AMD Radeon RX 460 vs AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the head-to-head benchmark comparison?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT wins two of the three recorded benchmark tests, taking the Geekbench Metal and Vulkan tests. The AMD Radeon RX 460 wins one test, the Geekbench OpenCL workload.

Q: How large is the Metal performance gap between the two cards?

A: The RX 5700 XT scores 74,647 in Geekbench Metal versus 17,065 for the RX 460. That is a 77.1% higher score for the RX 5700 XT, making it the dominant card in this API.

Q: Where does the RX 460 manage to beat the RX 5700 XT?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 460 records 17,855 points while the RX 5700 XT scores only 9,524. The RX 460 is ahead by 87.5% in this specific test, a surprising reversal given the newer architecture of its rival.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card, and how do they rank?

A: The RX 460 has an average benchmark score of 18,373, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. The RX 5700 XT averages 16,361, putting it in the 59th percentile. Despite the higher average score for the RX 460, the RX 5700 XT wins the direct head-to-head tests.

Q: How does the RX 5700 XT compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The RX 5700 XT is nearly tied with the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M (0.1% higher score), trails the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell by 0.3%, and is 0.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2. The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 scores 0.3% higher as well.

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

A: The RX 460's Baffin chip, built on a 14 nm process, packs 24.4 million transistors per square millimeter. The RX 5700 XT's Navi 10, on a 7 nm node, achieves 41.0 million transistors per square millimeter, a substantial density advantage.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural eras and process nodes. The RX 460 uses the Baffin chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. The RX 5700 XT uses the Navi 10 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 7 nm node. This node shrink allows the Navi 10 to pack 10,300 million transistors into a 251 mm² die, versus 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die for Baffin. Transistor density jumps from 24.4M per mm² to 41.0M per mm².

The compute resources scale dramatically. The RX 460 has 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operation units. The RX 5700 XT nearly triples these: 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. Clock speeds also rise, with the RX 5700 XT boosting to 1905 MHz versus 1200 MHz for the RX 460, and a game clock of 1755 MHz on the newer card.

Memory subsystems differ in every respect. The RX 460 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 112.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 5700 XT uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, achieving 448.0 GB/s, exactly four times the bandwidth. Memory clocks are listed at 1750 MHz for both, but the effective data rate doubles from 7 Gbps to 14 Gbps on the RX 5700 XT.

The feature sets show generational progression. Both cards support DirectX 12, but the RX 460 is rated at version 12_0 while the RX 5700 XT reaches 12_1. Both support OpenGL 4.6. Vulkan support differs: the RX 460 lists Vulkan 1.3, while the RX 5700 XT lists Vulkan 1.4. The RX 5700 XT also supports half-precision compute at a 2:1 ratio (19.51 TFLOPS FP16 versus 9.754 TFLOPS FP32), whereas the RX 460 has 1:1 FP16 and FP32 at 2.150 TFLOPS each.

Power and interface specifications reflect the performance tier. The RX 460 has a 75 W TDP, requires no power connectors, and uses PCIe 3.0 x8. The RX 5700 XT has a 225 W TDP, needs one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector, and uses PCIe 4.0 x16. The RX 5700 XT is physically larger at 272 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 36 mm in width, versus 170 mm for the RX 460. Both cards are dual-slot designs.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head results are limited to three Geekbench tests, and they tell a mixed story. In Geekbench Metal, the RX 5700 XT scores 74,647 against 17,065 for the RX 460. That is a 77.1% advantage for the RX 5700 XT, the largest margin in any test. The Vulkan test follows a similar pattern: the RX 5700 XT scores 68,310 versus 20,198 for the RX 460, a 70.4% lead. These two results show the RX 5700 XT's compute throughput advantage in graphics-centric APIs.

The OpenCL test flips the script. The RX 460 scores 17,855, which is 87.5% higher than the RX 5700 XT's 9,524. This is an unusual outcome, given the RX 5700 XT's far higher raw specifications. The data suggests that OpenCL performance on the RX 5700 XT may be limited by driver or workload characteristics, at least in this specific measurement. The RX 460 wins this one test, giving it one win out of three.

Across all benchmark entries in the database, the RX 460's average score of 18,373 actually sits above the RX 5700 XT's 16,361. This is because the RX 5700 XT has many more recorded tests, including some lower scores in Passmark suites, which drag down its average. The RX 460's average is pulled up by its three Geekbench scores, all above 17,000. The percentile ranks reflect this: the RX 460 sits at the 62nd percentile versus the 59th for the RX 5700 XT.

The nearest rivals for each card provide context. The RX 460's average score is essentially tied with the Intel Arc A770M at 18,383 (0.1% difference), slightly behind the AMD FirePro D500 at 18,533 (0.9% difference), and ahead of both the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 at 18,189 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile at 18,159 by about 1%. The RX 5700 XT sits in a tight cluster: the AMD Radeon Pro 5600M scores 0.1% higher, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell scores 0.3% higher, the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 scores 0.3% higher, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 scores 0.9% higher.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear performance hierarchy for most workloads. The RX 5700 XT is the stronger card in Metal and Vulkan, with leads of 77.1% and 70.4% respectively. Its 2,560 shading units, 64 ROPs, and 448.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth are reflected in these scores. For users targeting modern graphics APIs, the RX 5700 XT is the choice.

The RX 460 has a single notable win in OpenCL, where it leads by 87.5%. This result is difficult to generalize, as it comes from one benchmark test and conflicts with the RX 5700 XT's hardware advantage. The RX 460 also holds a higher average benchmark score and a higher percentile rank, but this is a function of the test set rather than raw capability.

A buyer deciding between these two should consider the API workloads. For Metal and Vulkan applications, the RX 5700 XT is decisively ahead. For OpenCL compute tasks that resemble the tested workload, the RX 460's result is impressive, but it is a single data point. The RX 5700 XT offers 8 GB of memory versus 2 GB, a wider 256-bit bus, and a more recent architecture. The RX 460 remains a capable low-power card, but the recorded data shows it wins only one of three head-to-head tests.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 460 | AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT |

|----------------|-------------------|------------------------|

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | RDNA 1.0 |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 7 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 3,000 million | 10,300 million |

| Die Size | 123 mm² | 251 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 24.4M / mm² | 41.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1090 MHz | 1605 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1200 MHz | 1905 MHz |

| Game Clock | None | 1755 MHz |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 112.0 GB/s | 448.0 GB/s |

| Memory Effective Rate | 7 Gbps | 14 Gbps |

| Shading Units | 896 | 2560 |

| TMUs | 56 | 160 |

| ROPs | 16 | 64 |

| Pixel Rate | 19.20 GPixel/s | 121.9 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 67.20 GTexel/s | 304.8 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 2.150 TFLOPS | 9.754 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 2.150 TFLOPS (1:1) | 19.51 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 75 W | 225 W |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 550 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_0) | 12 (12_1) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| Length | 170 mm (6.7 inches) | 272 mm (10.7 inches) |

| Height | None | 111 mm (4.4 inches) |

| Width | None | 36 mm (1.4 inches) |

| Release Date | 2016-08-07 | 2019-07-06 |

| Launch MSRP | None | 399 USD |