AMD Radeon RX 460 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Comparison

# AMD Radeon RX 460 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070

The AMD Radeon RX 460 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 occupy completely different tiers of the GPU landscape, separated by four years of architecture evolution and a massive gulf in compute resources. The data shows the RTX 3070 winning both shared benchmark tests decisively, but the RX 460 remains a functional entry-level card with its own niche. This comparison relies strictly on benchmark scores, architectural specifications, and documented performance deltas from the FACT PACK.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two cards share only two benchmark tests in the dataset, and the results are lopsided. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3070 scores 112,821 against the RX 460's 17,855, producing a delta of -84.2% from the NVIDIA card's perspective. That is not a marginal gap — it represents a 5.3x raw compute advantage in this particular workload, reflecting the enormous difference in shading units (5,888 vs 896) and memory bandwidth (448.0 GB/s vs 112.0 GB/s).

The Geekbench Vulkan test tells a different story, however. Here the RTX 3070 scores 21,022 versus the RX 460's 20,198, a delta of just -3.9%. This narrow margin is remarkable given the hardware disparity. The RX 460's GCN 4.0 architecture appears to punch well above its weight in Vulkan compute tasks, likely due to efficient async compute implementation and the fact that this workload may not be memory-bandwidth-bound. The RTX 3070 still wins, but the 824-point difference is within a range where driver optimizations or specific workload characteristics could flip results on other Vulkan titles.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the RX 460's average benchmark score across all tests is 18,373, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 3070's average is 17,208, which sits in the 61st percentile — a counterintuitive result that stems from the different test suites each card was subjected to. The RTX 3070's PassMark scores (e.g., 22,214 in G3D, 11,195 in compute) and 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,162 drag down its average relative to the RX 460's three Geekbench results. This illustrates why percentile rankings alone can mislead; direct head-to-head tests are more meaningful.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 wins every shared benchmark, but the magnitude of victory varies dramatically by workload. In OpenCL, it is the clear heavy lifter. The 112,821 score dwarfs the RX 460's 17,855, making it the obvious choice for OpenCL-based compute tasks such as scientific simulations, data processing, or rendering pipelines that leverage this API. Its FP32 throughput of 20.31 TFLOPS versus 2.150 TFLOPS for the RX 460 quantifies this advantage — nearly a 10x difference in raw floating-point capability.

The RX 460's competitive Vulkan showing suggests it remains viable for Vulkan-native games and compute applications, particularly those that are latency-sensitive rather than bandwidth-hungry. Its 20,198 score is within 4% of the RTX 3070's 21,022, meaning that in Vulkan titles where the RX 460 is not bottlenecked by its 2 GB memory buffer or 128-bit bus, it can deliver playable performance at lower resolutions and settings. This is a card for budget-oriented 1080p gaming and lightweight productivity, not for 4K or ray tracing.

For the RTX 3070, the wins extend beyond raw scores. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus the RX 460's DirectX 12 (12_0), meaning it can handle hardware ray tracing and mesh shaders. It also has 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the RX 460. In any workload that leverages these accelerators — ray-traced games, DLSS upscaling, AI inference — the RTX 3070 is not just faster; it is functionally capable where the RX 460 is not.

Architecture Differences

The RX 460 uses the Baffin chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.4M per mm². The RTX 3070 uses the GA104 chip on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture, produced on Samsung's 8 nm process. It contains 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, with a density of 44.4M per mm². The RTX 3070's die is 3.2x larger and holds 5.8x more transistors, which explains its substantially higher power draw of 220 W versus 75 W.

Memory configurations diverge sharply. The RX 460 offers 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 112.0 GB/s bandwidth at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). The RTX 3070 provides 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, achieving 448.0 GB/s at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). That is 4x the memory capacity and 4x the bandwidth. The clock speeds also differ: the RX 460 runs at 1090 MHz base and 1200 MHz boost, while the RTX 3070 runs at 1500 MHz base and 1725 MHz boost.

