AMD Radeon RX 480 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and the AMD Radeon RX 480 occupy vastly different corners of the GPU landscape, separated by nearly seven years of architectural evolution. The RTX 4070 Ti, built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, is an end-of-life flagship from the GeForce 40-series, while the RX 480, based on GCN 4.0, was a mid-range workhorse from the Arctic Islands generation. The recorded data shows a decisive performance gap in every shared benchmark, but the comparison is not merely about speed; it reveals fundamental shifts in how GPUs are designed, what they prioritize, and what they ask of the rest of the system. This analysis will break down where each card wins, how their architectures diverge, and what the numbers imply for anyone choosing between them.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head benchmark results are unambiguous: the RTX 4070 Ti wins all three recorded tests. There are no workloads in the database where the RX 480 comes out ahead. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, which stresses modern DirectX 12 rendering, shows the RTX 4070 Ti scoring 5024 against the RX 480’s 966, a lead of 420.1%. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4070 Ti posts 176953 versus 37998, a 365.7% advantage. The Vulkan test tells a similar story: 213808 against 45968, or 365.1% ahead.

What this means is that the RTX 4070 Ti is not just faster; it is categorically in a different performance tier. The RX 480’s wins are not found in raw speed but in system integration. It is a dual-slot card with a 150 W TDP and a single 6-pin power connector, requiring a 450 W power supply. The RTX 4070 Ti demands a 285 W TDP, a 16-pin connector, and a 600 W power supply. For a system without modern power delivery, the RX 480 is the only plausible choice. The RX 480 also fits into smaller spaces: it measures 240 mm in length, 95 mm in height, and 35 mm in width, versus the RTX 4070 Ti’s 285 mm, 112 mm, and 42 mm. The data suggests the RX 480 is the fallback for legacy builds, while the RTX 4070 Ti is the performance pick for a newer platform.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are separated by more than just release dates; they represent two completely different design philosophies. The RTX 4070 Ti uses the AD104 chip on a 5 nm process from TSMC, packing 35,800 million transistors into a 294 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 121.8 million per square millimeter. The RX 480 uses the Ellesmere chip on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, with 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, for a density of 24.6 million per square millimeter. The density difference is stark: the RTX 4070 Ti crams nearly five times as many transistors into only 27% more die area.

The architectural features diverge even further. The RTX 4070 Ti includes 60 RT cores for hardware ray tracing and 240 tensor cores for AI workloads, neither of which exist on the RX 480. The RX 480 has no ray tracing hardware and no tensor cores, relying entirely on its 2304 shading units. The RTX 4070 Ti has 7680 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 80 ROPs, versus the RX 480’s 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The FP32 compute output is 40.09 TFLOPS for the RTX 4070 Ti and 5.834 TFLOPS for the RX 480, a 6.9x difference in raw floating-point throughput. FP16 is identical to FP32 on both cards, but the RTX 4070 Ti’s sheer scale makes that irrelevant.

Memory architecture also tells a story of generational change. The RTX 4070 Ti uses 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, delivering 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 480 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s. The RTX 4070 Ti has a narrower bus but more than double the bandwidth due to faster memory. The process node, the transistor count, and the feature set all point to one conclusion: the RTX 4070 Ti is a product of a different era, designed for workloads that did not exist when the RX 480 launched.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test is the most telling result. It is a modern workload that exercises DirectX 12 features, and the RTX 4070 Ti scores 5024, which is 420.1% higher than the RX 480’s 966. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a fivefold increase. The RTX 4070 Ti’s RT cores and tensor cores are likely contributing, but even without them, the raw shading power difference would be massive.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4070 Ti scores 176953, which is 365.7% above the RX 480’s 37998. OpenCL is a compute-heavy test, and the RTX 4070 Ti’s 40.09 TFLOPS of FP32 performance dwarfs the RX 480’s 5.834 TFLOPS. The Vulkan benchmark shows a similar gap: 213808 versus 45968, a 365.1% delta. Vulkan is often used for gaming and compute, and the RTX 4070 Ti’s lead here confirms that its advantage is not limited to one API.

