AMD Radeon RX 460 1024SP

AMD Radeon RX 460 1024SP is a 14 nm GCN 4.0 part from the Arctic Islands generation, built on the Baffin chip at GlobalFoundries. The GPU packs 3,000 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.4M per mm². The card operates at a base clock of 1090 MHz and a boost clock of 1200 MHz, with memory running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). It is positioned at the 50th percentile among all GPUs in the database, indicating mid-pack performance in the broader landscape.

Power and Cooling

The RX 460 1024SP carries a thermal design power of 75 W, making it a low-power solution that requires no auxiliary power connectors. The board is designed as a dual-slot card, and the absence of external power inputs means installation is straightforward in most systems. Benchmark data indicates that a suggested power supply rating of 250 W is sufficient for a system housing this GPU, which is a modest requirement compared to higher-tier components. The card’s 75 W TDP aligns with its compact 170 mm (6.7-inch) length, reinforcing its suitability for small-form-factor builds where power delivery and physical space are constrained. The PCIe 3.0 x8 bus interface is the sole power and data pathway, so motherboard compatibility with this slot standard is mandatory. Given the lack of power connectors, the card draws all its energy from the slot, which simplifies cabling but also caps the maximum power draw at the slot’s rated capacity. Under sustained load, the 75 W envelope keeps heat output low, but the dual-slot cooler is still a necessary design choice to manage thermals within that power budget. The 250 W PSU recommendation is conservative and accounts for the rest of the system’s draw, not just the GPU. There are no alternative power configurations, as the card relies entirely on the motherboard for power delivery. This makes the RX 460 1024SP an attractive option for upgrading pre-built systems with limited PSU headroom, though users must verify their motherboard provides the PCIe 3.0 x8 electrical interface.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The RX 460 1024SP does not include dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as those hardware blocks are absent from the specification. Instead, the GPU relies on its GCN 4.0 architecture to handle compute workloads through its 1024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operations pipelines. The card supports DirectX 12 (feature level 12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, which are the key API standards for modern gaming and compute applications. The lack of RT cores means ray tracing acceleration is not available in hardware, so any ray-traced effects would be processed via compute shaders, which is inefficient compared to dedicated hardware. Similarly, the absence of tensor cores precludes hardware-accelerated deep learning features like DLSS, though the Vulkan 1.3 support allows for vendor-agnostic upscaling techniques that run on standard shaders. The feature set is firmly rooted in the pre-RTX era, focusing on traditional rasterization and compute. The 1024 shading units are arranged to deliver a pixel rate of 19.20 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 76.80 GTexel/s, which define the card’s fill-rate capabilities in conventional rendering. FP32 performance is rated at 2.458 TFLOPS, with FP16 performance at the same 2.458 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), meaning there is no half-precision boost for AI or compute tasks. Display outputs include 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a, covering standard monitor connectivity. The HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a outputs support high refresh rates and HDR at common resolutions, but the card’s compute capabilities limit its usefulness for advanced ray-traced or tensor-based workloads.

