NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains one shared benchmark between the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480: Geekbench OpenCL. The result is decisively one-sided. The GTX 1080 Ti scores 67,929, while the GTX 480 scores 13,300. That is a delta of 410.7% in favor of the newer card, meaning the GTX 1080 Ti delivers roughly five times the OpenCL compute throughput of the GTX 480.

This is not a close contest by any metric. The GTX 1080 Ti's average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 15,548, placing it at the 58th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The GTX 480's average score is 13,300, good for the 53rd percentile. While both cards sit in the lower half of the overall distribution, the raw gap between them is enormous in the one test where they can be compared directly.

Context from the nearest rivals helps frame the GTX 1080 Ti's standing. Its average score of 15,548 puts it within 0.2% of the AMD Radeon R9 M380 (15,521), 0.8% behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15,679), 1.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (15,290), and 1.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (15,283). These are all relatively modern or high-end parts, and the GTX 1080 Ti sits comfortably among them. The GTX 480, by contrast, has nearest rivals that are all mobile or lower-tier parts: the AMD Radeon Pro 555X (13,321, 0.2% ahead), the AMD FirePro M6100 (13,354, 0.4% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 5500M (13,356, 0.4% ahead), and the AMD Radeon HD 8950M (13,376, 0.6% ahead). The GTX 480 is effectively trailing every one of its nearest rivals by small margins.

The benchmark results indicate that the GTX 1080 Ti is not merely faster in a single test; it is faster by a margin so large that the GTX 480 cannot be considered competitive in compute workloads. For any user comparing these two cards side by side, the OpenCL result alone settles the question of which one offers more raw performance.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the GTX 1080 Ti than the GTX 480 in the shared benchmark?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the GTX 1080 Ti scores 67,929 versus 13,300 for the GTX 480, a delta of 410.7% in favor of the GTX 1080 Ti.

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti has an average benchmark score of 15,548 across all recorded tests, while the GTX 480 has an average of 13,300.

Q: How do the two cards compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti is within 1.7% of its nearest rivals, trading places with the AMD Radeon R9 M380, AMD Radeon Pro W5500, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. The GTX 480 trails all four of its nearest rivals, which include the AMD Radeon Pro 555X, AMD FirePro M6100, AMD Radeon RX 5500M, and AMD Radeon HD 8950M, by margins of 0.2% to 0.6%.

Q: What percentile does each card hold in the database ranking of all GPUs?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti sits at the 58th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 480 sits at the 53rd percentile.

Q: Does the GTX 480 have any benchmark wins over the GTX 1080 Ti?

A: No. Across the head-to-head benchmarks recorded in the database, the GTX 1080 Ti has 1 win and the GTX 480 has 0 wins.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference that affects these cards?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti uses 11 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 352-bit bus with 484.4 GB/s bandwidth, while the GTX 480 uses 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus with 177.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Architecture Differences

The GTX 1080 Ti is built on the Pascal architecture on TSMC's 16 nm process node, using the GP102 chip. The GTX 1080 Ti packs 11,800 million transistors into a 471 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 25.1 million transistors per square millimeter. The GTX 480 uses the Fermi architecture on TSMC's 40 nm node with the GF100 chip, containing 3,100 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, for a density of 5.9 million transistors per square millimeter.

The sheer difference in transistor count and density explains much of the performance gap. The GTX 1080 Ti has 3,584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 88 raster operation pipelines (ROPs). The GTX 480 has 480 shading units, 60 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. These are not incremental upgrades; the newer architecture offers roughly 7.5 times the shading units, 3.7 times the TMUs, and 1.8 times the ROPs of the older card.

The memory subsystems differ fundamentally. The GTX 1080 Ti uses GDDR5X memory clocked at 1376 MHz with 11 Gbps effective data rate, on a 352-bit bus, delivering 484.4 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 480 uses GDDR5 at 924 MHz with 3.7 Gbps effective, on a 384-bit bus, delivering 177.4 GB/s. Despite the GTX 480 having a wider memory bus, the GTX 1080 Ti's faster memory technology and larger capacity give it nearly 2.7 times the bandwidth.

