AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 470 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 occupy vastly different corners of the GPU landscape, separated by four years of silicon progress and a chasm in intended use. The data shows a complete sweep for the RTX 3090 across all shared benchmarks, yet the RX 470 still holds a respectable position in the overall percentile ranking, making this a fascinating study in generational scaling versus absolute performance ceilings.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive result comes from the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, a modern workload that heavily stresses raw compute and geometry throughput. Here, the RTX 3090 scores 5,118 against the RX 470’s 842, a delta of -83.5% for the AMD card. This is not a marginal gap; it represents a fundamental difference in processing capacity. The RTX 3090’s score is over six times higher, reflecting its enormous shading unit count and memory bandwidth advantage, which the benchmark clearly exploits.

The Geekbench OpenCL test tells a similar story, though with a slightly different margin. The RTX 3090 posts 172,758 points, while the RX 470 manages 33,568, resulting in a -80.6% delta. OpenCL is a general-purpose compute benchmark, and this result underscores the RTX 3090’s dominance in raw floating-point and integer workloads. The RX 470’s score is not negligible, but the NVIDIA card’s sheer scale of execution resources—over five times the shading units—makes the outcome a foregone conclusion.

Interestingly, the Geekbench Vulkan test shows the closest contest, with the RTX 3090 scoring 53,927 versus the RX 470’s 39,884. The delta here is only -26%. This narrower gap suggests that Vulkan’s lower-level API can more efficiently utilize the RX 470’s older GCN architecture, potentially reducing driver overhead and allowing its 2,048 shading units to work more effectively. While the NVIDIA card still wins decisively, this benchmark reveals that the AMD architecture is not entirely obsolete in modern API environments; it simply lacks the raw throughput to compete at the top end.

The overall benchmark averages reinforce this hierarchy. The RTX 3090 has an average benchmark score of 27,565, while the RX 470 sits at 28,996. This is a surprising inversion—the RX 470’s average is actually higher due to the inclusion of its Geekbench Metal score of 41,690, which has no comparable RTX 3090 result in the data. This highlights a key caveat: cross-generational comparisons are often skewed by the specific test suites available for each GPU.

Where Each One Wins

Based strictly on the head-to-head data, the RTX 3090 wins every single test where both cards were evaluated. There is no benchmark category in which the RX 470 emerges victorious. This makes the "where each one wins" section a study in degrees of defeat rather than alternate victors.

For the RTX 3090, the wins are emphatic in DX12 and OpenCL, where its architectural advantages are fully unleashed. It is the clear choice for any workload that demands maximum throughput, whether that be high-resolution gaming, 3D rendering, or compute-heavy tasks like machine learning inference. The 3DMark Steel Nomad result, in particular, indicates that the RTX 3090 is built for future-proofing, as it can handle the most demanding next-generation graphics APIs with ease.

For the RX 470, the only "win" is contextual. Its -26% delta in Vulkan suggests it can remain competitive in lighter or older Vulkan-based games, especially at lower resolutions where memory bandwidth and shading power are less critical. Its Geekbench Metal score of 41,690 further suggests that in Apple ecosystem workloads, it might hold its own, though no direct comparison exists. The RX 470 is not a card for winning; it is a card for surviving, offering a baseline level of performance that remains functional rather than competitive.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 470 has a higher average benchmark score of 28,996 compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090’s 27,565. This is due to the RX 470’s strong Geekbench Metal result of 41,690, which is not included in the RTX 3090’s benchmark suite.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap between the two cards?

A: The largest delta is in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, where the RTX 3090 leads by -83.5%. The RTX 3090 scores 5,118 versus the RX 470’s 842.

Q: Is the RX 470 competitive in any modern API?

A: Yes, in the Geekbench Vulkan test, the RX 470 scores 39,884 against the RTX 3090’s 53,927, a delta of only -26%. This is the closest margin observed in any direct comparison.

Q: How do the two cards rank against all other GPUs?

A: The RX 470 sits at the 74th percentile, while the RTX 3090 is at the 73rd percentile. Despite the RTX 3090’s absolute dominance in head-to-head tests, the RX 470’s overall rank is marginally higher due to its diverse benchmark scores.

Q: What is the RTX 3090’s performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 3090 is 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile and the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, and it is -1% behind the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 and -1.1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 7800M.

Q: What is the RX 470’s performance relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The RX 470 is 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, and it trails the Intel Arc A370M by -0.6%, the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH by -0.7%, and the AMD FirePro W8000 by -0.7%.

Specification Differences

The specification sheet reveals a generational chasm. The RTX 3090 uses 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 936.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 470 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, with 211.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a 20 GB and 725 GB/s difference, respectively, which directly explains the RTX 3090’s advantage in memory-intensive tasks.

The compute resources are equally lopsided. The RTX 3090 has 10,496 shading units, 328 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. The RX 470 has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This translates to a pixel rate of 189.8 GPixel/s for the NVIDIA card versus 38.59 GPixel/s for the AMD card, and a texture rate of 556.0 GTexel/s versus 154.4 GTexel/s.

Clock speeds differ significantly, with the RTX 3090 boosting to 1695 MHz and the RX 470 boosting to 1206 MHz. The power profiles are also distinct: the RTX 3090 has a TDP of 350 W and requires a suggested 750 W PSU with a 1x 12-pin connector, while the RX 470 has a TDP of 120 W and a suggested 300 W PSU with a 1x 6-pin connector. The physical dimensions reflect this; the RTX 3090 is a 336 mm triple-slot card, while the RX 470 is a 240 mm dual-slot card.

Architecture Differences

These two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures and processes. The RX 470 uses GCN 4.0 architecture on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, with 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die. The RTX 3090 uses Ampere architecture on an 8 nm process from Samsung, with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. The transistor density is telling: 45.1M / mm² for the RTX 3090 versus 24.6M / mm² for the RX 470.

The RTX 3090 includes dedicated hardware that the RX 470 lacks entirely: 82 ray tracing cores and 328 tensor cores. This enables hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based features like DLSS, which are absent from the older GCN design. The API support reflects this, with the RTX 3090 supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the RX 470 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. The memory type also differs fundamentally, with the RTX 3090 using GDDR6X at 19.5 Gbps effective versus the RX 470’s GDDR5 at 6.6 Gbps effective.

The bus interface is another differentiator: the RTX 3090 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RX 470 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. This provides double the theoretical bandwidth for data transfer between the GPU and CPU, which can matter in CPU-bound scenarios or when using system memory as a fallback.

The Verdict

The data is unequivocal: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is the superior performer in every direct comparison. If the task is to maximize frame rates, render complex scenes, or run intensive compute workloads, the RTX 3090 is the only choice. Its -83.5% and -80.6% leads in DX12 and OpenCL, respectively, are not just wins; they are overwhelming victories that place it in a different performance tier entirely.

The AMD Radeon RX 470, however, should not be dismissed outright. Its -26% delta in Vulkan indicates that it can still handle modern API workloads with reasonable efficiency, and its 74th percentile ranking shows it is not a bottom-tier card. For users with older systems, limited power budgets (120 W TDP vs 350 W), or a need for a compact dual-slot card, the RX 470 remains a viable option. Its 4 GB memory is a limiting factor, but for 1080p gaming in less demanding titles, it can still deliver playable performance.

In summary, the RTX 3090 is for those who demand the absolute maximum from their hardware, with no compromises on power, size, or cost. The RX 470 is for those who prioritize efficiency and simplicity, accepting lower performance in exchange for a much lighter footprint. The choice is not about which is "better"—the data answers that clearly—but about which fits the user’s specific constraints and expectations.