AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile represent two very different generations of graphics hardware, separated by nearly two and a half years of development. The recorded data shows a clear performance hierarchy, with the RTX 3070 Mobile dominating in every benchmark where both cards were measured. This analysis breaks down the head-to-head results, identifies the strengths of each GPU, and examines the architectural and specification differences that explain the performance gap.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains three direct benchmark comparisons between these two GPUs, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile wins all three by substantial margins.

In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 2380 points, while the RX 580 2048SP manages 849 points. This represents a 64.3% advantage for the NVIDIA card. The magnitude of this lead is striking: the RTX 3070 Mobile delivers nearly three times the raw DX12 rendering performance in this workload.

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows an even larger gap. The RTX 3070 Mobile posts a score of 92939, compared to 29668 for the RX 580 2048SP. The delta here is 68.1%, meaning the NVIDIA GPU is more than three times faster in this compute-oriented benchmark. OpenCL performance often reflects shader throughput and memory bandwidth, both of which are heavily in favor of the newer card.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 86768, while the RX 580 2048SP scores 38666. This is a 55.4% difference. While this is the closest of the three head-to-head results, it still represents a massive performance advantage for the NVIDIA part. Interestingly, the RX 580 2048SP performs relatively better in Vulkan than in OpenCL, suggesting its GCN architecture handles this API more efficiently relative to its other workloads.

Across all three tests, the RTX 3070 Mobile wins every round. The average benchmark score for the RTX 3070 Mobile is 20534, while the RX 580 2048SP averages 23061. This is a notable inversion: the older AMD card has a higher average score across all recorded benchmarks, but that average includes tests that the NVIDIA card was not measured on. The head-to-head data is unambiguous: in direct comparisons, the RTX 3070 Mobile is decisively faster.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark results show a clear split in strengths. The RTX 3070 Mobile wins in every direct comparison, but the RX 580 2048SP has its own areas of competence, particularly in the broader benchmark suite.

The RX 580 2048SP achieves a percentile rank of 68 among all GPUs, which is higher than the RTX 3070 Mobile's percentile rank of 65. This is despite the fact that the RTX 3070 Mobile wins all head-to-head tests. The explanation lies in the different benchmark sets recorded for each card. The RX 580 2048SP has a higher average benchmark score (23061) than the RTX 3070 Mobile (20534), but this average is skewed by the fact that the AMD card does not have any low-scoring legacy DirectX tests in its recorded data.

The RTX 3070 Mobile's strengths are concentrated in modern APIs and compute workloads. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2380 shows strong DirectX 12 performance, which is critical for contemporary gaming. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 92939 and Vulkan score of 86768 demonstrate excellent compute and modern API capabilities. The card also has dedicated RT cores (40) and tensor cores (160), which the RX 580 2048SP lacks entirely, giving it a hardware advantage in ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads, even though those specific tests are not in the head-to-head data.

The RX 580 2048SP, by contrast, shows its best relative performance in Vulkan, where it scores 38666, which is only 55.4% behind the RTX 3070 Mobile, compared to a 68.1% deficit in OpenCL. This suggests that the GCN 4.0 architecture handles Vulkan's explicit, low-overhead nature reasonably well. The card's higher percentile rank (68 vs 65) also indicates that, across all GPUs in the database, it sits in a slightly more favorable position, likely due to its strong performance in the three benchmarks recorded for it.

For users prioritizing legacy API compatibility, the RTX 3070 Mobile has recorded PassMark scores in DirectX 9 (160), DirectX 10 (113), DirectX 11 (138), and DirectX 12 (64), but these are not directly comparable to the RX 580 2048SP, which lacks PassMark data entirely. The RX 580 2048SP supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, while the RTX 3070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so the NVIDIA card has a more modern feature set.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures. The RX 580 2048SP uses the Polaris 20 chip, based on AMD's GCN 4.0 architecture, while the RTX 3070 Mobile uses the GA104 chip, based on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture.

The process nodes highlight the generational gap. The RX 580 2048SP is manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, while the RTX 3070 Mobile uses an 8 nm process at Samsung. This smaller node allows for much higher transistor density. The RX 580 2048SP has 5,700 million transistors on a die size of 232 mm², yielding a density of 24.6 million transistors per mm². The RTX 3070 Mobile packs 17,400 million transistors onto a 392 mm² die, for a density of 44.4 million transistors per mm². That is nearly double the density, which explains how the NVIDIA chip can fit so many more compute units.

