AMD Radeon Pro 580X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro 580X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile represent two distinct eras of GPU design, separated by process technology, architectural philosophy, and intended workload. The data shows a decisive performance gap in favor of the newer NVIDIA part, yet the AMD card occupies a specific niche in the benchmark database that warrants examination. This analysis compares their benchmark results, architectural implementations, and specification sheets to clarify where each component stands.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data offers a stark contrast in performance outcomes. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile emerges victorious in both head-to-head benchmark tests, demonstrating overwhelming superiority in compute-oriented workloads. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4080 Mobile achieves a score of 159,575, while the Radeon Pro 580X manages 36,426, resulting in a deltaPct of -77.2% from the AMD card's perspective. Similarly, in Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 145,807 against the Radeon Pro 580X's 40,115, a deltaPct of -72.5%. These are not marginal wins; they represent a complete generational overhaul in compute capability.

The AMD Radeon Pro 580X, however, holds its own in the context of its own benchmark suite. Its Geekbench Metal score of 39,577 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 40,115 are consistent, suggesting balanced performance across different API environments. The card's average benchmark score of 38,706 places it in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs, which is a respectable standing given its 2019 release date. In contrast, the RTX 4080 Mobile's average benchmark score of 38,135 places it in the 81st percentile, slightly lower than the AMD part despite its massive compute advantage. This apparent contradiction stems from the different benchmark sets each card was tested with; the RTX 4080 Mobile's PassMark scores, including a G3D score of 24,926 and a GPU compute score of 11,191, pull its average down relative to its Geekbench results.

The RTX 4080 Mobile also wins on architectural features, with dedicated ray tracing cores and tensor cores that the Radeon Pro 580X lacks entirely. For workloads that leverage these accelerators, the NVIDIA card is categorically ahead. The AMD card, with its GCN 4.0 architecture, offers no such specialized hardware, relying purely on raw shader throughput.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different process nodes and architectures. The AMD Radeon Pro 580X uses the Ellesmere chip, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. This chip contains 5,700 million transistors on a die size of 232 mm², yielding a transistor density of 24.6 million per mm². The architecture is GCN 4.0, a design that dates back to AMD's Polaris generation, which prioritized raw compute throughput over specialized features.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile uses the AD104 chip, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. This chip packs 35,800 million transistors onto a 294 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 121.8 million per mm² — roughly five times denser than the AMD part. The architecture is Ada Lovelace, which represents NVIDIA's latest design philosophy, emphasizing both raw performance and dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI workloads.

The clock speeds reflect these architectural differences. The Radeon Pro 580X operates at a base clock of 1100 MHz and a boost clock of 1200 MHz, while the RTX 4080 Mobile runs at a base clock of 1290 MHz and a boost of 1665 MHz. The NVIDIA card's higher clocks, combined with its vastly higher transistor count and newer process node, explain its dominant performance profile.

Feature support also diverges significantly. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, adding the latest feature sets for modern gaming and compute applications. Critically, the RTX 4080 Mobile includes 58 ray tracing cores and 232 tensor cores, while the Radeon Pro 580X has none of either, marking a clear functional boundary between the two.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data provided covers two tests: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. In both, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile wins decisively. In OpenCL, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 159,575, which is 4.38 times higher than the Radeon Pro 580X's 36,426. The deltaPct of -77.2% indicates that the AMD card trails by over three-quarters of the NVIDIA score. In Vulkan, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 145,807, which is 3.63 times higher than the AMD card's 40,115, with a deltaPct of -72.5%.

These results are consistent with the theoretical compute specifications. The RTX 4080 Mobile delivers 24.72 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the Radeon Pro 580X delivers 5.530 TFLOPS — a ratio of 4.47 to 1, closely matching the OpenCL score ratio. The texture rate tells a similar story: 386.3 GTexel/s for the NVIDIA card versus 172.8 GTexel/s for the AMD card, a 2.24 times advantage. The pixel rate of 133.2 GPixel/s for the RTX 4080 Mobile versus 38.40 GPixel/s for the Radeon Pro 580X shows a 3.47 times advantage, reflecting the NVIDIA card's higher ROP count of 80 versus 32.

Beyond the head-to-head tests, the RTX 4080 Mobile's PassMark scores provide additional context. Its G3D score of 24,926 and GPU compute score of 11,191 indicate strong DirectX performance, though these tests are not run on the AMD card, so direct comparison is impossible. The RTX 4080 Mobile's PassMark DirectX scores — 286 for DirectX 9, 157 for DirectX 10, 244 for DirectX 11, and 96 for DirectX 12 — show varying levels of performance across legacy APIs, with DirectX 9 being the strongest relative result.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets reveal numerous differences beyond raw performance. The memory subsystems are notably distinct: the Radeon Pro 580X has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 218.9 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4080 Mobile has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 432.0 GB/s — nearly double the bandwidth despite a narrower bus. The effective memory clock rates are 6.8 Gbps for the AMD card and 18 Gbps for the NVIDIA card.

The compute resources differ by a wide margin. The Radeon Pro 580X has 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 4080 Mobile has 7,424 shading units, 232 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. These translate to a 3.22 times advantage in shading units, a 1.61 times advantage in TMUs, and a 2.5 times advantage in ROPs for the NVIDIA card. Additionally, the RTX 4080 Mobile includes 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores, which the AMD card does not have.

Power consumption presents an interesting inversion. The Radeon Pro 580X has a TDP of 185 W, while the RTX 4080 Mobile has a TDP of 110 W. This means the NVIDIA card delivers significantly higher performance while consuming 40% less power, proof of the efficiency gains from the 5 nm process node. The bus interfaces also differ: the AMD card uses Apple MPX, while the NVIDIA card uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are 2x HDMI 2.0b for the AMD card, while the NVIDIA card's outputs are described as "Portable Device Dependent."

Other differences include the AMD card's 5,700 million transistors versus the NVIDIA card's 35,800 million, and the AMD card's 232 mm² die versus the NVIDIA card's 294 mm² die. The production status also differs: the Radeon Pro 580X is end-of-life, while the RTX 4080 Mobile is active. Their release dates are separated by nearly four years, with the AMD card launching on 2019-03-17 and the NVIDIA card on 2023-01-02.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 580X has an average benchmark score of 38,706, which is slightly higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile's 38,135. However, this is due to different benchmark sets; the RTX 4080 Mobile's PassMark scores lower its average despite its Geekbench dominance.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4080 Mobile in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile scores 159,575 in Geekbench OpenCL, compared to the Radeon Pro 580X's 36,426. This represents a deltaPct of -77.2% for the AMD card, meaning the NVIDIA GPU is roughly 4.38 times faster.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon Pro 580X support ray tracing?

A: No. The Radeon Pro 580X has no ray tracing cores or tensor cores. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile includes 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores, providing dedicated hardware for these workloads.

Q: What are the memory bandwidth figures for each card?

A: The Radeon Pro 580X has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 218.9 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4080 Mobile has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth, nearly double the AMD card's bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU consumes less power?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile has a TDP of 110 W, compared to the AMD Radeon Pro 580X's 185 W. The NVIDIA card delivers higher performance while consuming significantly less power.

Q: What is the transistor density difference between the two chips?

A: The Radeon Pro 580X's Ellesmere chip has a transistor density of 24.6 million per mm², while the RTX 4080 Mobile's AD104 chip has a density of 121.8 million per mm². The NVIDIA chip is approximately five times denser, reflecting its more advanced 5 nm process node.