AMD Radeon RX 480 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Radeon RX 480 compare to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER in average benchmark score?

A: The RX 480 records an average benchmark score of 33,997, while the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER scores 31,087. The RX 480 actually holds a higher average score by roughly 9.4%, despite the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER winning every head-to-head test in the database.

Q: Which GPU wins in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER wins decisively, scoring 5,569 versus 966 for the RX 480. This represents a delta of -82.7% for the RX 480, meaning the NVIDIA card is about 5.8 times faster in that specific workload.

Q: What is the difference in memory bandwidth between the two cards?

A: The RX 480 has 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER offers 672.3 GB/s with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on the same 256-bit bus width, giving it roughly 2.6 times the bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel rate?

A: The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER delivers 250.6 GPixel/s, compared to 40.51 GPixel/s for the RX 480. The NVIDIA card is over 6 times faster in pixel fill rate, which matters for high-resolution rendering and heavy post-processing effects.

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

A: In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER scores 53,683, while the RX 480 scores 45,968. The NVIDIA card leads by 14.4%, which is a much smaller margin than in other tests, indicating the RX 480 holds up relatively better in Vulkan API workloads.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two GPUs?

A: Both are listed as end-of-life products. The RX 480 was released on 2016-06-28, and the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER was released on 2024-01-23. Neither is currently in active production.

Architecture Differences

The RX 480 uses the Ellesmere chip built on GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.6M per mm². The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses the AD103 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. That chip holds 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, giving a density of 121.1M per mm². The newer process node allows nearly 5 times the transistor density.

Core configuration differs substantially. The RX 480 has 2,304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has 8,448 shading units, 264 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. Beyond raw shader counts, the Ada Lovelace GPU adds 66 ray tracing cores and 264 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the GCN 4.0 part. These specialized units enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based rendering techniques, which the older architecture cannot perform.

Clock speeds also separate the two. The RX 480 runs at a base of 1120 MHz and boosts to 1266 MHz. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER operates at 2340 MHz base and 2610 MHz boost. The combination of higher clocks and more cores gives the NVIDIA card a massive theoretical throughput advantage: 44.10 TFLOPS FP32 versus 5.834 TFLOPS for the AMD card.

Memory architecture reflects the generational gap. The RX 480 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 at 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective), while the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses 16 GB of GDDR6X at 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). Both use a 256-bit bus, but the newer memory type and higher effective speed push bandwidth from 256.0 GB/s to 672.3 GB/s.

The PCIe interface also differs: the RX 480 is PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is PCIe 4.0 x16. API support shows the NVIDIA card supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the RX 480 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

The Verdict

The benchmark data points to a clear generational divide. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER wins all three head-to-head tests in the database, with margins ranging from 14.4% in Vulkan to 82.7% in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The largest single test gap appears in OpenCL, where the NVIDIA card scores 199,267 against 37,998, a delta of -80.9%.

However, the average benchmark score tells a different story. The RX 480 posts 33,997 versus 31,087 for the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, a difference of about 9.4% in favor of the older AMD card. This discrepancy arises because the two products occupy different positions in the database's benchmark suite. The RX 480's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7950 (0.1% slower), AMD Radeon RX 560 XT (0.4% faster), AMD Radeon RX 7700S (0.4% slower), and NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB (0.5% faster). The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (0.4% faster), NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (0.4% faster), NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell (1.4% faster), and NVIDIA TITAN RTX (1.9% faster).

For users seeking maximum raw performance in modern DirectX 12 workloads and compute-heavy tasks, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the clear choice. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 5,569 and OpenCL score of 199,267 demonstrate overwhelming superiority in those areas. The Vulkan result, while still a win for NVIDIA, shows a narrower gap, suggesting the RX 480's GCN architecture retains some relevance in that API.

For users prioritizing the broadest average benchmark score, the RX 480 appears stronger in the database's overall metrics. Its percentile rank of 78 versus 76 for the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER indicates it sits slightly higher relative to all GPUs tracked. This is likely due to the RX 480's competitive standing among its immediate peers, while the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER faces closer competition from professional and workstation-class cards.

The choice depends on workload. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER targets high-end gaming with ray tracing, AI-accelerated features, and demanding compute. The RX 480, despite its age, remains competitive in older API workloads and offers a lower launch MSRP of 229 USD compared to 799 USD for the NVIDIA card. The data does not support one universal winner; it supports different winners for different test categories.

Specification Differences

| Field | AMD Radeon RX 480 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER |

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

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Ada Lovelace |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 5 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 5,700 million | 45,900 million |

| Die Size | 232 mm² | 379 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 24.6M / mm² | 121.1M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1120 MHz | 2340 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1266 MHz | 2610 MHz |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6X |

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

| Memory Bandwidth | 256.0 GB/s | 672.3 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2,304 | 8,448 |

| TMUs | 144 | 264 |

| ROPs | 32 | 96 |

| RT Cores | None | 66 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 264 |

| Pixel Rate | 40.51 GPixel/s | 250.6 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 182.3 GTexel/s | 689.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 5.834 TFLOPS | 44.10 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 5.834 TFLOPS (1:1) | 44.10 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 150 W | 285 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Triple-slot |

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

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 600 W |

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

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

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

| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |

| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Length | 240 mm (9.4 inches) | 310 mm (12.2 inches) |

| Height | 95 mm (3.7 inches) | 140 mm (5.5 inches) |

| Width | 35 mm (1.4 inches) | 61 mm (2.4 inches) |

| Release Date | 2016-06-28 | 2024-01-23 |

| Launch MSRP | 229 USD | 799 USD |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records three direct head-to-head comparisons between these GPUs. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER wins every one of them, but the margins vary significantly across test types.

In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the NVIDIA card scores 5,569 against 966 for the RX 480. That is a delta of -82.7% from the AMD card's perspective. This is the largest gap in the head-to-head set. The test stresses modern DirectX 12 rendering with geometry-heavy scenes, and the Ada Lovelace architecture's combination of higher clocks, more shaders, and dedicated RT cores produces a roughly 5.8x performance advantage. The RX 480's GCN 4.0 design, with only 2,304 shading units and a 1,266 MHz boost, cannot match the throughput demanded by this workload.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER scores 199,267, while the RX 480 scores 37,998. The delta is -80.9%. OpenCL compute performance scales heavily with raw FP32 throughput and memory bandwidth. The NVIDIA card's 44.10 TFLOPS and 672.3 GB/s give it a commanding lead over the RX 480's 5.834 TFLOPS and 256.0 GB/s. The result is about a 5.2x difference in compute performance, which aligns closely with the theoretical compute ratio.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows the closest contest. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER scores 53,683, and the RX 480 scores 45,968. The delta narrows to -14.4%. Vulkan's lower-level API overhead tends to favor older architectures that can exploit driver efficiencies. The RX 480's GCN design was well-optimized for Vulkan during its lifetime, and the data suggests it remains competitive here. The 14.4% gap is substantial but far smaller than the other tests.

Across the three tests, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER demonstrates its superiority in modern workloads, particularly those that leverage DX12 and OpenCL. The Vulkan result indicates that the RX 480 still holds relevance in specific API environments. With three wins for the NVIDIA card and zero for the AMD card, the head-to-head record is unambiguous: the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the faster GPU in every measured scenario, though the margin depends heavily on the test's API and compute characteristics.