AMD Radeon RX 480 vs AMD Radeon RX 6700 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data paints a clear picture: the AMD Radeon RX 6700 wins every single recorded head-to-head test against the AMD Radeon RX 480. Across the four shared workloads, the RX 6700 takes all four victories, while the RX 480 records zero wins. This is not a close contest; the newer card dominates in every measured category.

The RX 480 still holds relevance as an entry-level DirectX 12 performer. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 966 places it in the 78th percentile of all GPUs in the database, a respectable standing for a card from the Arctic Islands generation. However, its average benchmark score of 33,997 puts it in a dead heat with the AMD Radeon HD 7950, which scores 33,951, a delta of just 0.1 percent. The RX 480 is also nearly tied with the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT (34,133, a -0.4 percent delta) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (33,849, a 0.4 percent delta). The data suggests the RX 480 is a middle-of-the-pack option even among its own generation peers.

The RX 6700, by contrast, sits in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 30,433. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA CMP 70HX (30,476, a -0.1 percent delta) and the NVIDIA Tesla M60 (30,490, a -0.2 percent delta). More notably, the RX 6700 edges out the AMD Radeon RX 6800 by 1.1 percent (30,095) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti by 1.6 percent (29,945). The RX 6700 is a stronger overall performer, despite its lower percentile rank, because the RX 480's percentile is inflated by a single strong OpenCL result that does not translate across all workloads.

The use-case split is straightforward. For users running legacy or compute-heavy OpenCL workloads, the RX 480 is a functional if unspectacular choice. For modern DirectX 12 gaming, Metal environments, or Vulkan applications, the RX 6700 is the clear pick. The RX 480 has no workload where it outperforms the RX 6700 in the recorded data.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from completely different design philosophies. The RX 480 uses the Ellesmere chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 5,700 million transistors into a 232 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.6 million per square millimeter. The RX 6700 uses the Navi 22 chip based on RDNA 2.0, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It contains 17,200 million transistors across a 335 mm² die, for a density of 51.3 million per square millimeter. The RX 6700 more than doubles the transistor count of the RX 480 while using a denser process.

The architectural gulf shows up in the feature set. The RX 480 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RX 6700 steps up to DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 6700 also includes 36 ray tracing cores, a feature the RX 480 lacks entirely. The RX 480 has no dedicated ray tracing hardware, while the RX 6700 is built for it.

The memory subsystems differ as well. The RX 480 uses GDDR5 with 8 GB of capacity on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6700 uses GDDR6 with 10 GB on a 160-bit bus, pushing 320.0 GB/s. The narrower bus on the RX 6700 is offset by faster memory, resulting in higher bandwidth overall.

The compute capabilities reflect the generational leap. The RX 480 delivers 5.834 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and the same 5.834 TFLOPS for FP16, a 1:1 ratio. The RX 6700 delivers 11.29 TFLOPS of FP32 and 22.58 TFLOPS of FP16, a 2:1 ratio. That means the RX 6700 has nearly double the FP32 throughput and nearly four times the FP16 throughput of the RX 480. The pixel rate tells a similar story: 40.51 GPixel/s for the RX 480 versus 156.8 GPixel/s for the RX 6700. The texture rate jumps from 182.3 GTexel/s to 352.8 GTexel/s.

Both cards share the same shading unit count of 2,304 and the same texture mapping unit count of 144. The RX 480 has 32 ROPs, while the RX 6700 has 64 ROPs, a doubling that explains the large pixel rate advantage. The power requirements differ modestly: the RX 480 has a TDP of 150 W with a single 6-pin power connector, while the RX 6700 has a TDP of 175 W with a single 8-pin connector. Both recommend a 450 W power supply.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive result comes from 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The RX 6700 scores 2,014 against the RX 480's 966, a delta of -52 percent when viewed from the RX 480's side. The RX 6700 more than doubles the RX 480's score in this modern DirectX 12 workload. This is the kind of gap that makes the RX 480 difficult to recommend for current-generation gaming.

The Geekbench Metal test shows the RX 6700 at 122,223 versus the RX 480's 51,057, a delta of -58.2 percent. Metal is Apple's graphics API, and the RX 6700 is nearly 2.4 times faster in this environment. Users working in Metal-based creative applications on compatible systems would see a massive uplift.

