AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB Comparison
AMD Radeon RX 470
RTX A2000 12 GB
PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
Analysis: AMD Radeon RX 470 vs NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB
Head-to-Head Benchmarks
The recorded data shows a decisive overall victory for the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB in the two shared benchmark tests, winning both head-to-head comparisons. The most significant margin appears in the Geekbench OpenCL compute test, where the NVIDIA card scores 66,998 points against the AMD Radeon RX 470's 33,568 points. That is a 99.6% advantage, essentially double the raw compute score, which indicates a fundamental difference in processing capability for general-purpose GPU workloads. The A2000 12 GB also wins the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test with a score of 1,309 versus 842 for the RX 470, a 55.5% lead that reflects stronger modern DirectX 12 gaming and rendering performance.
These results are consistent with the overall average benchmark scores in the database. The RTX A2000 12 GB holds an average score of 34,154, placing it in the 79th percentile among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT at 34,133 (a 0.1% gap), the NVIDIA RTX A1000 at 34,207 (0.2% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 480 at 33,997 (0.5% behind), and the NVIDIA TITAN V at 34,355 (0.6% ahead). The RX 470, by contrast, averages 28,996, which puts it in the 74th percentile. Its nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 6800M at 28,874 (0.4% ahead), the Intel Arc A370M at 29,175 (0.6% behind), the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH at 29,197 (0.7% behind), and the AMD FirePro W8000 at 29,211 (0.7% behind). The 5,158-point gap in average scores between the two cards translates to a roughly 17.8% overall difference, significantly smaller than the head-to-head deltas because the RX 470 has additional benchmark entries that pull its average upward relative to the shared tests.
Breaking down the specific tests, the Geekbench OpenCL result is particularly telling. The A2000 12 GB's 66,998 score is more than double the RX 470's 33,568, and this workload is heavily dependent on raw shader throughput and memory bandwidth. The A2000 12 GB offers 7.987 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 288.0 GB/s of memory bandwidth, while the RX 470 offers 4.940 TFLOPS and 211.2 GB/s. The compute advantage is roughly 61.7% in raw FP32 terms, yet the OpenCL score gap is 99.6%, suggesting the A2000 12 GB extracts additional efficiency from its architecture beyond the raw specifications. The 3DMark Steel Nomad test, which targets modern DX12 features, shows a 55.5% lead for the A2000 12 GB, closer to the raw compute difference but still favorable to NVIDIA.
Where Each One Wins
The NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB wins in every recorded head-to-head test, with the benchmark data showing 2 wins for the A2000 and 0 for the RX 470. The A2000 12 GB's strongest showing is in compute-heavy workloads, as evidenced by the 99.6% lead in Geekbench OpenCL. This makes it the clear choice for tasks that involve OpenCL-based computation, such as scientific simulation, machine learning inference, or video processing that leverages GPU compute. The 3DMark Steel Nomad result, with a 55.5% advantage, indicates the A2000 12 GB also holds a substantial edge in modern DX12 gaming and real-time rendering scenarios, particularly those that utilize ray tracing or mesh shaders, given its 26 RT cores and 104 tensor cores.
The AMD Radeon RX 470 does not win any benchmark in the head-to-head comparison, but the database shows it has a broader set of recorded test results, including Geekbench Metal and Geekbench Vulkan scores of 41,690 and 39,884 respectively. These scores are notably higher than its OpenCL result of 33,568, suggesting the RX 470 performs relatively better under Metal and Vulkan APIs than under OpenCL. However, since the A2000 12 GB has no recorded Metal or Vulkan scores, a direct comparison in those APIs is not possible from the available data. The RX 470's average benchmark score of 28,996 is dragged down by its weak OpenCL result, but its Vulkan and Metal scores indicate it may be competitive in those specific environments, though still likely below the A2000 12 GB given the latter's compute advantage.
For users prioritizing maximum compute throughput in OpenCL or DX12, the A2000 12 GB is the definitive winner. For users working in ecosystems where Metal or Vulkan are the primary APIs, the RX 470 has recorded data suggesting reasonable performance, but the lack of comparable A2000 12 GB scores in those tests means no direct conclusion can be drawn. The A2000 12 GB's higher average score and percentile ranking make it the more capable overall card, but the RX 470's additional API coverage may be relevant for specific legacy or platform-specific workloads.
FAQ
Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test?
A: The A2000 12 GB scores 1,309 against the RX 470's 842, representing a 55.5% lead in this DirectX 12 benchmark.
Q: What is the difference in Geekbench OpenCL scores between the two cards?
A: The A2000 12 GB scores 66,998 while the RX 470 scores 33,568, a 99.6% difference that nearly doubles the AMD card's result.
Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 470 win any benchmarks against the A2000 12 GB?
A: No, the recorded data shows the A2000 12 GB wins 2 benchmarks and the RX 470 wins 0.
Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?
A: The A2000 12 GB averages 34,154 across all recorded tests, while the RX 470 averages 28,996. The A2000 12 GB sits in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the RX 470's 74th percentile.
Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card in the database?
A: For the A2000 12 GB, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT (34,133, 0.1% behind), NVIDIA RTX A1000 (34,207, 0.2% ahead), AMD Radeon RX 480 (33,997, 0.5% behind), and NVIDIA TITAN V (34,355, 0.6% ahead). For the RX 470, they are the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (28,874, 0.4% ahead), Intel Arc A370M (29,175, 0.6% behind), AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH (29,197, 0.7% behind), and AMD FirePro W8000 (29,211, 0.7% behind).
Q: Does the RX 470 have any benchmark results that the A2000 12 GB lacks?
A: Yes, the RX 470 has recorded Geekbench Metal (41,690) and Geekbench Vulkan (39,884) scores, while the A2000 12 GB has no Metal or Vulkan entries in the database.
Specification Differences
The two cards differ across nearly every core specification. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB uses the GA106 chip built on an 8 nm process at Samsung, while the AMD Radeon RX 470 uses the Ellesmere chip on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The A2000 12 GB packs 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, yielding a density of 43.5M per mm². The RX 470 has 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, with a density of 24.6M per mm². Clock speeds also differ: the A2000 12 GB runs at a 562 MHz base and 1200 MHz boost, while the RX 470 runs at a 926 MHz base and 1206 MHz boost. Memory configurations diverge significantly: the A2000 12 GB has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 470 has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 211.2 GB/s bandwidth. The A2000 12 GB's memory runs at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective), while the RX 470's runs at 1650 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective).
Compute resources differ substantially. The A2000 12 GB has 3,328 shading units, 104 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, while the RX 470 has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The A2000 12 GB also features 26 RT cores and 104 tensor cores, neither of which exist on the RX 470. Pixel and texture rates reflect these differences: the A2000 12 GB achieves 57.60 GPixel/s and 124.8 GTexel/s, while the RX 470 achieves 38.59 GPixel/s and 154.4 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 7.987 TFLOPS for the A2000 12 GB versus 4.940 TFLOPS for the RX 470, with both offering 1:1 FP16.
Power and physical characteristics also differ. The A2000 12 GB has a 70 W TDP with no power connectors and a suggested 250 W PSU, while the RX 470 has a 120 W TDP with a single 6-pin connector and a suggested 300 W PSU. Both are dual-slot, but the A2000 12 GB measures 167 mm (6.6 inches) in length and 69 mm (2.7 inches) in height, while the RX 470 measures 240 mm (9.4 inches) in length, 95 mm (3.7 inches) in height, and 35 mm (1.4 inches) in width. The A2000 12 GB uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RX 470 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a for the A2000 12 GB versus 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the RX 470. The A2000 12 GB supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the RX 470 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.
Architecture Differences
The NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB is built on the Ampere architecture, part of the Workstation Ampere (Ax000) generation, while the AMD Radeon RX 470 uses the GCN 4.0 architecture from the Arctic Islands (RX 400) generation. This generational gap is significant: Ampere introduces dedicated RT cores and tensor cores, which the RX 470 entirely lacks. The 26 RT cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and the 104 tensor cores provide AI-accelerated compute for tasks like DLSS and machine learning inference. The GCN 4.0 architecture on the RX 470 has no equivalent hardware, relying purely on traditional shader units.
The manufacturing process differs substantially: the A2000 12 GB uses an 8 nm node from Samsung, while the RX 470 uses a 14 nm node from GlobalFoundries. This process difference contributes to the A2000 12 GB's higher transistor density (43.5M per mm² versus 24.6M per mm²) despite having more than double the transistor count (12,000 million versus 5,700 million). The A2000 12 GB achieves this on a slightly larger die (276 mm² versus 232 mm²), which is notable given the RX 470's larger physical card dimensions.
The memory architecture also reflects different design philosophies. The A2000 12 GB uses newer GDDR6 memory with a narrower 192-bit bus but achieves higher bandwidth (288.0 GB/s) through faster effective speeds of 12 Gbps. The RX 470 uses GDDR5 with a wider 256-bit bus but slower 6.6 Gbps effective speed, yielding lower bandwidth (211.2 GB/s). The A2000 12 GB also has three times the memory capacity (12 GB versus 4 GB), which is critical for modern workstation workloads involving large datasets or high-resolution textures.
API support differs in key ways. The A2000 12 GB supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes features like mesh shaders, variable rate shading, and DXR ray tracing. The RX 470 only supports DirectX 12 (12_0), which predates these features. Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the A2000 12 GB supports Vulkan 1.4 versus the RX 470's Vulkan 1.3. The A2000 12 GB's release in November 2021 positions it as a much newer design than the RX 470's August 2016 release, and its predecessor is Quadro Turing with a successor of Workstation Ada, while the RX 470's predecessor is Pirate Islands and its successor is Polaris. Both cards are now end-of-life, but the A2000 12 GB launched at 449 USD as its launch MSRP, while the RX 470 launched at 179 USD.