFLOPS. The OpenCL result reflects not just raw shader count but also memory bandwidth advantages: 336.0 GB/s on the GeForce versus 81.28 GB/s on the Radeon, which heavily influences compute-heavy workloads.

Geekbench Vulkan shows a similar story, with the RTX 3060 Mobile scoring 80,344 versus the Radeon Pro 460’s 16,816, a 377.8% delta. Vulkan is a low-overhead API, and the NVIDIA architecture’s support for version 1.4 (compared to 1.3 on AMD) and its higher clock speeds — boost at 1425 MHz versus 907 MHz — contribute to this margin. The RTX 3060 Mobile also has 120 texture mapping units and 48 ROPs, versus 64 TMUs and 16 ROPs on the Radeon, which scales directly in fill-rate-bound tasks; the pixel rate difference is stark at 68.40 GPixel/s versus 14.51 GPixel/s.

Notably, the Radeon Pro 460 has no corresponding DirectX or PassMark scores in the FACT PACK, so the head-to-head comparison is limited to those two API tests. However, the NVIDIA part’s broader benchmark suite paints a complete picture: it scores 1,821 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 13,230 in PassMark G3D, and 5,718 in PassMark GPU Compute. The Radeon Pro 460’s only other data point is a Geekbench Metal score of 20,426, which cannot be directly compared to the NVIDIA part, since no Metal score exists for the RTX 3060 Mobile. This absence of overlapping tests in legacy APIs underscores how the two products target different ecosystems — the Radeon Pro 460 is built for macOS environments, while the GeForce is a Windows-centric mobile part.

The average benchmark score tells a more nuanced story: the RTX 3060 Mobile averages 18,159 across all tests, while the Radeon Pro 460 averages 17,509 — a difference of only 650 points (3.7%). This is because the Radeon’s Metal score and the NVIDIA’s DirectX/PassMark numbers are not equal-weight comparisons; the averages are computed over different test sets. In percentile rankings, the RTX 3060 Mobile sits at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, just one point above the Radeon Pro 460’s 61st percentile. This indicates that while the NVIDIA part wins every direct matchup, the Radeon’s overall standing among all GPUs is surprisingly close, likely due to its efficiency in Metal-based workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile averages 18,159 across its benchmark suite, while the AMD Radeon Pro 460 averages 17,509. The difference is 650 points, a 3.7% gap, but the averages are based on different test sets — the NVIDIA part includes DirectX and PassMark tests, while the AMD part only has Geekbench OpenCL, Vulkan, and Metal scores.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3060 Mobile in Vulkan compute?

A: In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 3060 Mobile scores 80,344 compared to the Radeon Pro 460’s 16,816, making it 377.8% faster. This is the second-largest delta in the head-to-head data, behind OpenCL.

Q: Does the Radeon Pro 460 win any benchmark?

A: No. In the two directly comparable tests — Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan — the Radeon Pro 460 loses both. The data shows 2 wins for the NVIDIA part and 0 for the AMD part. However, the Radeon’s Geekbench Metal score of 20,426 is its strongest result, though no comparable Metal score exists for the RTX 3060 Mobile.

Q: What is the percentile ranking difference between the two?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile ranks at the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon Pro 460 ranks at the 61st. This one-point difference is minimal, suggesting that despite the massive head-to-head deltas, both sit in a similar tier relative to all other GPUs.

Q: Which GPU has a higher memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile has 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth, versus 81.28 GB/s on the AMD Radeon Pro 460. This 4.1x difference is a key factor in the OpenCL and Vulkan score disparities.

Q: Are the architectures from the same generation?

A: No. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture on an 8nm Samsung process, while the Radeon Pro 460 uses AMD’s GCN 4.0 on a 14nm GlobalFoundries process. The GeForce is from the GeForce 30 Mobile generation (released January 2021), and the Radeon is from the Radeon Pro Mac (400 Series) generation (released October 2016).

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is the superior performer in every directly comparable metric. For users who prioritize OpenCL or Vulkan compute — common in scientific workloads, rendering, and modern game engines — the RTX 3060 Mobile delivers 420% and 377.8% higher scores, respectively. Its 62nd percentile ranking, while only one point above the Radeon’s 61st, is backed by a much wider benchmark footprint that includes DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, compared to the Radeon’s DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3.

The Radeon Pro 460, however, is not without a niche. Its Geekbench Metal score of 20,426 is the only data point where it demonstrates strength, and since the RTX 3060 Mobile has no Metal score, that workload remains the AMD part’s exclusive domain. For macOS users locked into Metal-based applications, the Radeon Pro 460 may still be a viable option, especially given its 35W TDP versus the RTX 3060 Mobile’s 80W — a power efficiency advantage that cannot be ignored in thermal-constrained laptops. The Radeon’s 61st percentile, nearly tied with the RTX 3060 Mobile’s 62nd, suggests that in the broader GPU landscape, neither part is a standout; both are mid-pack performers.

The verdict hinges on use case. If the workload is Windows-centric with DirectX or Vulkan, the RTX 3060 Mobile is the only rational choice — its 6GB GDDR6 memory versus 4GB GDDR5, 192-bit bus versus 128-bit, and 30 RT cores (which the Radeon lacks entirely) provide future-proofing for ray-traced content. If the workload is macOS-centric with Metal, the Radeon Pro 460 is the only option, but it is decisively slower in any cross-platform API. The data shows no scenario where the Radeon wins a shared benchmark; it merely survives in an ecosystem where the RTX 3060 Mobile does not compete.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 3060 Mobile is built on an 8nm Samsung process with 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, while the Radeon Pro 460 uses a 14nm GlobalFoundries process with 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. Transistor density is 43.5M/mm² on the NVIDIA part versus 24.4M/mm² on the AMD part. Clock speeds diverge significantly: the GeForce has a base clock of 900 MHz and boost of 1425 MHz, whereas the Radeon runs at 850 MHz base and 907 MHz boost. Memory configurations are also distinct — the NVIDIA part offers 6GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), producing 336.0 GB/s bandwidth; the AMD part has 4GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus at 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective), yielding 81.28 GB/s. The bus interface differs as well: PCIe 4.0 x16 on the GeForce versus PCIe 3.0 x8 on the Radeon. TDP is 80W for the NVIDIA part and 35W for the AMD part, with the latter classified as an integrated graphics processor (IGP) in slot width.

Architecture Differences

Architecturally, these are products from entirely different design philosophies. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture (chip GA106) from the GeForce 30 Mobile generation, featuring 3,840 shading units, 120 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 30 dedicated ray tracing cores, and 120 tensor cores. The Radeon Pro 460 uses AMD’s GCN 4.0 architecture (chip Baffin) from the Radeon Pro Mac (400 Series) generation, with 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and no ray tracing or tensor core equivalents. The FP32 compute throughput is 10.94 TFLOPS on the GeForce versus 1.858 TFLOPS on the Radeon, a 5.9x gap. Both support FP16 at a 1:1 ratio to FP32. API support differs: the NVIDIA part supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD part supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The Radeon’s inclusion of Geekbench Metal support reflects its macOS-targeted design, a feature absent from the GeForce’s dataset. The NVIDIA part’s additional RT and tensor cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads, which the GCN 4.0 architecture cannot perform. The production status for both is end-of-life, but the RTX 3060 Mobile’s release date of January 2021 versus the Radeon’s October 2016 means the NVIDIA part is the more modern design on every front — process node, memory technology, and feature set.