The compute unit counts tell the story of scale. The RX 460 has 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The RTX 3070 has 5,888 shading units, 184 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. Pixel rate is 19.20 GPixel/s versus 165.6 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 67.20 GTexel/s versus 317.4 GTexel/s. FP16 performance mirrors FP32 at 1:1 ratios for both cards — 2.150 TFLOPS for the RX 460 and 20.31 TFLOPS for the RTX 3070. The RTX 3070 also adds 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores, plus support for PCIe 4.0 x16 versus the RX 460's PCIe 3.0 x8.

The Verdict

The data supports a straightforward conclusion: choose the RTX 3070 for any workload where performance matters. It wins both head-to-head benchmarks, offers 9.4x the FP32 throughput, 4x the memory bandwidth, and 4x the VRAM capacity. Its 8 GB GDDR6 buffer is adequate for modern games at high settings, while the RX 460's 2 GB GDDR5 will exhaust quickly even at 1080p in recent titles. The RTX 3070's ray tracing and tensor cores open up features the RX 460 cannot access at all.

Choose the RX 460 only if your requirements are modest and your budget is extremely constrained. Its 75 W TDP means no power connector is needed, and the suggested PSU is just 250 W — versus 550 W for the RTX 3070. It fits in a 170 mm (6.7-inch) length, making it ideal for small form factor builds where the RTX 3070's 242 mm (9.5-inch) length and 112 mm (4.4-inch) height might not fit. Its Vulkan performance is respectable, and it supports DirectX 12_0, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX 3070 supports Vulkan 1.4 and DirectX 12 Ultimate, giving it forward-looking API compatibility.

The RTX 3070's launch MSRP was 499 USD. The RX 460 has no listed launch MSRP in the data. Both cards are end-of-life, so availability and pricing will vary. For gaming, content creation, or any GPU-accelerated task that benefits from compute power, the RTX 3070 is the correct choice based on every benchmark in this comparison. The RX 460's only defensible position is as an ultra-budget stopgap or a low-power HTPC card where its size, power draw, and decent Vulkan scores are assets.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 scores 112,821 versus the AMD Radeon RX 460's 17,855, a delta of -84.2% from the RTX 3070's perspective.

Q: How close is the Vulkan performance between these two cards?

A: The RTX 3070 scores 21,022 in Geekbench Vulkan, only 3.9% ahead of the RX 460's 20,198. This is the closest head-to-head result in the dataset.

Q: Does the RX 460 support ray tracing?

A: No. The RX 460 has no RT cores and supports DirectX 12 (12_0). The RTX 3070 has 46 RT cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 460 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 112.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card requires a more powerful power supply?

A: The RTX 3070 has a 220 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 550 W, plus a 1x 12-pin power connector. The RX 460 has a 75 W TDP, no power connector, and a suggested PSU of 250 W.

Q: What are the average benchmark scores for each card?

A: The RX 460 has an average benchmark score of 18,373 (62nd percentile), while the RTX 3070 averages 17,208 (61st percentile). This reflects different test suites rather than real-world performance parity.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 460 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 |

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

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Ampere |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 8 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | Samsung |

| Transistors | 3,000 million | 17,400 million |

| Die Size | 123 mm² | 392 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 24.4M / mm² | 44.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1090 MHz | 1500 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1200 MHz | 1725 MHz |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 128 bit | 256 bit |

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

| Shading Units | 896 | 5888 |

| TMUs | 56 | 184 |

| ROPs | 16 | 96 |

| RT Cores | None | 46 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 184 |

| Pixel Rate | 19.20 GPixel/s | 165.6 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 67.20 GTexel/s | 317.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 2.150 TFLOPS | 20.31 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 2.150 TFLOPS (1:1) | 20.31 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 75 W | 220 W |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 12-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 550 W |

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

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

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

| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Length | 170 mm (6.7 inches) | 242 mm (9.5 inches) |

| Height | Not listed | 112 mm (4.4 inches) |

| Release Date | 2016-08-07 | 2020-08-31 |

| Launch MSRP | Not listed | 499 USD |