AMD Radeon RX 7600 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Radeon RX 7600 compare to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 in the only shared benchmark?

A: The RX 7600 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 88,051 against 13,300 for the GTX 480, a 562% advantage.

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The RX 7600 averages 15,171, while the GTX 480 averages 13,300. The RX 7600 sits at the 57th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the 53rd percentile for the GTX 480.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each card in the database?

A: For the RX 7600, the nearest rivals are the RTX 3050 OEM (0.2% behind), AMD Radeon Pro 560X (0.6% ahead), AMD Radeon 680M (0.7% behind), and GTX 660 Ti (0.7% ahead). For the GTX 480, the closest are AMD Radeon Pro 555X (0.2% behind), AMD FirePro M6100 (0.4% behind), AMD Radeon RX 5500M (0.4% behind), and AMD Radeon HD 8950M (0.6% behind).

Q: What process nodes do the two cards use?

A: The RX 7600 is built on TSMC's 6 nm process, while the GTX 480 uses TSMC's 40 nm process. The RX 7600 packs 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die, whereas the GTX 480 has 3,100 million transistors on a 529 mm² die.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each card?

A: The RX 7600 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 288.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 480 has 1536 MB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 177.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing?

A: The RX 7600 includes 32 ray tracing cores. The GTX 480 has no ray tracing cores listed.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 represent two very different eras of GPU design. The RX 7600 uses the Navi 33 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, codenamed Hotpink Bonefish, part of the Navi III (RX 7000) generation. The GTX 480 uses the GF100 chip based on Fermi architecture, belonging to the GeForce 400 generation.

Manufacturing technology shows the biggest gulf. The RX 7600 is fabricated on a 6 nm process at TSMC, while the GTX 480 uses a 40 nm process, also at TSMC. Transistor counts reflect this: the RX 7600 has 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 65.2 million per mm². The GTX 480 has 3,100 million transistors spread across a much larger 529 mm² die, for just 5.9 million per mm². The RX 7600 achieves over ten times the transistor density.

Compute resources differ dramatically. The RX 7600 has 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. The GTX 480 has 480 shading units, 60 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The RX 7600 also adds 32 ray tracing cores, a feature the Fermi-based GTX 480 lacks entirely. Neither card has tensor cores.

Clock speeds are substantially higher on the modern card. The RX 7600 runs at a base clock of 1720 MHz, a game clock of 2250 MHz, and a boost clock of 2655 MHz. The GTX 480 has no listed base, game, or boost clocks, only a memory clock of 924 MHz (3.7 Gbps effective). The RX 7600's memory runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective).

Memory architecture is fundamentally different. The RX 7600 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. The GTX 480 uses 1536 MB of GDDR5 on a much wider 384-bit bus. Despite the narrower bus, the RX 7600 delivers 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth versus 177.4 GB/s for the GTX 480.

Power and connectivity also diverge. The RX 7600 has a TDP of 165 W, a dual-slot design, one 8-pin power connector, and a recommended 450 W power supply. The GTX 480 draws 250 W, also dual-slot, but needs both a 6-pin and an 8-pin connector, with a recommended 600 W power supply.

The bus interface differs as well: the RX 7600 uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the GTX 480 uses PCIe 2.0 x16. Display outputs are likewise from different eras: the RX 7600 offers one HDMI 2.1a port and three DisplayPort 2.1 outputs, whereas the GTX 480 provides two DVI ports and one mini-HDMI 1.3a output.

API support shows the generational leap. The RX 7600 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 480 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6 but has no Vulkan support listed.

The production statuses are opposite: the RX 7600 is Active, while the GTX 480 is End-of-life. The RX 7600 was released on 2023-05-24; the GTX 480 arrived on 2010-03-25. The RX 7600's predecessor is Navi II and successor is Navi IV; the GTX 480's predecessor is GeForce 200 and successor is GeForce 500.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains exactly one shared benchmark between these two cards: Geekbench OpenCL. This single data point nevertheless tells a clear story about compute performance.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 scores 88,051, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 scores 13,300. The RX 7600 wins by 562%. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a six-and-a-half-fold increase in raw compute throughput. The RX 7600's FP32 rating of 21.75 TFLOPS against the GTX 480's 1,345.0 GFLOPS (1.345 TFLOPS) aligns with that massive gap.

The RX 7600 also dominates in pixel and texture throughput. It achieves 169.9 GPixel/s and 339.8 GTexel/s. The GTX 480 manages 21.03 GPixel/s and 42.06 GTexel/s. In both metrics, the RX 7600 is roughly eight times faster.