Compute rates tell the same story. The GTX 1080 Ti achieves a pixel rate of 139.2 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 354.4 GTexel/s, with FP32 throughput of 11.34 TFLOPS and FP16 of 177.2 GFLOPS (at a 1:64 ratio). The GTX 480 manages 21.03 GPixel/s and 42.06 GTexel/s, with FP32 of 1,345.0 GFLOPS and no FP16 support. The Pascal card is ahead by roughly 6.6 times in pixel rate, 8.4 times in texture rate, and 8.4 times in FP32.

Specification Differences

The GTX 1080 Ti supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, with PCIe 1x HDMI 2.0 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The GTX 480 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support listed, with 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a outputs. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 on the GTX 1080 Ti, versus PCIe 2.0 x16 on the GTX 480.

The GTX 1080 Ti lists 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors with a suggested PSU of 600 W, dual-slot width, dimensions of 267 mm (10.5 inches) length, 112 mm (4.4 inches) height, and 40 mm (1.6 inches) width. The GTX 480 also lists 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors with a 600 W suggested PSU, dual-slot width, 267 mm (10.5 inches) length, but no height or width data recorded. Both cards have a TDP of 250 W.

The GTX 1080 Ti has a launch MSRP of 699 USD. The GTX 480 has a launch MSRP of 499 USD. The GTX 1080 Ti was released on 2017-03-09, while the GTX 480 was released on 2010-03-25. The GTX 1080 Ti is part of the GeForce 10 series, preceded by GeForce 900 and succeeded by GeForce 20. The GTX 480 is part of the GeForce 400 series, preceded by GeForce 200 and succeeded by GeForce 500.

The Verdict

The data does not support any scenario where the GTX 480 is the recommended choice over the GTX 1080 Ti. In the only shared benchmark, the GTX 1080 Ti leads by 410.7%. Its compute resources, memory bandwidth, and fill rates are all dramatically higher. The GTX 480's nearest rivals are all slower parts from the mobile or lower-tier segment, while the GTX 1080 Ti competes with cards like the RTX 2060 and GTX 580, all within a 1.7% band.

The GTX 1080 Ti is the card for anyone who needs raw compute performance. The GTX 480 is only relevant to someone looking at hardware from a historical perspective or dealing with legacy systems where the GTX 400 generation is the generation in question. Even there, the GTX 480 trails every one of its nearest rivals in the database, so the data shows no point of advantage for the Fermi-based card.

The verdict is straightforward, strictly from the recorded measurements: the GTX 1080 Ti wins on every metric that can be compared, and the GTX 480 lacks any recorded win to balance the scales.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 1080 Ti wins in every test category where both have data: it wins Geekbench OpenCL with a 410.1% delta over the GTX 480. It wins on compute throughput, pixel fill rate, texture rate, and FP32 performance, memory bandwidth, shading unit count, and transistor density. It holds the 58th percentile ranking and an average benchmark score of 15,548, which places it ahead of the RTX 2060 by 1.7% and ahead of the GTX 580. It is also ahead of the AMD Radeon R9 M380 by 0.2% and behind the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 by 0.8%.

The GTX 480 has no wins recorded in the head-to-head benchmarks. Its only recorded score is the Geekbench OpenCL result of 13,300, which sits below all four of its nearest rivals and leaves the card at the 53rd percentile overall.

For anyone with a workload that relies on OpenCL compute, DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, DirectX 12, or Vulkan, the GTX 480 offers nothing else to point to. The GTX 1080 Ti also has recorded PassMark G3D score of 18,600 and PassMark G2D score of 939, as well as PassMark GPU Compute score of 9,632, with PassMark DirectX scores of 118, 151, 66, and 231 for DirectX 10, 11, 12, and 9 respectively. The GTX 480 has none of these recorded, so no comparison is possible in those tests.

The use-case split is therefore clear: the GTX 1080 Ti for any modern workload, and the GTX 480 only for those who need a functioning GPU from the GeForce 400 generation, with the understanding that it lags behind even its closest competitors in the database.