AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive victory for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile across every shared benchmark test. In the three head-to-head comparisons available, the NVIDIA part wins all three, with the AMD Radeon RX 470 trailing by margins between roughly two-thirds and three-quarters. The largest single gap appears in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile scores 117866 against the RX 470's 33568, a delta of -71.5%. That means the NVIDIA GPU delivers over three and a half times the raw compute throughput in this particular workload, a staggering difference that reflects the generational and architectural chasm between the two products.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test tells a similar story, though the margin is slightly narrower. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile posts 2869 points, while the RX 470 manages only 842, a delta of -70.7%. This is a modern DirectX 12 workload that stresses contemporary GPU features, and the RX 470's GCN 4.0 architecture simply lacks the dedicated hardware acceleration that Ampere brings to the table. The result is not merely a modest deficit but a fundamental performance tier separation.

Geekbench Vulkan shows the closest relative result of the three, with the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile scoring 107502 versus the RX 470's 39884, a delta of -62.9%. Even in this best-case scenario for the AMD card, the NVIDIA part still leads by a factor of roughly 2.7 times. Vulkan tends to favor architectures with efficient draw call handling and modern scheduling, and Ampere's redesigned SM layout clearly pays dividends here.

It is worth contextualizing these results through the average benchmark score and percentile data. The RX 470 holds an average benchmark score of 28996 and sits at the 74th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile, despite its dominant head-to-head showing, has a lower average score of 25740 and ranks at the 71st percentile. This apparent contradiction is explained by the different benchmark suites recorded for each card. The RX 470's average draws from Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan results, while the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile's average includes a broader set of Passmark tests, several of which score very low (for example, Passmark DirectX 12 at 88 and Passmark DirectX 10 at 131). These low-passmark figures drag down the NVIDIA card's overall average even though its compute and modern API scores are far superior.

The nearest rivals data reinforces this picture. The RX 470's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, which scores 28874, a delta of just 0.4%. The Intel Arc A370M sits at 29175 (-0.6%), and the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH at 29197 (-0.7%). These are all within a single percentage point, indicating that the RX 470's average score is tightly clustered with a group of mid-range and laptop-oriented GPUs. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro W5700 at 25726 (0.1%), with the AMD FirePro D700 at 25842 (-0.4%) and the AMD Radeon RX 6700M at 25633 (0.4%). Again, the clustering is tight, but the absolute level is roughly 3000 points lower than the RX 470's peer group.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is vast, spanning process technology, transistor counts, and feature sets. The AMD Radeon RX 470 is built on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process and uses the Ellesmere chip, part of the GCN 4.0 architecture. It belongs to the Arctic Islands generation (RX 400) and packs 5,700 million transistors into a 232 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.6 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile, by contrast, is manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process using the GA103 chip, an Ampere architecture part from the GeForce 30 Mobile generation. It contains 22,000 million transistors spread across a 496 mm² die, for a density of 44.4 million per square millimeter. The density advantage is nearly twofold, which explains how NVIDIA fits more than three times the shading units into a comparable power envelope.

The shading unit counts illustrate the scale of the difference. The RX 470 has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has 7424 shading units, 232 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. That is 3.6 times the shader count, 1.8 times the TMUs, and 3 times the ROPs. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile also includes 58 ray tracing cores and 232 tensor cores, hardware that the RX 470 simply does not possess. These dedicated units enable DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support on the NVIDIA card, while the RX 470 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0). The Vulkan API support also differs, with the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile listing Vulkan 1.4 against the RX 470's Vulkan 1.3.

Clock speeds present an interesting inversion. The RX 470 has a higher base clock at 926 MHz versus 810 MHz, but the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has a higher boost clock at 1260 MHz versus 1206 MHz. Memory clocks differ even more dramatically: the RX 470 runs its GDDR5 at 1650 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective), while the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile runs GDDR6 at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The memory subsystem is one of the largest gaps. Both use a 256-bit bus, but the NVIDIA card offers 16 GB of GDDR6 with 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth, versus the RX 470's 4 GB of GDDR5 at 211.2 GB/s. That is four times the capacity and roughly 2.4 times the bandwidth.

The power and physical design reflect their different intended markets. The RX 470 is a dual-slot desktop card with a 120 W TDP, a single 6-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 300 W. It measures 240 mm in length, 95 mm in height, and 35 mm in width. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has a 115 W TDP, no power connectors listed (portable device dependent), and no published dimensions. It uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, while the RX 470 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs also differ: the RX 470 provides 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile's outputs are listed as portable device dependent.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 470 has the higher average benchmark score at 28996, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile's 25740. However, the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile wins every direct head-to-head benchmark recorded.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile scores 2869 points versus the RX 470's 842, a delta of -70.7% in favor of the NVIDIA card.

