AMD Radeon RX 480 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data is unambiguous here. Across every recorded test, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti wins decisively. The largest recorded victory comes in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, where the RTX 2080 Ti scores 3537 against the RX 480's 966, a delta of 72.7% in favor of the NVIDIA card. That is not a marginal lead; it is a generational gap expressed in a single synthetic number.

The other two head-to-head results follow the same pattern. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 2080 Ti scores 128171 versus the RX 480's 37998, a 70.4% advantage. The Vulkan result narrows slightly but remains heavily lopsided: 132930 for the RTX 2080 Ti against 45968 for the RX 480, a 65.4% delta. The RTX 2080 Ti wins all three recorded head-to-head tests, giving it a clean 3-0 record over the RX 480.

What is more telling is where these scores sit relative to each card's own competitive field. The RX 480's average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 33997, placing it at the 78th percentile of all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7950 (33951, just 0.1% behind), the RX 560 XT (34133, which leads the RX 480 by 0.4%), and the RX 7700S (33849, trailing by 0.4%). The RX 480 is effectively a mid-pack card in its own neighborhood, surrounded by cards that trade single-percentage-point blows.

The RTX 2080 Ti, by contrast, posts an average benchmark score of 29783, which lands at the 75th percentile. Its nearest rivals are the RTX 5070 Mobile (29928, 0.5% ahead), the RTX 3070 Ti (29945, 0.5% ahead), and the RX 6800 (30095, 1% ahead). The RTX 2080 Ti is also close to the AMD FirePro W8000 (29211, which trails by 2%). The 2080 Ti is an older card that still hangs within 1% of much newer hardware, which tells you something about where it sits in the hierarchy.

The raw benchmark deltas between the two cards are so large that they dwarf any rival-to-rival noise. The RX 480's strongest head-to-head result is its Vulkan score, but even there the 2080 Ti leads by more than 65%. The OpenCL and Steel Nomad results are both beyond 70%. There is no test in the recorded data where the RX 480 closes the gap to within a competitive margin.

The Verdict

The verdict is straightforward from the data: the RTX 2080 Ti is the faster card by every recorded metric, and by a wide margin. If you are comparing these two for rasterization or compute workloads, the RTX 2080 Ti delivers roughly 65% to 73% more performance depending on the test. That is not a subtle difference, and no amount of tuning or driver adjustment on the RX 480's side will bridge it.

Who should pick the RX 480? Strictly from the database, only someone constrained by the physical or power envelope. The RX 480 draws 150 W versus the RTX 2080 Ti's 250 W, and it requires a single 6-pin connector against the 2080 Ti's dual 8-pin connectors. The suggested PSU is 450 W for the RX 480 versus 600 W for the RTX 2080 Ti. The RX 480 is also a shorter card at 240 mm versus 267 mm, which matters for compact cases. If your system cannot feed or house the RTX 2080 Ti, the RX 480 is the only viable choice in this pairing.

For everyone else, the RTX 2080 Ti is the pick. It wins every benchmark, offers more memory bandwidth, more compute units, and it still trades blows with newer cards like the RTX 3070 Ti and RX 6800 within 1%. The RX 480's nearest rivals are cards like the HD 7950 and RX 560 XT, which is the company it keeps. The 2080 Ti is in a different league entirely.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural generations with fundamentally different designs. The RX 480 uses the Ellesmere chip based on GCN 4.0, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The RTX 2080 Ti uses the TU102 chip based on Turing, built on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The transistor counts tell the story: 5,700 million for the RX 480 versus 18,600 million for the RTX 2080 Ti. Die size is 232 mm² for the RX 480 and 754 mm² for the RTX 2080 Ti. Interestingly, transistor density is nearly identical: 24.6M per mm² for the RX 480 and 24.7M per mm² for the RTX 2080 Ti. The 2080 Ti is simply a much larger chip with far more transistors, not a denser one.

The compute resources differ sharply. The RX 480 has 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 2080 Ti has 4352 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 88 ROPs. The 2080 Ti also includes dedicated RT cores (68) and tensor cores (544), which the RX 480 lacks entirely. These are not just spec sheet differences; they enable workloads that the RX 480 cannot accelerate at all.

Memory is another major split. The RX 480 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 2080 Ti uses 11 GB of GDDR6 on a 352-bit bus, yielding 616.0 GB/s, more than double the bandwidth. The RX 480's memory clock is 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective), while the 2080 Ti runs 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The higher effective data rate and wider bus give the 2080 Ti a massive bandwidth advantage.

