AMD Radeon RX 480 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Comparison

AMD Radeon RX 480 and NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell occupy entirely different segments of the GPU spectrum, separated by nearly a decade of architectural evolution. The data shows the RX 480, a 2016-era GCN 4.0 part, trails the Blackwell 2.0 workstation card in every shared benchmark, yet the RX 480 still holds a higher percentile ranking (78th vs 76th) due to its average score being buoyed by different test suites. The RTX PRO 4500 wins both head-to-head tests decisively, with the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 delta at -86.2% in favor of the newer card, but the RX 480’s legacy in older API workloads and its lower power footprint make it a distinct, if outdated, alternative.

The Verdict

The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the clear performance leader based on every overlapping benchmark data point. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 7025 against the RX 480’s 966, a gap of 86.2% in NVIDIA’s favor. The Geekbench Vulkan result tells the same story: 221768 vs 45968, a 79.3% advantage. Anyone needing modern compute or ray-traced workloads should select the RTX PRO 4500, as its 50.53 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 82 RT cores are in a different class entirely. The RX 480, with 5.834 TFLOPS FP32 and no RT cores, cannot compete in these areas.

However, the RX 480 is not without merit for specific legacy scenarios. Its percentile ranking (78th) is higher than the RTX PRO 4500’s (76th), suggesting that in the broader benchmark database, the RX 480 performs relatively better against all GPUs than the RTX PRO does—likely because the RX 480’s average score comes from tests that favor its architecture. The RX 480 also draws 150 W TDP versus 200 W, and its 6-pin power connector is more universally compatible than the RTX PRO’s 16-pin. For users running older DirectX 12_0 applications or OpenGL 4.6 workloads where the RX 480’s GCN 4.0 design still functions, it remains a viable low-power option. The RTX PRO 4500 is for professionals needing 32 GB of GDDR7 memory and PCIe 5.0 bandwidth; the RX 480 is for those with legacy software that predates Blackwell’s feature set.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX PRO 4500 wins in all directly comparable benchmarks, but the nature of those wins varies. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, a modern rasterization test, the NVIDIA card’s 7025 points versus 966 represents a 7.27x raw score advantage, reflecting its 328 TMUs and 112 ROPs against the RX 480’s 144 TMUs and 32 ROPs. The Geekbench Vulkan result shows a 4.82x lead (221768 vs 45968), where the RTX PRO’s 10496 shading units and Blackwell 2.0 architecture scale better with the API’s low-level overhead.

The RX 480’s wins are more subtle and appear outside the head-to-head benchmarks. Its average benchmark score of 33997 exceeds the RTX PRO 4500’s 31532, driven by the RX 480’s strong Geekbench Metal score of 51057 and OpenCL score of 37998—tests the RTX PRO does not have data for. This suggests the RX 480 retains an edge in Apple-centric Metal workloads and OpenCL compute that the Blackwell card either does not support in the same way or was not tested in. The RX 480 also wins on power efficiency in absolute terms: 150 W TDP versus 200 W, and it requires only a 450 W suggested PSU against the RTX PRO’s 550 W. For systems with aging power supplies or limited PCIe slot power (the RX 480 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 vs the RTX PRO’s PCIe 5.0 x16), the older card is more accommodating.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different process nodes and architectures. The RX 480 uses GlobalFoundries’ 14 nm process with 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.6 million per mm². The RTX PRO 4500 uses TSMC’s 5 nm process with 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, achieving 120.6 million per mm²—a density roughly 4.9x higher. This density difference explains the RTX PRO’s massive compute advantage: 10496 shading units versus 2304, 328 TMUs versus 144, and 112 ROPs versus 32.

Architecturally, the RX 480 is GCN 4.0 (generation Arctic Islands), while the RTX PRO is Blackwell 2.0 (generation Blackwell PRO W). The RX 480 has no RT cores or tensor cores; the RTX PRO has 82 RT cores and 328 tensor cores. The RX 480 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, while the RTX PRO supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. Both support OpenGL 4.6. Memory technology differs starkly: the RX 480 uses 8 GB GDDR5 at 256.0 GB/s, whereas the RTX PRO uses 32 GB GDDR7 at 896.0 GB/s. The memory clock also differs—2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) for the RX 480 versus 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) for the RTX PRO, though the newer GDDR7 standard more than compensates for the lower base clock.

Feature sets diverge further in display outputs: the RX 480 offers 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RTX PRO provides 4x DisplayPort 2.1b. The RTX PRO’s PCIe 5.0 x16 interface doubles the bandwidth potential of the RX 480’s PCIe 3.0 x16. The RX 480 is end-of-life, released in 2016, whereas the RTX PRO is active, released in 2025. The RX 480’s predecessor is Pirate Islands and successor is Polaris; the RTX PRO’s predecessor is Workstation Ada with no successor listed.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 480 has a higher average benchmark score of 33997, compared to the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell’s 31532. This is despite the RTX PRO winning all head-to-head tests.

