AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score across the database?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 records an average benchmark score of 13,300, while the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT averages 11,627 across all of its recorded tests.

Q: What is the only benchmark where both cards have a directly comparable score?

A: The Geekbench OpenCL test is the sole shared benchmark. The GTX 480 scores 13,300, and the RX 7800 XT scores 18,290, a 27.3% difference in favor of the AMD card.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of manufacturing process?

A: The GTX 480 is built on a 40 nm process at TSMC, while the RX 7800 XT uses a 5 nm process, also at TSMC. The transistor density jumps from 5.9M per mm² on the older card to 81.2M per mm² on the newer one.

Q: What are the memory capacities of each card?

A: The GTX 480 has 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, while the RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus.

Q: Does either card support hardware ray tracing?

A: The RX 7800 XT includes 60 ray accelerators (RT cores), whereas the GTX 480 has no RT cores listed in the database.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of each card?

A: Both cards have a launch MSRP of 499 USD.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide here spans more than a decade of GPU design. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 is built on the Fermi architecture with the GF100 chip, manufactured on a 40 nm process at TSMC. It packs 3,100 million transistors into a 529 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 5.9M per mm². The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT uses the RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 32 chip, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 5 nm process. It integrates 28,100 million transistors into a smaller 346 mm² die, achieving a density of 81.2M per mm². The density difference is stark: the newer chip crams over 13 times more transistors per square millimeter.

Shader organization differs fundamentally. The GTX 480 has 480 shading units, 60 texture mapping units, and 48 ROPs. The RX 7800 XT scales that massively to 3,840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The AMD card also includes 60 ray accelerators, a feature entirely absent on Fermi. Neither card lists tensor cores in the database.

Clock behavior also reflects different design eras. The GTX 480 lists no base or boost clock in the records, only a memory clock of 924 MHz (3.7 Gbps effective). The RX 7800 XT has explicit clocks: a base of 1295 MHz, a game clock of 2124 MHz, and a boost of 2430 MHz. Its memory runs at 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective).

API support marks another generational shift. The GTX 480 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and no Vulkan. The RX 7800 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The older card also uses PCIe 2.0 x16, while the newer one uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

Display outputs reflect their release eras. The GTX 480 offers 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a. The RX 7800 XT provides 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT wins the only head-to-head benchmark recorded in the database, the Geekbench OpenCL test, by a margin of 27.3%. That single metric does not tell the whole story, however, because the two cards have very different benchmark portfolios.

The RX 7800 XT dominates across the full spectrum of modern workloads. In the database, it records a Passmark G3D score of 24,176, which is its strongest result. Its Vulkan score of 54,228 in Geekbench is the highest single number recorded for either card. For compute-heavy tasks, it posts 13,473 in Passmark GPU compute. It also handles legacy DirectX APIs, with Passmark scores of 304 for DirectX 9, 249 for DirectX 11, 121 for DirectX 10, and 93 for DirectX 12. Its 2D performance is solid at 1,177 in Passmark G2D.

The GTX 480 has only one recorded benchmark result, the Geekbench OpenCL score of 13,300. That places it at the 53rd percentile among all GPUs in the database, slightly above the RX 7800 XT's 51st percentile, but the comparison is skewed by the different test sets. The GTX 480's nearest rivals are all mobile or older discrete parts: the AMD Radeon Pro 555X (13,321, 0.2% faster), AMD FirePro M6100 (13,354, 0.4% faster), AMD Radeon RX 5500M (13,356, 0.4% faster), and AMD Radeon HD 8950M (13,376, 0.6% faster). It sits at the bottom of that cluster.

The RX 7800 XT's nearest rivals by average score are a different class entirely. Its average of 11,627 puts it close to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (11,680, 0.5% faster), AMD Radeon Pro 5500M (11,528, 0.9% slower), NVIDIA Tesla K20c (11,479, 1.3% slower), and AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT (11,842, 1.8% faster). The AMD card's average is dragged down by its low Passmark legacy scores, while its modern DirectX 12 and Vulkan results are far more competitive.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every hardware specification recorded. Process node: 40 nm versus 5 nm. Transistor count: 3,100 million versus 28,100 million. Die size: 529 mm² versus 346 mm². Transistor density: 5.9M per mm² versus 81.2M per mm².

Memory configuration differs completely. The GTX 480 has 1536 MB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 177.4 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth. Despite the narrower bus, the newer card delivers 3.5 times the bandwidth.

Compute resources scale up dramatically. Shading units: 480 versus 3,840. TMUs: 60 versus 240. ROPs: 48 versus 96. The RX 7800 XT also lists 60 ray accelerators; the GTX 480 has none. Pixel rate rises from 21.03 GPixel/s to 233.3 GPixel/s. Texture rate rises from 42.06 GTexel/s to 583.2 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput goes from 1,345.0 GFLOPS to 37.32 TFLOPS. The RX 7800 XT also has FP16 at 37.32 TFLOPS (1:1), while the GTX 480 has no FP16 listing.

Power and physical specs are similar in some ways. Both are dual-slot cards, both have a 600 W suggested PSU, and both are 267 mm (10.5 inches) long. The GTX 480 draws 250 W and uses 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors. The RX 7800 XT draws 263 W and uses 2x 8-pin connectors. The RX 7800 XT is the only one with full dimensions listed: 267 mm length, 111 mm height, and 50 mm width.

Production status differs: the GTX 480 is end-of-life, while the RX 7800 XT is active. Release dates are far apart: 2010-03-25 for the GTX 480 and 2023-09-05 for the RX 7800 XT. The GTX 480's predecessor is GeForce 200 and its successor is GeForce 500. The RX 7800 XT's predecessor is Navi II and its successor is Navi IV.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains one direct head-to-head benchmark between these two cards: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT scores 18,290, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 scores 13,300. The delta is 27.3% in favor of AMD. This is a substantial margin, though it reflects a compute-oriented workload rather than a gaming-specific test.

The GTX 480's 13,300 OpenCL score is its only recorded benchmark. It places the card at the 53rd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are all within 0.6% of its score: the AMD Radeon Pro 555X at 13,321, the AMD FirePro M6100 at 13,354, the AMD Radeon RX 5500M at 13,356, and the AMD Radeon HD 8950M at 13,376. The Fermi card holds its own against these parts, but they are all older or lower-tier products.

The RX 7800 XT's broader benchmark suite shows where its strengths and weaknesses lie. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 54,228 is by far its best result, indicating strong modern API performance. Its Passmark G3D score of 24,176 is also strong. However, its average benchmark score of 11,627 is pulled down by the legacy DirectX tests: Passmark DirectX 9 at 304, DirectX 11 at 249, DirectX 10 at 121, and DirectX 12 at 93. These low scores are likely artifacts of the older Passmark test suite not scaling properly with modern hardware, but they do affect the aggregate.

The RX 7800 XT's nearest rivals by average score include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 at 11,680 (0.5% faster), the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M at 11,528 (0.9% slower), the NVIDIA Tesla K20c at 11,479 (1.3% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT at 11,842 (1.8% faster). The 27.3% OpenCL gap between the two cards in this comparison is far larger than the gaps among either card's nearest rivals, underscoring how much architectural progress has occurred between Fermi and RDNA 3.0.