AMD Radeon Pro 580 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro 580 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile represent two distinct eras of mobile graphics, separated by nearly six years of architectural evolution. The data reveals a stark performance hierarchy, with the RTX 4080 Mobile dominating in every direct comparison, yet the Radeon Pro 580 maintains a unique identity rooted in its professional Mac-oriented design. This analysis breaks down where each GPU excels, the implications of their benchmark scores, and the fundamental architectural shifts that explain their divergent capabilities.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark results are unequivocal: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile wins every head-to-head test recorded in the data. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 159,575 against the Radeon Pro 580's 38,457, a delta of -75.9% for the AMD part. Similarly, in Geekbench Vulkan, the NVIDIA GPU posts 145,807 versus the Radeon's 43,285, a -70.3% difference. This is not a marginal victory; it is a generational landslide.

The Radeon Pro 580's only "win" is contextual, not performance-based. Its percentile rank of 82 versus the RTX 4080 Mobile's 81 indicates that, relative to the entire GPU database, the older AMD card sits slightly higher in overall standing. This is a statistical curiosity driven by the benchmark suite composition, not a practical advantage. The RTX 4080 Mobile's raw compute dominance is further underscored by its additional benchmark coverage, including PassMark scores across DirectX 10, 11, 12, and 9, as well as G2D, G3D, and GPU compute tests, where it demonstrates broad capability that the Radeon Pro 580 simply lacks data for.

The RTX 4080 Mobile also wins on efficiency in the data. Its TDP is 110 W, while the Radeon Pro 580 draws 185 W. This means the NVIDIA part delivers roughly four times the OpenCL performance while consuming nearly 40% less power. The AMD GPU's higher power draw and lower output make it a poor choice for sustained compute workloads in a mobile chassis. The data implies the Radeon Pro 580 is a product of its time, optimized for a specific 2017-era professional workflow, whereas the RTX 4080 Mobile is built for modern, high-throughput tasks.

The Verdict

From the data, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is the definitive choice for anyone prioritizing raw performance. Its OpenCL and Vulkan scores are not just higher; they are transformative, enabling workloads that the Radeon Pro 580 cannot approach. The RTX 4080 Mobile's 24.72 TFLOPS FP32 performance, 432 GB/s memory bandwidth, and 12 GB VRAM make it suitable for demanding applications like real-time rendering, AI inference, and high-resolution gaming. The presence of 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores further cements its position as a modern compute powerhouse, though the FACT PACK does not provide specific ray tracing or tensor benchmark results.

The AMD Radeon Pro 580's role is narrower. Its 8 GB of GDDR5 memory and 217 GB/s bandwidth, combined with 5.53 TFLOPS FP32, place it firmly in the past generation of professional GPUs. Its 82nd percentile ranking suggests it remains competent for legacy software or basic graphics tasks, but it cannot compete with the RTX 4080 Mobile's architecture. The Radeon Pro 580's end-of-life production status and 2017 release date further indicate it is a legacy component. The data suggests that system builders should choose the RTX 4080 Mobile for any new project requiring sustained performance, reserving the Radeon Pro 580 for historical reference or very specific, low-demand applications.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive result is in Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX 4080 Mobile's score of 159,575 is 121,118 points higher than the Radeon Pro 580's 38,457, a -75.9% delta. This test is particularly telling because OpenCL is a cross-platform compute API, making the comparison apples-to-apples. The RTX 4080 Mobile's superior shading units (7,424 versus 2,304), texture mapping units (232 versus 144), and render output units (80 versus 32) directly translate to this massive compute advantage. The NVIDIA GPU's FP32 throughput of 24.72 TFLOPS versus the AMD's 5.53 TFLOPS is a 4.5x gap, which aligns with the benchmark delta.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 145,807 against 43,285, a -70.3% delta. This closer margin (relative to OpenCL) suggests the Radeon Pro 580 handles Vulkan's lower-level API more efficiently than OpenCL, but it is still far behind. The RTX 4080 Mobile's Vulkan 1.4 support versus the Radeon's Vulkan 1.3 may also contribute to its advantage, allowing for more optimized command processing. The NVIDIA GPU's 133.2 GPixel/s pixel rate and 386.3 GTexel/s texture rate dwarf the AMD's 38.4 GPixel/s and 172.8 GTexel/s, reinforcing its dominance in graphics-bound scenarios.

