GPU Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 480 and NVIDIA P104-100 are two end-of-life graphics cards from different eras and purposes, yet they land in a similar performance bracket. The data shows a clear split: the NVIDIA P104-100 dominates in raw compute and modern API workloads, while the AMD Radeon RX 480 holds a narrow edge in Vulkan performance and offers a far more complete feature set for general use. This comparison is less about a single winner and more about identifying which card's specific strengths align with your intended workload, as their architectural philosophies and physical capabilities diverge significantly.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark results show a decisive victory for the NVIDIA P104-100 in two of the three shared tests, though the margins and contexts vary. In the demanding 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the P104-100 scores 1413 against the RX 480's 966, a substantial 31.6% advantage. This is a significant gap that highlights the P104-100's superior raw throughput in modern, graphics-intensive workloads. The delta is not marginal; it represents a full tier of performance difference in this specific scenario.

The Geekbench OpenCL test reinforces this trend, with the NVIDIA card scoring 52368 compared to the AMD card's 37998. This 27.4% lead in a general-purpose compute benchmark suggests the P104-100 has a notable edge in tasks that leverage OpenCL, such as certain rendering or data-processing applications. The P104-100's higher FP32 rating of 6.655 TFLOPS versus the RX 480's 5.834 TFLOPS aligns with this result, indicating a consistent raw compute advantage.

However, the AMD Radeon RX 480 secures its single win in the Geekbench Vulkan test. It scores 45968, narrowly edging out the P104-100's 45165. The 1.8% delta is small, but it is a win nonetheless. This result is particularly interesting because it shows that in a low-level, cross-platform API, the RX 480's architecture can compete effectively, potentially due to driver optimizations or the specific nature of the workload. The overall score distribution gives the P104-100 two wins and the RX 480 one, but the magnitude of the P104-100's victories (31.6% and 27.4%) far outweighs the RX 480's narrow 1.8% margin.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectural philosophies and manufacturing processes. The AMD Radeon RX 480 uses the Ellesmere chip based on the GCN 4.0 architecture, produced on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It integrates 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 24.6M per mm². In contrast, the NVIDIA P104-100 uses the GP104 chip based on the Pascal architecture, manufactured on a 16 nm process at TSMC. This chip is larger and more complex, with 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die, yielding a lower transistor density of 22.9M per mm². The P104-100's larger die and higher transistor count give it a theoretical foundation for more compute-heavy tasks.

The compute capabilities diverge sharply, especially in FP16 performance. The RX 480 offers FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, delivering 5.834 TFLOPS for both. This means it can process half-precision data at the same rate as full-precision, which can be advantageous in certain emerging workloads. The P104-100, however, has a severely restricted FP16 throughput of just 104.0 GFLOPS, a 1:64 ratio. This indicates it is heavily optimized for FP32 compute and shows no interest in half-precision tasks, a clear sign of its mining-focused design. Furthermore, the P104-100 supports DirectX 12_1 and Vulkan 1.4, while the RX 480 is limited to DirectX 12_0 and Vulkan 1.3, suggesting the NVIDIA card has a more modern API feature set.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the benchmark data, the NVIDIA P104-100 is the clear winner for raw compute performance and modern graphics APIs. Its dominant scores in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and Geekbench OpenCL make it the better choice for tasks that rely on heavy FP32 compute, such as rendering, scientific calculations, or any workload that can leverage OpenCL. The 31.6% lead in 3DMark is a strong indicator of its capability in newer, more demanding game engines, assuming the rest of the system can support it. The P104-100's architecture is simply more powerful when pushed with modern, parallel workloads.