Feature support also diverges. The RX 480 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The RTX 2080 Ti supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The 2080 Ti also adds a USB Type-C output alongside its HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, while the RX 480 has one HDMI 2.0b and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

The FP32 compute figures reflect the gap: 5.834 TFLOPS for the RX 480 versus 13.45 TFLOPS for the RTX 2080 Ti. The FP16 numbers are even more lopsided: 5.834 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio) for the RX 480 versus 26.90 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio) for the 2080 Ti. The 2080 Ti's Turing architecture has a clear advantage in mixed-precision workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher raw compute performance?

A: The RTX 2080 Ti has 13.45 TFLOPS FP32 versus 5.834 TFLOPS for the RX 480. In FP16, the 2080 Ti reaches 26.90 TFLOPS versus 5.834 TFLOPS for the RX 480.

Q: How much memory bandwidth does each card have?

A: The RTX 2080 Ti has 616.0 GB/s across an 11 GB GDDR6 memory bus, while the RX 480 has 256.0 GB/s across an 8 GB GDDR5 bus.

Q: Does the RX 480 support ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. The RX 480 has no RT cores or tensor cores. The RTX 2080 Ti includes 68 RT cores and 544 tensor cores.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The RX 480 has a TDP of 150 W and requires a single 6-pin connector with a suggested PSU of 450 W. The RTX 2080 Ti has a TDP of 250 W, requires dual 8-pin connectors, and suggests a 600 W PSU.

Q: Which card has a better percentile ranking in the database?

A: The RX 480 sits at the 78th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 33997. The RTX 2080 Ti sits at the 75th percentile with an average score of 29783. The percentile reflects the entire database, not just this comparison.

Q: What is the performance gap in the head-to-head tests?

A: The RTX 2080 Ti leads by 72.7% in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 70.4% in Geekbench OpenCL, and 65.4% in Geekbench Vulkan.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 2080 Ti wins every recorded benchmark in this comparison. There is no test in the head-to-head data where the RX 480 takes a win. The largest margin is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (72.7% ahead), and the smallest is in Geekbench Vulkan (65.4% ahead). If you are looking for a card to maximize any measured workload, the 2080 Ti is the only choice.

The RX 480's only advantages come from its physical and electrical footprint. It is a 150 W card versus 250 W for the 2080 Ti. It fits in a 240 mm length versus 267 mm for the 2080 Ti. It uses a single 6-pin power connector rather than dual 8-pin connectors, and its suggested PSU is 450 W versus 600 W. For a small form factor build or an older power supply, the RX 480 is the practical pick.

The RTX 2080 Ti also wins on memory capacity, 11 GB versus 8 GB, and on bandwidth, 616.0 GB/s versus 256.0 GB/s. The 2080 Ti adds hardware features (RT cores, tensor cores, DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4) that the RX 480 cannot match. If your workload touches any of those features, the RX 480 is not just slower, it is ineligible.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification that matters. The chip design diverges at the process level: 14 nm GlobalFoundries for the RX 480 versus 12 nm TSMC for the RTX 2080 Ti. The transistor count is 5,700 million versus 18,600 million, and the die size is 232 mm² versus 754 mm². Transistor density is nearly equal, 24.6M versus 24.7M per mm², but the physical scale is not.

Clock speeds favor the RTX 2080 Ti: 1350 MHz base and 1545 MHz boost versus 1120 MHz base and 1266 MHz boost for the RX 480. Memory configuration is entirely different: 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus versus 11 GB GDDR6 on a 352-bit bus. The effective memory speed is 8 Gbps for the RX 480 and 14 Gbps for the RTX 2080 Ti, producing 256.0 GB/s versus 616.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Compute units favor the 2080 Ti across the board: 4352 shading units versus 2304, 272 TMUs versus 144, and 88 ROPs versus 32. The 2080 Ti adds 68 RT cores and 544 tensor cores, which the RX 480 has none of. Pixel rate is 136.0 GPixel/s versus 40.51 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 420.2 GTexel/s versus 182.3 GTexel/s.

Power and physical dimensions differ substantially. The RX 480 is 150 W with a single 6-pin connector and a 450 W suggested PSU. The RTX 2080 Ti is 250 W with dual 8-pin connectors and a 600 W suggested PSU. Both are dual-slot cards, and both are 35 mm wide, but the RX 480 is 240 mm long and 95 mm tall, while the RTX 2080 Ti is 267 mm long and 116 mm tall.

Outputs differ in one key way: the RTX 2080 Ti adds a USB Type-C port, while the RX 480 offers three DisplayPort 1.4a and one HDMI 2.0b. The 2080 Ti has three DisplayPort 1.4a, one HDMI 2.0, and one USB Type-C. The API support is also split, with the RX 480 at DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, versus the RTX 2080 Ti at DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The launch MSRP of the RTX 2080 Ti was 999 USD, while the RX 480 launched at 229 USD, a gap that reflects the performance difference recorded in the benchmarks.