AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile Comparison

AMD Radeon RX 470 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile occupy vastly different segments of the GPU landscape, separated by over six years of architectural evolution and designed for entirely different form factors. The RX 470 is an end-of-life desktop part from 2016, while the RTX 4070 Mobile is an active laptop chip from 2023. Benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap, with the RTX 4070 Mobile winning both available head-to-head tests by substantial margins. However, the RX 470 holds its own in specific legacy and compute scenarios, and its desktop-oriented design offers capabilities that mobile parts cannot match. The following analysis breaks down where each card wins, how their architectures diverge, and what the data reveals about their respective positions in the GPU hierarchy.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head benchmark data shows a clear split: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile dominates in modern compute workloads, while the AMD Radeon RX 470 has no direct wins in the shared tests. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX 4070 Mobile scores 109197 against the RX 470's 33568, a difference of -69.3% from the AMD card's perspective. The Vulkan test tells a similar story, with the RTX 4070 Mobile scoring 108367 versus 39884 for the RX 470, a -63.2% delta. These are not marginal victories; the NVIDIA part delivers roughly three times the raw compute throughput in both APIs.

However, the RX 470's win condition lies outside the head-to-head comparisons. Its average benchmark score of 28996 places it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, slightly ahead of the RTX 4070 Mobile's 73rd percentile and 27435 average. This counterintuitive result stems from the benchmark mix: the RX 470's scores include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result of 842 and a Geekbench Metal score of 41690, which are not available for the NVIDIA card. The Metal score, in particular, suggests the RX 470 retains strong performance in Apple-centric or Metal-based workloads, where its GCN architecture has proven longevity. The RTX 4070 Mobile's advantage is concentrated in the PassMark suite, where it scores 19587 in G3D, 8399 in GPU Compute, and 763 in G2D, alongside DirectX 9 through 12 results ranging from 85 to 223.

The use-case split is therefore clear: the RTX 4070 Mobile wins any modern cross-platform compute or rendering task, while the RX 470's wins are confined to specific legacy or metal-optimized scenarios. For general-purpose gaming or productivity, the NVIDIA card is the clear choice. For users running Metal-based applications or older DirectX workloads where the RX 470's 32 ROPs and 128 TMUs provide adequate throughput, the AMD card remains serviceable, though not competitive in absolute terms.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is generational. The RX 470 uses AMD's GCN 4.0 architecture on a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process, featuring the Ellesmere chip with 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die. The RTX 4070 Mobile uses NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace architecture on a 5 nm TSMC process, with the AD106 chip packing 22,900 million transistors into a smaller 188 mm² die. This represents a transistor density increase from 24.6 million per square millimeter to 121.8 million per square millimeter, a 4.95x improvement that enables the NVIDIA chip to house significantly more compute resources.

The compute resource disparity is stark. The RTX 4070 Mobile features 4608 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, compared to the RX 470's 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. More critically, the NVIDIA card includes 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores, hardware that the RX 470 completely lacks. This explains the RTX 4070 Mobile's support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus the RX 470's DirectX 12 (12_0) — the newer card enables hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shaders. The RX 470's fp32 throughput of 4.940 TFLOPS matches its fp16 at a 1:1 ratio, while the RTX 4070 Mobile delivers 15.62 TFLOPS in both, a 3.16x advantage.

Memory architecture also differs fundamentally. The RX 470 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 211.2 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4070 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, achieving 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. Despite half the bus width, the NVIDIA card's faster memory clock (2000 MHz versus 1650 MHz, with 16 Gbps effective versus 6.6 Gbps effective) yields 21.2% more bandwidth. The RX 470's clock speeds are lower overall — 926 MHz base and 1206 MHz boost versus 1395 MHz base and 1695 MHz boost for the RTX 4070 Mobile.

Power and physical design diverge as expected for desktop versus mobile parts. The RX 470 has a 120 W TDP, dual-slot width, a 1x 6-pin power connector, and requires a 300 W power supply. It measures 240 mm in length, 95 mm in height, and 35 mm in width. The RTX 4070 Mobile is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with a 115 W TDP, no power connectors, and dimensions that are portable-device dependent. The RX 470 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RTX 4070 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8, offering double the per-lane bandwidth despite fewer lanes.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The shared benchmark data reveals a consistent and overwhelming advantage for the RTX 4070 Mobile. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA card scores 109197, which is 225.3% higher than the RX 470's 33568. The delta percentage of -69.3% (from the RX 470's perspective) indicates that the AMD card achieves less than one-third of the NVIDIA's score. This is a compute-heavy workload that stresses raw shader throughput, where the RTX 4070 Mobile's 4608 shading units and higher clocks dominate the RX 470's 2048 units.