The AMD Radeon RX 480's win in the Vulkan benchmark, while narrow, points to its strength in cross-platform, low-level APIs. For users who prioritize Vulkan-based games or applications, the RX 480 demonstrates it can hold its own. More importantly, the RX 480's feature set makes it a more practical card for general desktop use. It has display outputs (1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a), supports a standard PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, and has a much lower suggested PSU of 450 W compared to the P104-100's 200 W. The P104-100, with its "No outputs" and PCIe 1.0 x4 interface, is fundamentally a compute-only card, not designed for a typical user's display needs.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets reveal stark contrasts beyond raw performance. The most critical difference is memory: the RX 480 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The P104-100 has only 4 GB of GDDR5X on the same 256-bit bus, but its faster 10 Gbps effective memory speed pushes bandwidth to 320.3 GB/s. The P104-100's higher bandwidth is a clear advantage for memory-intensive compute tasks, but its 4 GB capacity is a severe limitation for modern games and larger datasets. The RX 480's 8 GB capacity is more future-proof and practical for gaming.

Other key differences include the clock speeds and power delivery. The P104-100 runs at a base clock of 1607 MHz and a boost of 1733 MHz, significantly higher than the RX 480's 1120 MHz base and 1266 MHz boost. This explains the P104-100's higher pixel rate (110.9 GPixel/s vs 40.51 GPixel/s) and texture rate (208.0 GTexel/s vs 182.3 GTexel/s). The RX 480 has more shading units (2304 vs 1920) and TMUs (144 vs 120), but the P104-100 has double the ROPs (64 vs 32). The P104-100 uses a single 8-pin power connector, while the RX 480 uses a 6-pin. The RX 480 is also shorter at 240 mm compared to the P104-100's 267 mm, and only the RX 480 has specified height and width dimensions. The P104-100's lack of display outputs is a fundamental spec difference that cannot be overlooked.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA P104-100 is significantly faster, scoring 1413 compared to the AMD Radeon RX 480's 966, a 31.6% difference.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 480 have any benchmark wins over the P104-100?

A: Yes, the RX 480 wins the Geekbench Vulkan test with a score of 45968 versus the P104-100's 45165, a narrow 1.8% margin.

Q: What is the difference in memory capacity and type?

A: The RX 480 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the P104-100 has 4 GB of GDDR5X. The P104-100 has higher memory bandwidth at 320.3 GB/s compared to the RX 480's 256.0 GB/s.

Q: Can the NVIDIA P104-100 be used for a standard desktop setup with monitors?

A: No. The P104-100 has no display outputs, making it a compute-only card. The RX 480 has 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Q: Which card has a higher FP32 compute rating?

A: The NVIDIA P104-100 has a higher FP32 rating at 6.655 TFLOPS, while the AMD Radeon RX 480 is rated at 5.834 TFLOPS.

Q: How do the cards compare in terms of API support?

A: The P104-100 supports DirectX 12_1 and Vulkan 1.4, while the RX 480 supports DirectX 12_0 and Vulkan 1.3.

The Verdict

The choice between these two cards is dictated entirely by your use case. The data strongly favors the NVIDIA P104-100 for pure compute performance. Its massive leads in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (31.6%) and Geekbench OpenCL (27.4%), coupled with higher FP32 throughput and memory bandwidth, make it the superior option for headless compute tasks, rendering farms, or any workload that prioritizes raw processing power over everything else. Its higher base and boost clocks and doubled ROP count are clear indicators of its performance intent. If your system can accommodate its PCIe 1.0 x4 interface and you have no need for a display connection, the P104-100 is the more powerful compute accelerator.

However, the AMD Radeon RX 480 is the only viable option for a conventional desktop PC. Its display outputs, standard PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, lower 450 W suggested PSU, and 8 GB of memory make it a functional graphics card for gaming and general use. While it loses decisively in raw compute, its 1.8% Vulkan win shows it is not entirely outclassed in all modern APIs. For a user building a system that must output to a monitor, the RX 480 is the practical and versatile choice. The P104-100 is a specialized tool, and unless your workload is exclusively compute-focused, the RX 480's complete feature set and larger memory buffer make it the more sensible purchase for a typical user. The P104-100 wins the performance crown, but the RX 480 wins the usability battle.