Q: How much faster is the RTX PRO 4500 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The RTX PRO 4500 scores 7025 versus the RX 480’s 966, a delta of -86.2% in favor of NVIDIA. This means the RTX PRO is roughly 7.27 times faster in this specific test.

Q: Does the RX 480 support ray tracing?

A: No. The RX 480 has no RT cores listed in the data. The RTX PRO 4500 has 82 RT cores, but the RX 480’s GCN 4.0 architecture predates hardware ray tracing.

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

A: The RTX PRO 4500 has 896.0 GB/s bandwidth from its 32 GB GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus, while the RX 480 has 256.0 GB/s from 8 GB GDDR5 on the same 256-bit bus. The RTX PRO offers 3.5x the bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX PRO 4500 has a transistor density of 120.6M per mm² (45,600 million transistors on 378 mm²), while the RX 480 has 24.6M per mm² (5,700 million on 232 mm²). The RTX PRO’s density is approximately 4.9x higher.

Q: Are these GPUs compatible with the same PCIe slots?

A: No. The RX 480 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RTX PRO 4500 uses PCIe 5.0 x16. Both are physically x16 cards, but the RTX PRO requires a motherboard with PCIe 5.0 support to realize its full bandwidth potential.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The data provides two direct comparison points, both won decisively by the RTX PRO 4500. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX PRO scores 7025 against the RX 480’s 966, a delta of -86.2%. This test stresses modern rasterization features that Blackwell 2.0 handles natively, while GCN 4.0 from 2016 lacks the necessary hardware optimizations. The RTX PRO’s texture rate of 789.5 GTexel/s versus the RX 480’s 182.3 GTexel/s helps explain the gap—the newer card fills 4.3x more texels per second, directly impacting pixel throughput in this benchmark.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX PRO scores 221768 versus 45968, a delta of -79.3%. Vulkan’s low-level nature rewards the RTX PRO’s 10496 shading units and tensor cores (328 of them), which can offload compute tasks. The RX 480’s 2304 shading units must handle all work serially without tensor acceleration. The RTX PRO’s FP32 throughput of 50.53 TFLOPS is 8.66x higher than the RX 480’s 5.834 TFLOPS, and this raw compute advantage manifests directly in the Vulkan score. The pixel rate also favors NVIDIA: 269.6 GPixel/s versus 40.51 GPixel/s, a 6.66x difference that explains the 3DMark outcome.

Notably, the RX 480 has no wins in the head-to-head data (0 wins vs 2), but its average benchmark score still exceeds the RTX PRO’s because the RX 480 includes Geekbench Metal (51057) and OpenCL (37998) results, which are absent for the RTX PRO. These scores pull the RX 480’s average up, even though its Steel Nomad and Vulkan numbers are far lower. This illustrates how average scores can mislead without context—the RTX PRO is faster in every common test, but the RX 480’s broader test coverage gives it a higher aggregate position.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification field. The RTX PRO 4500 has 10496 shading units versus 2304, 328 TMUs versus 144, and 112 ROPs versus 32. It adds 82 RT cores and 328 tensor cores, which the RX 480 lacks entirely. Memory capacity is 32 GB versus 8 GB, with type GDDR7 versus GDDR5, though both use a 256-bit bus. Bandwidth is 896.0 GB/s versus 256.0 GB/s.

Clock speeds differ: the RTX PRO has a base clock of 1635 MHz and boost of 2407 MHz, while the RX 480 runs at 1120 MHz base and 1266 MHz boost. Memory clock is 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA versus 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) for AMD. Power draw is 200 W versus 150 W, with the RTX PRO requiring a 16-pin connector and 550 W PSU, while the RX 480 uses a 6-pin connector and 450 W PSU.

Process node, foundry, and transistor counts are completely different: 5 nm TSMC with 45,600 million transistors versus 14 nm GlobalFoundries with 5,700 million. Die size is 378 mm² versus 232 mm², and transistor density is 120.6M/mm² versus 24.6M/mm². The RTX PRO supports PCIe 5.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16, and offers 4x DisplayPort 2.1b versus 1x HDMI 2.0b plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. API support differs in DirectX (12 Ultimate vs 12_0) and Vulkan (1.4 vs 1.3), with both sharing OpenGL 4.6. Physical dimensions: the RTX PRO is longer (267 mm vs 240 mm), taller (111 mm vs 95 mm), and wider (40 mm vs 35 mm). Release dates are 2025 versus 2016, with the RTX PRO active and RX 480 end-of-life. The RTX PRO has no launch MSRP listed; the RX 480 launched at 229 USD.