The RX 7600's other benchmark results paint a broader picture of its standing. It scores 2,310 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 34,401 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 16,634 in PassMark G3D. Its PassMark sub-scores include 84 in DirectX 10, 172 in DirectX 11, 58 in DirectX 12, 226 in DirectX 9, 984 in G2D, and 8,790 in GPU compute. The GTX 480 has no recorded scores in any of these tests, limiting direct comparison.

The average benchmark scores place both cards near each other in the overall database: 15,171 for the RX 7600 versus 13,300 for the GTX 480. The RX 7600 ranks at the 57th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 480 ranks at the 53rd percentile. Notably, the RX 7600's nearest rivals include the GTX 660 Ti (0.7% higher average), RTX 3050 OEM (0.2% higher), Radeon 680M (0.7% higher), and Radeon Pro 560X (0.6% lower). The GTX 480's nearest rivals cluster narrowly: Radeon Pro 555X (0.2% higher), FirePro M6100 (0.4% higher), Radeon RX 5500M (0.4% higher), and Radeon HD 8950M (0.6% higher).

The wins tally confirms the result: the RX 7600 wins 1 head-to-head benchmark, and the GTX 480 wins 0.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The AMD Radeon RX 7600 is the superior GPU in every measurable category where both cards have recorded results. The 562% lead in Geekbench OpenCL is decisive, and the RX 7600's higher average benchmark score, higher percentile ranking, and superior pixel, texture, and compute rates reinforce that conclusion.

For a user considering the RX 7600, the database shows a card that sits at the 57th percentile of all GPUs, with an average score of 15,171. It edges out the RTX 3050 OEM by just 0.2%, and trades results with the Radeon Pro 560X and GTX 660 Ti within less than a percentage point. This is a mid-range modern card that competes closely with its immediate peers.

For the GTX 480, the picture is of an older card at the 53rd percentile with an average score of 13,300. Its nearest rivals are all similarly aged or low-power mobile parts: the Radeon Pro 555X, FirePro M6100, Radeon RX 5500M, and Radeon HD 8950M. The GTX 480 is end-of-life, whereas the RX 7600 remains active.

The RX 7600 should be the choice for anyone who needs modern features: ray tracing, Vulkan support, DirectX 12 Ultimate, and DisplayPort 2.1 outputs. It also consumes less power (165 W versus 250 W) despite delivering vastly higher performance, and requires only a single 8-pin connector and a 450 W power supply instead of the GTX 480's 6-pin plus 8-pin setup and 600 W recommendation.

The GTX 480 might still be relevant for legacy applications or systems limited to PCIe 2.0. Its 384-bit memory bus and 1536 MB of GDDR5 were notable for its era, and its OpenGL 4.6 support matches the RX 7600. But with no Vulkan, no ray tracing, no modern display outputs, and a fraction of the compute performance, the GTX 480 cannot compete in any current workload measured in the database.

The verdict is straightforward: the RX 7600 wins decisively. The GTX 480 remains a historical artifact, useful only where its specific legacy attributes are required.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX 7600 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 |

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

| Architecture | RDNA 3.0 | Fermi |

| Process Node | 6 nm | 40 nm |

| Transistors | 13,300 million | 3,100 million |

| Die Size | 204 mm² | 529 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 65.2M / mm² | 5.9M / mm² |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 480 |

| TMUs | 128 | 60 |

| ROPs | 64 | 48 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 32 | None |

| Memory Size | 8 GB | 1536 MB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 288.0 GB/s | 177.4 GB/s |

| Memory Clock | 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) | 924 MHz (3.7 Gbps effective) |

| Base Clock | 1720 MHz | Not listed |

| Boost Clock | 2655 MHz | Not listed |

| Game Clock | 2250 MHz | Not listed |

| Pixel Rate | 169.9 GPixel/s | 21.03 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 339.8 GTexel/s | 42.06 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 21.75 TFLOPS | 1,345.0 GFLOPS |

| FP16 | 21.75 TFLOPS (1:1) | Not listed |

| TDP | 165 W | 250 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 600 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | 1x HDMI 2.1a, 3x DisplayPort 2.1 | 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (11_0) |

| OpenGL Support | 4.6 | 4.6 |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | Not listed |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2023-05-24 | 2010-03-25 |

| Launch MSRP | 269 USD | 499 USD |

| Length | 204 mm (8 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

The two cards share only a few specifications: both are dual-slot designs, both use TSMC as the foundry, both support OpenGL 4.6, and neither has tensor cores. Everything else differs, reflecting the thirteen years between their release dates.