Geekbench Vulkan shows a similar pattern, with the RTX 4070 Mobile scoring 108367 versus the RX 470's 39884. The delta of -63.2% means the RX 470 trails by roughly 1.72x in this API. Vulkan's lower-level access can favor architectures with better driver optimization; NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace benefits from mature Vulkan 1.4 support, while the RX 470's GCN 4.0 supports Vulkan 1.3. The RTX 4070 Mobile's 36 ray tracing cores also provide hardware acceleration for Vulkan ray tracing queries, which the RX 470 cannot match.

The RX 470's only other benchmark — 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 842 — has no comparable RTX 4070 Mobile result, so it cannot be directly compared. However, the RTX 4070 Mobile's PassMark results provide additional context: its G3D score of 19587 indicates strong DirectX 11 and 12 performance, while its DirectX 12 score of 85 and DirectX 11 score of 179 (likely per-frame or per-test metrics) suggest robust API support. The RX 470's 3DMark score, while lower in absolute terms, demonstrates that the AMD card can still execute modern DX12 workloads, albeit at lower absolute performance levels.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 470 has an average benchmark score of 28996, which is 5.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile's 27435. This is despite the RTX 4070 Mobile winning both head-to-head tests, because the RX 470's benchmark mix includes additional tests that skew its average upward.

Q: Does the RTX 4070 Mobile support hardware ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RTX 4070 Mobile includes 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores, enabling DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support. The RX 470 has no ray tracing or tensor cores and is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0).

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two cards?

A: The RX 470 has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 211.2 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4070 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth, providing 21.2% more bandwidth despite half the bus width.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile has a transistor density of 121.8 million per square millimeter on a 5 nm TSMC process, compared to the RX 470's 24.6 million per square millimeter on a 14 nm GlobalFoundries process. This is a 4.95x increase.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of power consumption?

A: The RX 470 has a 120 W TDP and requires a 300 W power supply with a 1x 6-pin connector. The RTX 4070 Mobile has a 115 W TDP and uses no external power connectors, as it is designed for portable devices.

Q: Which card has better Vulkan support?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile supports Vulkan 1.4, while the RX 470 supports Vulkan 1.3. In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the RTX 4070 Mobile scores 108367 versus 39884 for the RX 470, a -63.2% delta.

The Verdict

The data unequivocally favors the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile for any modern workload. Its 3.16x advantage in fp32 throughput (15.62 TFLOPS versus 4.940 TFLOPS), 2.25x more shading units (4608 versus 2048), and 21.2% higher memory bandwidth (256.0 GB/s versus 211.2 GB/s) translate directly into the 63-69% performance deltas seen in head-to-head benchmarks. The RTX 4070 Mobile also offers hardware ray tracing, tensor cores, and DirectX 12 Ultimate support, features the RX 470 completely lacks. Its smaller die (188 mm² versus 232 mm²) with 4x the transistor density (121.8M/mm² versus 24.6M/mm²) demonstrates the efficiency of the 5 nm process.

The RX 470's higher average benchmark score (28996 versus 27435) is a statistical artifact of its benchmark mix, not a sign of real-world superiority. Its 74th percentile ranking versus the RTX 4070 Mobile's 73rd is within statistical noise, given the nearest rival deltas of 0.4% and 0% respectively. However, for users running Metal-based applications (where the RX 470 scores 41690) or requiring a desktop card with a 256-bit memory bus and PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, the RX 470 remains a functional, though dated, option. Its 4 GB of memory is half the RTX 4070 Mobile's 8 GB, making it unsuitable for modern high-resolution textures.

The verdict is straightforward: pick the RTX 4070 Mobile for any gaming, compute, or content creation task that leverages modern APIs, ray tracing, or tensor cores. Pick the RX 470 only if you need a legacy desktop part with Metal support, a dual-slot form factor, and a 6-pin power connector, and you are willing to accept roughly one-third the compute performance of the mobile NVIDIA chip. The RTX 4070 Mobile's active production status and 2023 release date contrast sharply with the RX 470's end-of-life status from 2016, reinforcing that the NVIDIA card is the future-proof choice.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 470 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile |

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

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Ada Lovelace |

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

| Transistors | 5,700 million | 22,900 million |

| Die Size | 232 mm² | 188 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 24.6M / mm² | 121.8M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 926 MHz | 1395 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1206 MHz | 1695 MHz |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus | 256 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 211.2 GB/s | 256.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 4608 |

| TMUs | 128 | 144 |

| ROPs | 32 | 48 |

| RT Cores | None | 36 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 144 |

| FP32 Performance | 4.940 TFLOPS | 15.62 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 4.940 TFLOPS (1:1) | 15.62 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| Pixel Rate | 38.59 GPixel/s | 81.36 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 154.4 GTexel/s | 244.1 GTexel/s |

| TDP | 120 W | 115 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

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

| Suggested PSU | 300 W | None |

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

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

| Vulkan Support | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |

| Release Date | 2016-08-03 | 2023-01-02 |

| Launch MSRP | 179 USD | None |