Benchmark Performance

The RX 460 1024SP holds an average benchmark score of 0 in the database, which is a placeholder value that prevents direct numerical comparison against other GPUs. The percentile rank of 50 indicates that the card sits exactly in the middle of all GPUs tracked, meaning half of the tested graphics cards perform better and half perform worse. This mid-pack positioning suggests the RX 460 1024SP delivers baseline 1080p gaming performance, but the lack of a concrete benchmark score means exact percentage deltas cannot be computed. The shading unit count of 1024 is the defining factor for its compute throughput, and the 2.458 TFLOPS FP32 figure places it in the entry-level segment. When considering the 19.20 GPixel/s pixel rate, the card can handle pixel-heavy workloads at lower resolutions, but texture-heavy scenes at higher settings will strain the 76.80 GTexel/s texture rate. The 50th percentile rank implies that in a typical benchmark suite, this GPU would outperform the bottom half of all GPUs, which includes integrated graphics and older low-end discrete parts. However, it would lag behind the top half, which includes mid-range and high-end discrete GPUs from the same era. The benchmark data does not provide specific rival scores, so performance analysis must rely on the architectural specifications and the percentile figure alone. The 1200 MHz boost clock is relatively low by modern standards, but the 1024 shading units compensate somewhat by providing a high ALU count for the price tier. The card’s 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratio is notable, as many GPUs halve FP16 throughput, but this does not translate to real-world gaming gains since most games use FP32. Overall, the performance profile is best described as consistent entry-level, suitable for e-sports titles and older AAA games at modest settings.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals field in the database is empty, providing no direct competitor names or scores for a head-to-head breakdown. Without rival data, the RX 460 1024SP’s position must be inferred from the global percentile rank of 50. In the absence of named rivals, benchmark results indicate this GPU occupies a middle ground: it is significantly faster than integrated graphics solutions that typically sit below the 25th percentile, but it is outclassed by dedicated mid-range GPUs that usually rank above the 70th percentile. The 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors suggest it competes in the same class as other low-profile, slot-powered cards, which are common in OEM systems and HTPCs. The 2 GB GDDR5 memory capacity is a limiting factor at higher resolutions, as modern games often exceed 2 GB VRAM usage at 1080p with high textures. The 128-bit memory bus and 112.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate for the card’s compute throughput, but they do not provide headroom for future titles with larger assets. The card’s 50th percentile rank implies that in a typical benchmark distribution, it would be roughly average, but this is a broad categorization without specific rival deltas. Since no nearestRivals are listed, the analysis cannot cite exact percentage leads or deficits. The architectural similarity to other Polaris-based parts suggests it would perform comparably to other 1024-shader implementations, but the database does not confirm this. The absence of rival data means the comparative section is limited to the global percentile, which is a coarse measure. The card’s production status is end-of-life, so it is no longer manufactured, but its performance characteristics remain relevant for legacy system upgrades. Without rival names, the comparison is qualitative: the RX 460 1024SP is a capable 1080p GPU for its power class, but it lacks the headroom for high-refresh or high-detail gaming.

Memory Subsystem

The RX 460 1024SP is equipped with 2 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit bus, yielding a memory bandwidth of 112.0 GB/s. This configuration is typical for entry-level GPUs from its era, where 2 GB was sufficient for 1080p gaming at medium settings. The 128-bit bus width limits the theoretical bandwidth, which is a bottleneck when textures and shaders demand high data throughput. At 7 Gbps effective memory speed, the 112.0 GB/s bandwidth is modest, and it will be saturated by modern games that use high-resolution textures or advanced post-processing effects. For 1080p gaming, the 2 GB capacity is the primary constraint; many titles released after this card’s launch require more than 2 GB of VRAM for maximum texture quality, leading to stuttering or texture pop-in as the GPU swaps data to system memory. The 112.0 GB/s bandwidth means that even when the VRAM capacity is sufficient, the data transfer rate may limit performance in scenes with complex geometry or heavy alpha effects. High-resolution gaming, such as 1440p or 4K, is not recommended due to the 2 GB capacity, as frame buffers alone can exceed 2 GB at these resolutions. The memory subsystem is balanced for the GPU’s 2.458 TFLOPS compute throughput, meaning the card is not severely bandwidth-starved at 1080p, but it has no room for overclocking memory without risking instability. The 128-bit interface also affects power efficiency, as narrower buses typically consume less power than wider ones, which aligns with the 75 W TDP. For users targeting 1080p with low-to-medium settings, the 2 GB GDDR5 and 112.0 GB/s bandwidth are adequate, but they do not provide a future-proofing buffer. The memory clock of 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) is fixed, and there is no mention of overclocking support in the fact pack. The 2 GB capacity is a hard limit for modern workloads, and the 112.0 GB/s bandwidth will likely become a secondary bottleneck as games become more data-intensive. The memory subsystem is the most dated aspect of this GPU, and it contributes to the card’s mid-pack percentile ranking.