The RTX 4080 Mobile's PassMark scores, while not directly comparable to the Radeon Pro 580 (which lacks these tests), reveal its versatility. A PassMark G3D score of 24,926 and GPU compute score of 11,191 indicate strong directX performance, while the lower DirectX 10 and 9 scores (157 and 286) show expected scaling with API age. The Radeon Pro 580's absence from these tests means the data cannot confirm its DirectX legacy performance, but its DirectX 12 (12_0) support versus the RTX 4080 Mobile's DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) suggests the NVIDIA part is better equipped for modern game titles.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 580 has a higher average benchmark score of 40,318, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile's 38,135. This is counterintuitive given the head-to-head results, but it reflects the different benchmark suites each GPU was tested with.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile offers 432.0 GB/s bandwidth with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 provides 217.0 GB/s with 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus. The RTX 4080 Mobile has double the bandwidth despite a narrower bus.

Q: How do their transistor counts compare?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile uses 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, while the Radeon Pro 580 has 5,700 million on a 232 mm² die. This represents a 6.3x transistor advantage for the NVIDIA GPU, enabled by its 5 nm process versus the AMD's 14 nm node.

Q: Which GPU supports newer APIs?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon Pro 580 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The NVIDIA GPU is better positioned for future software.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile has a TDP of 110 W, significantly lower than the Radeon Pro 580's 185 W. This makes the NVIDIA GPU more power-efficient despite its higher performance.

Q: Are there any benchmark categories where the Radeon Pro 580 wins?

A: In the head-to-head data, the Radeon Pro 580 wins zero tests. Its only statistical edge is a higher percentileVsAllGpus ranking (82 versus 81), which is not a direct performance benchmark.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these GPUs is immense. The AMD Radeon Pro 580 uses the Ellesmere chip based on GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries. This older design focuses on raw compute throughput with 2,304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. It lacks dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, relying entirely on general-purpose shader units for all workloads. The GCN architecture's 5.53 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 performance (1:1 ratio) indicates it was designed for single-precision compute tasks, typical of professional visualization and compute workloads in 2017.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile, by contrast, uses the AD104 chip based on Ada Lovelace architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process. This is a fundamentally different design philosophy. It features 7,424 shading units, 232 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, but also includes 58 dedicated RT cores and 232 tensor cores. These specialized units allow for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-driven tensor operations, respectively, which the Radeon Pro 580 cannot perform efficiently. The Ada Lovelace architecture also achieves 24.72 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1), showing a balanced approach to compute precision.

The transistor density difference is stark: the RTX 4080 Mobile packs 121.8M transistors per mm² versus the Radeon Pro 580's 24.6M per mm². This 5x density advantage, combined with a larger die (294 mm² versus 232 mm²), explains how NVIDIA fits nearly six times more transistors into a power envelope that is 75 W lower. The RTX 4080 Mobile also uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface versus the Radeon's PCIe 3.0 x16, offering double the bus bandwidth for data transfer, which is critical for large texture and compute workloads.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every measurable specification. The process node is a major divider: the Radeon Pro 580 uses 14 nm from GlobalFoundries, while the RTX 4080 Mobile uses 5 nm from TSMC. This leads to a transistor count difference of 5,700 million versus 35,800 million, with die sizes of 232 mm² and 294 mm², respectively. The RTX 4080 Mobile's transistor density is 121.8M per mm², compared to the Radeon's 24.6M per mm².

Clock speeds show the RTX 4080 Mobile operating at higher frequencies: a base of 1290 MHz and boost of 1665 MHz, versus the Radeon Pro 580's 1100 MHz base and 1200 MHz boost. Memory configurations diverge significantly, with the NVIDIA part offering 12 GB of GDDR6 at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) on a 192-bit bus, delivering 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD part has 8 GB of GDDR5 at 1695 MHz (6.8 Gbps effective) on a 256-bit bus, providing 217.0 GB/s. The RTX 4080 Mobile's shading units (7,424), TMUs (232), and ROPs (80) all exceed the Radeon Pro 580's counts (2,304, 144, and 32, respectively).

Pixel and texture rates follow the same pattern: the RTX 4080 Mobile achieves 133.2 GPixel/s and 386.3 GTexel/s, while the Radeon Pro 580 manages 38.4 GPixel/s and 172.8 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 performance are both 24.72 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA GPU versus 5.53 TFLOPS for the AMD, a 4.5x difference. The TDP is notably lower for the RTX 4080 Mobile at 110 W versus 185 W. Both use IGP slot width with no power connectors, and both have portable device-dependent display outputs. The bus interface differs (PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16), as do the API versions, with the RTX 4080 Mobile supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4. Production status and release dates are also divergent: the Radeon Pro 580 is end-of-life and released in 2017, while the RTX 4080 Mobile is active and released in 2023, with predecessors and successors defined for the NVIDIA part only.