AMD Radeon RX 460 vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and the AMD Radeon RX 460 occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum, separated by six years of architecture evolution and a massive gulf in target resolution and workload. The data shows a complete mismatch in raw compute, but the RX 460’s presence in the database offers a useful baseline for understanding how far flagship RDNA 3.0 has come. Direct head-to-head results are limited to two synthetic tests, yet they paint a stark picture of generational scaling.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only two directly comparable benchmark results are Geekbench compute tests, and the RX 7900 XTX wins both by overwhelming margins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the 7900 XTX scores 50,465 against the RX 460’s 17,855, a delta of 182.6%. That is not a marginal improvement; it is nearly three times the compute throughput in a cross-platform API that often favors simpler architectures.

The Vulkan result is even more lopsided. The 7900 XTX posts 85,612 points, while the RX 460 manages 20,198, yielding a delta of 323.9%. This indicates that the newer card’s advantages—memory bandwidth, shader count, and driver optimization—compound heavily in a low-level API. For context, the RX 460’s average benchmark score of 18,373 puts it within 0.1% of the Intel Arc A770M, while the 7900 XTX’s average of 19,410 sits just 0.4% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB. In practical terms, the 7900 XTX delivers over four times the Vulkan performance of the RX 460, a gap that no driver update or overclock could bridge.

The RX 460 has no wins in this comparison. Its only other benchmark, Geekbench Metal, scores 17,065, but the 7900 XTX lacks a Metal result for direct comparison. Even so, the OpenCL and Vulkan deltas are decisive enough to establish the hierarchy without ambiguity.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RX 7900 XTX in OpenCL compute?

A: The 7900 XTX scores 50,465 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 182.6% higher than the RX 460’s 17,855. That means it delivers roughly 2.8 times the raw compute score in that specific test.

Q: Does the RX 460 have any benchmark where it beats the RX 7900 XTX?

A: No. Across the two directly comparable tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan), the 7900 XTX wins both. The RX 460 has no head-to-head victories.

Q: Why is the Vulkan gap so much larger than the OpenCL gap?

A: The Vulkan delta is 323.9% versus 182.6% for OpenCL. This likely reflects the 7900 XTX’s superior memory subsystem (960.0 GB/s vs 112.0 GB/s) and higher shader count (6144 vs 896), which matter more in low-level APIs that reduce CPU overhead and expose hardware parallelism directly.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two cards?

A: The RX 7900 XTX has an average benchmark score of 19,410, while the RX 460 averages 18,373. That is a 1,037-point difference, or roughly 5.6% higher for the newer card, despite the massive gap in individual compute tests.

Q: How does the RX 460 compare to its own nearest rivals?

A: The RX 460’s nearest rival is the Intel Arc A770M, with a delta of -0.1%, meaning they are virtually tied. It also sits within 1% of the AMD FirePro D500 and 1.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile.

Q: Is the RX 7900 XTX’s performance percentile much higher than the RX 460’s?

A: Surprisingly, no. The 7900 XTX sits at the 64th percentile among all GPUs, while the RX 460 is at the 62nd percentile. This suggests the database includes many high-end workstation and server cards that skew the distribution, or that the average score metric weights older tests more heavily.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on entirely different architectures and process nodes. The RX 7900 XTX uses RDNA 3.0 on a 5 nm TSMC process, packing 57,700 million transistors into a 529 mm² die. The RX 460 uses GCN 4.0 on a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process, with only 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. That is a 19.2x difference in transistor count and a 4.3x difference in die area.

The 7900 XTX features 6144 shading units, 384 TMUs, and 192 ROPs, plus 96 dedicated ray tracing cores. The RX 460 has 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no ray tracing hardware at all. Memory configurations are equally divergent: the 7900 XTX offers 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 960.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 460 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 112.0 GB/s.

Clock speeds tell a different story. The 7900 XTX runs at a base of 1929 MHz and boosts to 2498 MHz, with a game clock of 2365 MHz. The RX 460 runs at 1090 MHz base and 1200 MHz boost. Despite the higher clocks, the 7900 XTX’s advantage comes more from sheer parallelism—its pixel rate is 479.6 GPixel/s versus 19.20 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 959.2 GTexel/s versus 67.20 GTexel/s.