The RX 480 does have one recorded benchmark that the RTX 4070 Ti does not: Geekbench Metal, where it scores 51057. However, Metal is Apple’s API, and the RTX 4070 Ti has no Metal score in the database, so no direct comparison is possible. The RX 480 also has no PassMark scores recorded, while the RTX 4070 Ti has several: PassMark G3D at 31624, G2D at 1200, and GPU Compute at 18396, among others. These scores are not directly comparable to the RX 480 because the latter lacks them, but they add context to the RTX 4070 Ti’s overall profile.

The nearest rivals in the database further illustrate the positioning. The RTX 4070 Ti’s average benchmark score is 44795, sitting at the 84th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, which averages 45152, a difference of -0.8%. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT averages 45384, 1.3% ahead, and the Intel Arc A730M averages 45592, 1.7% ahead. The RTX A6000 trails by 1.6% with an average of 44075. Meanwhile, the RX 480 averages 33997, at the 78th percentile, with its closest rival being the AMD Radeon HD 7950 at 33951, a 0.1% difference. The RX 480 is essentially in a different league, surrounded by much older or lower-tier cards.

The Verdict

From the data, the RTX 4070 Ti is the clear choice for anyone who needs maximum performance in modern DirectX 12, Vulkan, or OpenCL workloads. It wins every shared benchmark with margins between 365% and 420%. Its architecture includes ray tracing and tensor cores, which the RX 480 lacks entirely, making it future-proof for applications that use these features. The RTX 4070 Ti also has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory versus 8 GB of GDDR5, which matters for high-resolution textures and larger datasets.

The RX 480, however, remains relevant for a specific audience: users with older power supplies or smaller cases. It requires only a 450 W PSU and a single 6-pin connector, while the RTX 4070 Ti needs 600 W and a 16-pin connector. The RX 480’s dimensions are also smaller, making it easier to fit into compact builds. If a system cannot accommodate the RTX 4070 Ti’s physical and power demands, the RX 480 is the only option in this comparison.

The performance percentile data reinforces this split. The RTX 4070 Ti sits at the 84th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 480 sits at the 78th. That 6-point gap might sound small, but the actual benchmark scores show a chasm. The RTX 4070 Ti’s average score is 44795, which is 31.7% higher than the RX 480’s 33997. The RX 480’s nearest rivals are cards like the HD 7950 and the RX 560 XT, both from earlier generations, while the RTX 4070 Ti is competing with modern mobile flagships and professional workstations.

FAQ

Q: Does the RX 480 win any benchmark against the RTX 4070 Ti?

A: No. In the three shared tests (3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, Geekbench OpenCL, Geekbench Vulkan), the RTX 4070 Ti wins all of them with margins of at least 365%.

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

A: The largest delta is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where the RTX 4070 Ti leads by 420.1% (5024 versus 966).

Q: Does the RX 480 support ray tracing?

A: No, the RX 480 has no RT cores. The RTX 4070 Ti has 60 RT cores for hardware ray tracing.

Q: How do their memory systems compare?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti has 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus with 504.2 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 480 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card requires more power?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti has a TDP of 285 W and needs a 600 W power supply, while the RX 480 has a TDP of 150 W and works with a 450 W power supply.

Q: Are the two cards in the same performance percentile?

A: No, the RTX 4070 Ti is at the 84th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 480 is at the 78th percentile.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti | AMD Radeon RX 480 |

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

| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | GCN 4.0 |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | GlobalFoundries |

| Transistors | 35,800 million | 5,700 million |

| Die Size | 294 mm² | 232 mm² |

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

| Base Clock | 2310 MHz | 1120 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2610 MHz | 1266 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) | 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 12 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6X | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus | 192 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 504.2 GB/s | 256.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 7680 | 2304 |

| TMUs | 240 | 144 |

| ROPs | 80 | 32 |

| RT Cores | 60 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 240 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 208.8 GPixel/s | 40.51 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 626.4 GTexel/s | 182.3 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 40.09 TFLOPS | 5.834 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 40.09 TFLOPS (1:1) | 5.834 TFLOPS (1:1)|

| TDP | 285 W | 150 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 16-pin | 1x 6-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | 450 W |

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

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

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

| Vulkan | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Dimensions | 285 mm x 112 mm x 42 mm | 240 mm x 95 mm x 35 mm |

| Release Date | 2023-01-02 | 2016-06-28 |

| Launch MSRP | 799 USD | 229 USD |