Q: Do both GPUs support ray tracing?

A: No. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile includes 58 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX 470 has no ray tracing cores and is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0).

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 470 has 4 GB of GDDR5 with 211.2 GB/s bandwidth. Both use a 256-bit bus.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has a transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter on Samsung's 8 nm process, versus the RX 470's 24.6 million per square millimeter on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process.

Q: What is the release date gap between the two?

A: The RX 470 was released on 2016-08-03, while the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile arrived on 2022-01-24, a gap of roughly five and a half years.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RX 470 uses a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, while the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile uses Samsung's 8 nm process. Transistor counts are 5,700 million versus 22,000 million, and die sizes are 232 mm² versus 496 mm². Transistor density is 24.6 million per square millimeter versus 44.4 million. Base clocks are 926 MHz versus 810 MHz, boost clocks 1206 MHz versus 1260 MHz. Memory clocks are 1650 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective) versus 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). Memory capacity is 4 GB GDDR5 versus 16 GB GDDR6, with bandwidth of 211.2 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s.

Shading units number 2048 versus 7424, TMUs 128 versus 232, and ROPs 32 versus 96. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile adds 58 ray tracing cores and 232 tensor cores, neither of which the RX 470 has. Pixel rate is 38.59 GPixel/s versus 121.0 GPixel/s, texture rate 154.4 GTexel/s versus 292.3 GTexel/s, and FP32 compute is 4.940 TFLOPS versus 18.71 TFLOPS. FP16 is also 4.940 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 18.71 TFLOPS (1:1). TDP is 120 W versus 115 W. The RX 470 is dual-slot with a 6-pin connector and 300 W suggested PSU; the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile lists no slot width, no power connectors, and no suggested PSU. Bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x16. DirectX support is 12 (12_0) versus 12 Ultimate (12_2), and Vulkan is 1.3 versus 1.4. The RX 470 has fixed display outputs (1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a), while the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile's are portable device dependent. The RX 470 has published dimensions (240 mm length, 95 mm height, 35 mm width); the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has none listed.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile wins every head-to-head benchmark in the database. Its strongest relative advantage is in Geekbench OpenCL, where it leads by 71.5%, followed closely by 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 70.7%, and Geekbench Vulkan at 62.9%. This GPU is clearly the choice for compute-heavy workloads, modern DirectX 12 applications, and any task that can leverage its 58 ray tracing cores or 232 tensor cores. The 16 GB memory capacity and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth make it suitable for large datasets and high-resolution textures.

The RX 470, despite losing all direct comparisons, holds a higher average benchmark score (28996 versus 25740) and a higher percentile ranking (74th versus 71st). Its nearest rivals are all within 0.7% of its average score, suggesting it sits in a stable performance tier. The RX 470 also has a higher base clock (926 MHz versus 810 MHz), which may benefit lightly threaded or latency-sensitive workloads. Its fixed display outputs (1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a) make it a straightforward desktop solution, and its dual-slot design with a single 6-pin connector and 300 W suggested PSU means it can be installed in a wide range of desktop systems.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear conclusion: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is the superior performer in every recorded benchmark. Its 3.4 times advantage in Geekbench OpenCL, 3.4 times in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, and 2.7 times in Geekbench Vulkan are not marginal wins but categorical ones. The architectural advantages, including 7424 shading units, 58 ray tracing cores, 232 tensor cores, and 512.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth, translate directly into benchmark dominance.

However, the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile's lower average score (25740 versus 28996) and lower percentile (71st versus 74th) warrant explanation. The database includes several Passmark tests for the NVIDIA card that score very low, including Passmark DirectX 12 at 88, Passmark DirectX 10 at 131, and Passmark DirectX 9 at 201. These legacy or specific workloads drag down its average despite its strength in modern APIs. The RX 470's benchmark suite is narrower and does not include these low-scoring tests.

For a user selecting between these two, the choice depends on the workload. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is the pick for anyone running modern DirectX 12 or Vulkan applications, compute tasks, or ray-traced content. The RX 470 is a capable desktop card for older API workloads and holds its own among its closest rivals, all within 0.7% of its average score. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is end-of-life like the RX 470, but its performance headroom in current benchmarks makes it the stronger option for contemporary gaming and professional tasks. The RX 470's only recorded advantages are its higher base clock, its published desktop form factor, and its higher aggregate average score from a different test set, none of which offset the NVIDIA card's dominant head-to-head results.