AMD Radeon RX 570 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 570 occupy opposite ends of the GPU spectrum, yet both cards hold a 74th percentile ranking among all GPUs. The RTX 2080 Ti is an end-of-life flagship from the GeForce 20 generation, launched in September 2018 with a launch MSRP of 999 USD. The RX 570 is an end-of-life mid-range part from the Polaris (RX 500) generation, released in April 2017 with a launch MSRP of 169 USD. Despite a massive price and generational gap, their average benchmark scores are surprisingly close: the RTX 2080 Ti averages 30459, while the RX 570 averages 30158. This places the RTX 2080 Ti just 1% ahead of the RX 570 in aggregate performance, a statistical tie that demands a closer look at where each card actually wins.

Where Each One Wins

The data paints a clear picture of workload segregation. The RTX 2080 Ti wins every single head-to-head benchmark in the dataset, taking all 3 wins against the RX 570's 0 wins. This is not a close contest in raw compute. The RTX 2080 Ti dominates in modern DirectX 12 workloads, scoring 3537 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 compared to the RX 570's 880, a 301.9% advantage. It also crushes the RX 570 in GPGPU compute, with a Geekbench OpenCL score of 134929 versus 32084, a 320.5% lead, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 132930 versus 42752, a 210.9% lead.

The RX 570's wins are not in raw performance but in efficiency and legacy compatibility. It operates on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, drawing a 150 W TDP with a single 6-pin power connector, whereas the RTX 2080 Ti uses a 12 nm TSMC process with a 250 W TDP and dual 8-pin connectors. The RX 570 also supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, while the RTX 2080 Ti supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. For a builder focused on older titles or a low-power system, the RX 570's lower power draw and simpler power requirements make it the practical choice, even though it loses every direct performance comparison.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 2080 Ti actually faster than the RX 570 in modern games?

A: Yes, based on 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 2080 Ti scores 3537 versus the RX 570's 880, a 301.9% advantage. This is a DirectX 12 benchmark, so it represents modern API performance where the RTX 2080 Ti's Turing architecture with 4352 shading units and 68 RT cores provides a massive lead.

Q: Why are their average benchmark scores so close if the RTX 2080 Ti wins every test?

A: The average scores of 30459 for the RTX 2080 Ti and 30158 for the RX 570 differ by only 1% because the datasets are not symmetric. The RX 570 has fewer benchmark entries in the FACT PACK (4 tests) compared to the RTX 2080 Ti (10 tests). The RX 570's average is buoyed by its Geekbench Metal score of 44915, a test the RTX 2080 Ti does not have, while the RTX 2080 Ti's average includes lower-scoring legacy tests like Passmark DirectX 9 (235) and DirectX 10 (153) that drag its mean down.

Q: Which card is better for compute workloads like OpenCL?

A: The RTX 2080 Ti is overwhelmingly superior. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 134929, which is 320.5% higher than the RX 570's 32084. The RTX 2080 Ti's 13.45 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 544 tensor cores give it a compute advantage that the RX 570's 5.095 TFLOPS cannot match.

Q: Can the RX 570 handle DirectX 12 Ultimate games?

A: No. The RX 570 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), while the RTX 2080 Ti supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). This means the RX 570 lacks the hardware feature level required for DirectX 12 Ultimate titles, which the RTX 2080 Ti can run.

Q: What about power supply requirements?

A: The RTX 2080 Ti needs a 600 W suggested PSU and two 8-pin connectors, while the RX 570 only requires a 450 W PSU and a single 6-pin connector. The RTX 2080 Ti's TDP is 250 W versus the RX 570's 150 W, so the RX 570 is far easier to integrate into an existing system without a PSU upgrade.