The OpenCL result is the largest margin of victory. The RX 6700 scores 97,841 against the RX 480's 37,998, a delta of -61.2 percent. This is the biggest relative gap in the entire head-to-head set. OpenCL is commonly used for general-purpose GPU compute, and the RX 6700's 11.29 TFLOPS of FP32 performance versus the RX 480's 5.834 TFLOPS explains why the compute gap is so wide.

The Vulkan test is the closest of the four, though still a clear win. The RX 6700 scores 83,974 against the RX 480's 45,968, a delta of -45.3 percent. Vulkan is a low-overhead API used in many modern games, and the RX 6700 is nearly 1.8 times faster here. Even in the RX 6700's smallest victory, the margin is substantial.

The RX 6700 has additional benchmark records in the database that the RX 480 does not share. These include PassMark DirectX 10 (115), DirectX 11 (166), DirectX 12 (71), DirectX 9 (250), G2D (936), G3D (18,931), and GPU Compute (8,240). The RX 480 has no PassMark entries in the recorded data, so no direct comparison is possible for those workloads.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification. The process node moves from 14 nm on the RX 480 to 7 nm on the RX 6700. The foundry shifts from GlobalFoundries to TSMC. Transistor count rises from 5,700 million to 17,200 million, and die size grows from 232 mm² to 335 mm². Transistor density increases from 24.6M per square millimeter to 51.3M per square millimeter.

Clock speeds are much higher on the RX 6700. The base clock jumps from 1120 MHz to 1941 MHz, and the boost clock from 1266 MHz to 2450 MHz. The RX 6700 also has a game clock of 2174 MHz, a figure the RX 480 does not report. Memory speed rises from 8 Gbps effective on the RX 480 to 16 Gbps effective on the RX 6700, though both run at 2000 MHz.

Memory configuration changes completely. The RX 480 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6700 uses 10 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus with 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6700 has more capacity and more bandwidth despite the narrower bus.

The ROP count doubles from 32 to 64, and the RX 6700 adds 36 ray tracing cores. The RX 480 has no ray tracing hardware. FP32 performance nearly doubles from 5.834 TFLOPS to 11.29 TFLOPS, while FP16 performance quadruples from 5.834 TFLOPS to 22.58 TFLOPS. The FP16 ratio changes from 1:1 to 2:1.

Power and connectivity also differ. TDP rises from 150 W to 175 W, and the power connector changes from a single 6-pin to a single 8-pin. The bus interface moves from PCIe 3.0 x16 to PCIe 4.0 x16. The display outputs change from HDMI 2.0b with three DisplayPort 1.4a connectors to HDMI 2.1 with three DisplayPort 1.4a connectors. Dimensions grow from 240 mm in length, 95 mm in height, and 35 mm in width to 267 mm, 110 mm, and 40 mm, respectively. The architecture changes from GCN 4.0 to RDNA 2.0, and the generation moves from Arctic Islands (RX 400) to Navi II (RX 6000).

The RX 480 has a recorded launch MSRP of 229 USD. The RX 6700 has no launch MSRP recorded in the database.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in DirectX 12 workloads?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6700. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the RX 6700 scores 2,014 versus the RX 480's 966, a delta of -52 percent from the RX 480's perspective.

Q: Does the RX 6700 support ray tracing?

A: Yes. The RX 6700 includes 36 ray tracing cores. The RX 480 has no ray tracing cores and only supports DirectX 12 (12_0), while the RX 6700 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Q: How do the two cards compare in OpenCL compute performance?

A: The RX 6700 wins by the largest margin of any shared test. It scores 97,841 in Geekbench OpenCL versus the RX 480's 37,998, a delta of -61.2 percent. The RX 6700 delivers 11.29 TFLOPS of FP32 performance compared to the RX 480's 5.834 TFLOPS.

Q: What are the memory differences between the two cards?

A: The RX 480 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6700 has 10 GB of GDDR6 on a 160-bit bus with 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Which card is more power-efficient?

A: The RX 480 has a lower TDP at 150 W compared to the RX 6700's 175 W. The RX 480 uses a single 6-pin power connector, while the RX 6700 uses a single 8-pin connector. Both recommend a 450 W power supply.

Q: How does the RX 480 compare to its own closest rivals?

A: The RX 480's average benchmark score of 33,997 is within 0.5 percent of the AMD Radeon HD 7950 (33,951), the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT (34,133), the AMD Radeon RX 7700S (33,849), and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB (34,154). It sits in the 78th percentile of all GPUs.