FP32 compute is 61.39 TFLOPS for the 7900 XTX versus 2.150 TFLOPS for the RX 460. Interestingly, the RX 460 offers FP16 at the same 2.150 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), while the 7900 XTX doubles its FP32 to 122.8 TFLOPS in FP16 (2:1 ratio). The newer card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the RX 460 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3.

The bus interface differs as well: PCIe 4.0 x16 for the 7900 XTX versus PCIe 3.0 x8 for the RX 460. Power requirements are not comparable—the 7900 XTX has a 355 W TDP with 2x 8-pin connectors and a 750 W suggested PSU, while the RX 460 draws 75 W with no external power connectors and a 250 W suggested PSU.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the RX 7900 XTX is the superior card in every measurable compute benchmark. Its OpenCL score is 182.6% higher, and its Vulkan score is 323.9% higher. If your workload involves modern APIs, high-resolution textures, or ray tracing, the 7900 XTX is the only rational choice. Its 24 GB memory buffer alone dwarfs the RX 460’s 2 GB, making the older card unsuitable for anything beyond esports or 1080p legacy titles.

The RX 460’s only advantage is practical, not performance-based: it requires no power connectors, fits in a 170 mm length, and runs off a 250 W PSU. That makes it a drop-in upgrade for old office desktops with weak power supplies. But the benchmark data shows it belongs in a different era. Its nearest rivals in average score include the Intel Arc A770M and AMD FirePro D500, all of which are similarly dated or mobile parts.

Choose the RX 7900 XTX if you need flagship compute, 4K gaming, or any form of ray tracing. Choose the RX 460 only if you have a power supply that cannot handle a 75 W-plus card and you need basic display output. There is no scenario where the RX 460 wins a performance comparison.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | AMD Radeon RX 460 |

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

| Architecture | RDNA 3.0 | GCN 4.0 |

| Process Node | 5 nm (TSMC) | 14 nm (GlobalFoundries) |

| Transistors | 57,700 million | 3,000 million |

| Die Size | 529 mm² | 123 mm² |

| Base Clock | 1929 MHz | 1090 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2498 MHz | 1200 MHz |

| Memory Size | 24 GB GDDR6 | 2 GB GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 384 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 960.0 GB/s | 112.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 6144 | 896 |

| TMUs | 384 | 56 |

| ROPs | 192 | 16 |

| RT Cores | 96 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 479.6 GPixel/s | 19.20 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 959.2 GTexel/s | 67.20 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Compute | 61.39 TFLOPS | 2.150 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Compute | 122.8 TFLOPS (2:1) | 2.150 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 355 W | 75 W |

| Power Connectors | 2x 8-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 750 W | 250 W |

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

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Length | 287 mm | 170 mm |

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7900 XTX wins in every category that matters for modern gaming and compute. Its Vulkan score of 85,612 versus 20,198 makes it the clear choice for any title using that API, which includes most recent AAA releases. The 182.6% OpenCL lead means it also dominates GPGPU workloads like rendering or machine learning inference. The 24 GB memory buffer and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are essential for 4K textures or large datasets.

The RX 460 wins only in niche scenarios related to physical constraints. With a 75 W TDP and no power connectors, it can run in systems with minimal power supplies. Its 170 mm length fits in compact cases where the 7900 XTX’s 287 mm will not. For a low-profile HTPC or a legacy office machine, the RX 460 is the only option that fits. It also supports Vulkan 1.3 and DirectX 12 (12_0), so it can run modern titles at low settings, but the 2 GB memory will be a hard limit.

The 7900 XTX’s nearest rivals in average score include the NVIDIA TITAN Xp (+1.2%) and GTX 1060 3 GB (+0.4%), while the RX 460 trades blows with the RTX 3060 Mobile and Arc A770M. This places the 7900 XTX in the upper mid-range of the database’s distribution, but its individual compute test results are far above that average, indicating the average metric is pulled down by legacy DirectX tests where it scores poorly (e.g., PassMark DX9 at 330). The RX 460 has no such legacy scores recorded, so its average is based purely on modern API tests, making the two averages misleadingly close.