The compute architecture differs significantly. The RX 580 2048SP has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 3070 Mobile has 5120 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. This 2.5x increase in shading units and 2.5x increase in ROPs directly translates into the large performance advantages seen in the benchmarks.

The RTX 3070 Mobile also introduces hardware that the RX 580 2048SP simply does not have: 40 RT cores for ray tracing and 160 tensor cores for AI workloads. These are entirely absent from the GCN 4.0 design. The presence of these cores, combined with DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support, means the RTX 3070 Mobile is ready for modern rendering techniques that the RX 580 2048SP cannot accelerate.

Memory architecture also differs. The RX 580 2048SP uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. The RTX 3070 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on the same 256-bit bus, but with a much higher bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s. This doubling of memory capacity and bandwidth is critical for high-resolution textures and compute tasks.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification field. The most obvious differences are in raw compute throughput. The RTX 3070 Mobile delivers 15.97 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the RX 580 2048SP delivers 5.259 TFLOPS. This is a threefold difference. FP16 performance is similarly lopsided: 15.97 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card versus 5.259 TFLOPS for the AMD card, both at a 1:1 ratio to FP32.

Clock speeds show a different pattern. The RX 580 2048SP has a base clock of 1168 MHz and a boost clock of 1284 MHz. The RTX 3070 Mobile has a lower base clock of 1110 MHz but a higher boost clock of 1560 MHz. The NVIDIA card's higher boost clock, combined with its far greater number of shaders, explains the performance gap.

Memory clock speeds are identical in terms of base memory clock (1750 MHz), but the effective data rate differs: the RX 580 2048SP runs at 7 Gbps effective, while the RTX 3070 Mobile runs at 14 Gbps effective. This is due to the GDDR6 standard used by the NVIDIA card versus GDDR5 on the AMD card.

Pixel and texture rates also favor the RTX 3070 Mobile. The RX 580 2048SP has a pixel rate of 41.09 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 164.4 GTexel/s. The RTX 3070 Mobile achieves 124.8 GPixel/s and 249.6 GTexel/s respectively, representing a 3x advantage in pixel throughput and a 1.5x advantage in texture throughput.

Power specifications differ significantly as well. The RX 580 2048SP has a TDP of 150 W and requires a single 8-pin power connector, with a suggested PSU of 450 W. The RTX 3070 Mobile has a lower TDP of 115 W and uses no external power connectors, as it is designed for laptops. The RTX 3070 Mobile also uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RX 580 2048SP uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

Display outputs differ due to form factor: the RX 580 2048SP offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RTX 3070 Mobile's outputs are listed as portable device dependent. The RX 580 2048SP has a length of 241 mm (9.5 inches) and is dual-slot, while the RTX 3070 Mobile has no recorded dimensions.

Both cards are end-of-life. The RX 580 2048SP was released on 2018-10-14, with a predecessor of Arctic Islands and a successor of Vega. The RTX 3070 Mobile was released on 2021-01-11, with a predecessor of GeForce 20 Mobile and no recorded successor.

FAQ

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

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile is faster, scoring 2380 points compared to the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP's 849 points, a 64.3% advantage.

Q: How much better is the RTX 3070 Mobile in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile scores 92939, while the RX 580 2048SP scores 29668, resulting in a 68.1% performance gap in favor of the NVIDIA card.

Q: Does the RX 580 2048SP have any advantage in the head-to-head tests?

A: No, the RX 580 2048SP loses all three head-to-head benchmark comparisons. Its closest result is in Geekbench Vulkan, where it trails by 55.4%.

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

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile has 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth with 8 GB of GDDR6, while the RX 580 2048SP has 224.0 GB/s with 4 GB of GDDR5, so the NVIDIA card has double the bandwidth and double the capacity.

Q: Does the RX 580 2048SP support ray tracing?

A: No, it does not have RT cores. The RTX 3070 Mobile includes 40 RT cores and 160 tensor cores, which the RX 580 2048SP lacks entirely.

Q: Which card has a higher percentile rank among all GPUs?

A: The RX 580 2048SP has a percentile rank of 68, while the RTX 3070 Mobile has a percentile rank of 65, though the RTX 3070 Mobile wins all direct comparisons.