Q: Which card has better memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 2080 Ti has 616.0 GB/s bandwidth from 11 GB of GDDR6 on a 352-bit bus. The RX 570 has 224.0 GB/s from 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus. The RTX 2080 Ti's bandwidth is 2.75 times higher, which directly contributes to its superior performance in memory-intensive benchmarks.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are unambiguous. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 2080 Ti scores 3537 against the RX 570's 880, a delta of 301.9%. This is the largest relative gap in the dataset and reflects the RTX 2080 Ti's modern architecture handling DirectX 12's advanced features. The RX 570's GCN 4.0 architecture, with 2048 shading units and 32 ROPs, simply cannot keep pace with the RTX 2080 Ti's 4352 shading units and 88 ROPs in a modern API.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 2080 Ti posts 134929 versus 32084, a 320.5% lead. This test stresses raw compute throughput, and the RTX 2080 Ti's 13.45 TFLOPS FP32 and 26.90 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1) performance dwarf the RX 570's 5.095 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1). The RTX 2080 Ti's texture rate of 420.2 GTexel/s versus the RX 570's 159.2 GTexel/s, and pixel rate of 136.0 GPixel/s versus 39.81 GPixel/s, further explain the gap.

Geekbench Vulkan shows a 210.9% delta, with the RTX 2080 Ti scoring 132930 against the RX 570's 42752. Vulkan performance benefits from the RTX 2080 Ti's higher transistor count (18,600 million versus 5,700 million) and larger die (754 mm² versus 232 mm²). The RX 570's Vulkan 1.3 support is slightly behind the RTX 2080 Ti's Vulkan 1.4, but the score difference is primarily architectural, not API-level.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 2080 Ti uses a TU102 chip on a 12 nm process with 18,600 million transistors on a 754 mm² die, while the RX 570 uses a Polaris 20 chip on a 14 nm process with 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die. Transistor density is nearly identical at 24.7M/mm² for the RTX 2080 Ti and 24.6M/mm² for the RX 570, but the RTX 2080 Ti packs over three times the transistors.

Clock speeds differ, with the RTX 2080 Ti boosting to 1545 MHz versus the RX 570's 1244 MHz. Memory is starkly different: the RTX 2080 Ti has 11 GB of GDDR6 at 14 Gbps effective on a 352-bit bus for 616.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 570 has 4 GB of GDDR5 at 7 Gbps on a 256-bit bus for 224.0 GB/s. The RTX 2080 Ti has 4352 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 88 ROPs, versus the RX 570's 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 2080 Ti also has 68 RT cores and 544 tensor cores; the RX 570 has none. Physical dimensions differ too: the RTX 2080 Ti is 267 mm long, 116 mm tall, and 35 mm wide, while the RX 570 is 241 mm long with no listed height or width.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 2080 Ti is built on NVIDIA's Turing architecture, which introduces dedicated RT cores for ray tracing and tensor cores for AI workloads. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, making it ready for modern graphics features. The RX 570 uses AMD's GCN 4.0 architecture, which lacks RT and tensor cores entirely. It supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, meaning it cannot run DirectX 12 Ultimate games. The FP16 performance also differs: the RTX 2080 Ti offers 26.90 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio), while the RX 570 offers 5.095 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1 ratio), so the RTX 2080 Ti gets a significant compute boost in FP16 workloads.

The RTX 2080 Ti has a USB Type-C display output alongside 1x HDMI 2.0 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RX 570 has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RX 570's DVI port is a legacy advantage for older monitors. Both cards are dual-slot and use PCIe 3.0 x16, but the RTX 2080 Ti requires 250 W with 2x 8-pin connectors and a 600 W PSU, while the RX 570 requires 150 W with 1x 6-pin and a 450 W PSU.

The Verdict

The data is definitive: pick the RTX 2080 Ti if you need maximum performance. It wins every head-to-head benchmark by margins of 210.9% to 320.5%, and it is the only card of the two that supports DirectX 12 Ultimate. Its 11 GB of GDDR6 memory and 616.0 GB/s bandwidth make it suitable for high-resolution textures and modern game engines. The 68 RT cores and 544 tensor cores future-proof it for ray tracing and AI-enhanced titles, though its 250 W TDP and dual 8-pin requirement mean you need a robust power supply.

Pick the RX 570 if you are building a legacy system or prioritizing low power draw. Its 150 W TDP and single 6-pin connector make it a drop-in upgrade for older pre-built PCs. Its 4 GB of GDDR5 memory and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth are modest, but its DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3 support cover most titles from its era. The RX 570's 241 mm length is shorter than the RTX 2080 Ti's 267 mm, easing case compatibility. Its 74th percentile ranking matches the RTX 2080 Ti, confirming that in aggregate, it is not a slow card—just one that loses every direct performance comparison in this dataset. The RTX 2080 Ti is the clear performance winner; the RX 570 is the sensible low-power alternative.