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AMD Radeon RX 470 vs AMD Radeon RX 590

AMD
VS
AMD
Performance
Radeon RX 470
17,624.517% of 104,937
Radeon RX 59033% better
23,362.522% of 104,937

The Radeon RX 590 has 33% better performance than the Radeon RX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 47018% better
98.4661% of 161.45
Radeon RX 590
83.7452% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 470 has 18% better value for the money than the Radeon RX 590 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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About the AMD Radeon RX 470 GPU

The Radeon RX 470 is a desktop graphics card by AMD. It launched in Q3 2016 with a suggested retail price of $179. Its Ellesmere chip that powers the GPU uses the GCN 4.0 architecture and is fabricated on the 14 nm process.

This GPU is paired with 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. Its 1,650 MHz memory clock and 256 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 211.2 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

The RX 470 is a dual slot graphics card, taking up 2 PCIe slots. It supports HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a display ports. This desktop card has a TDP of 120 W. AMD recommends using a power supply of at least 300 W with this card. A power supply lower than this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

The Radeon RX 470 has the 124th highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 16.80% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 17,624.5 score and $179 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 98.46. This is the 16th best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

About the AMD Radeon RX 590 GPU

The Radeon RX 590 is a desktop graphics card by AMD. It launched in Q4 2018 with a suggested retail price of $279. Its Polaris 30 chip that powers the GPU uses the GCN 4.0 architecture and is fabricated on the 12 nm process.

This GPU is paired with 8 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. Its 2,000 MHz memory clock and 256 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 256 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

The RX 590 is a dual slot graphics card, taking up 2 PCIe slots. It supports HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a display ports. This desktop card has a TDP of 175 W. AMD recommends using a power supply of at least 450 W with this card. A power supply lower than this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

The Radeon RX 590 has the 100th highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 22.26% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 23,362.5 score and $279 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 83.74. This is the 32nd best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoRadeon RX 470Radeon RX 590
ManufacturerAMDAMD
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 4.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ3 2016Q4 2018
Launch Price (MSRP)$179$279
Production StatusActiveActive
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
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FPS Benchmarks

This table showcases the average frame rate (FPS) achieved both GPUs in at various resolutions. Frame rate is a crucial indicator of how smoothly the GPU can run the game. A higher FPS generally translates to a smoother gameplay experience.

  • Frames Per Second
FPS data for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Radeon RX 470Radeon RX 590
Low - 720p
--
137 FPS
Medium - 1080p
--
96 FPS
High - 1080p
--
86 FPS
Ultra - 1080p
--
60 FPS
QHD - 1440p
--
47 FPS
4K UHD - 2160p
--
32 FPS
FPS Source: Notebookcheck

Compare Frames Per Second (FPS)

The average frame rate (FPS) in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, higher FPS results in a smoother gameplay experience.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 470 orRadeon RX 590
GPUFrames Per Second
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti44.9+42%
GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER37.6+19%
Radeon VII37.2+17%
GeForce RTX 306036.6+15%
Radeon RX 5700 XT33.3+5%
Radeon RX 59031.7
GeForce RTX 207031.7+0%
Radeon RX 570030.9-3%
Radeon RX 660029.3-8%
Radeon RX Vega 6428.1-11%

Compare Cost Per Frame

The average cost per frame in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. Generally, a lower cost per frame implies better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 470 orRadeon RX 590

Benchmark Performance

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Performance
Radeon RX 470
17,624.517% of 104,937
Radeon RX 59033% better
23,362.522% of 104,937

The Radeon RX 590 has 33% better performance than the Radeon RX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 470 is ranked 124th with a score of 17,624.5, and the Radeon RX 590 is ranked 100th with a score of 23,362.5.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 47018% better
98.4661% of 161.45
Radeon RX 590
83.7452% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 470 has 18% better value for the money than the Radeon RX 590 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 470 is ranked 16th with a performance per dollar of 98.46, and the Radeon RX 590 is ranked 32nd with a performance per dollar of 83.74.

Relative Performance

The average score in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 470 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce RTX 206027,162.5+54%
GeForce GTX 107024,652+40%
Radeon RX 59023,362.5+33%
GeForce GTX 980 Ti23,057+31%
Radeon RX 6500 XT22,954+30%
Radeon R9 390X17,944+2%
Radeon RX 48017,919+2%
Radeon RX 47017,624.5
GeForce GTX 98017,604.5-0%
Radeon R9 FURY17,543-0%

Relative Value For Money

The average performance per dollar in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. A higher score implies a better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 470 or

Benchmark Scores

This table showcases the average performance scores achieved by both GPUs across industry-standard benchmark tests. These scores provide a valuable insight into overall performance. Powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

  • Popular
BenchmarkRadeon RX 470Radeon RX 590
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
3,624
4,871.5
(+34.42%)
3DMark Time Spy Score
3,756
5,271
(+40.34%)
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
68,475
86,825
(+26.8%)
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
11,884.5
16,813.5
(+41.47%)
3DMark Night Raid Graphics
--
62,469
3DMark 11 Performance Score
13,831.5
20,421.5
(+47.64%)
PassMark G3D Mark
8,015
9,414
(+17.45%)
PassMark G2D Mark
737
792
(+7.46%)
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

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Graphics Processor

General information about the graphics processing unit like their architecture, manufacturing process size, and transistor count. Newer GPU architectures generally bring efficiency improvements and may introduce technologies that enhance graphical capabilities.

SpecRadeon RX 470Radeon RX 590
CodenameEllesmerePolaris 30
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 4.0
Process Size14 nm12 nm
Transistors5,700 million5,700 million

Memory Details

Memory specifications like their capacity, bandwidth, and clock speeds. GPU memory stores graphics data like frames, textures, and shadows which helps display rendered images. These specs are crucial for graphics-intense applications like gaming and 3D modeling.

SpecRadeon RX 470Radeon RX 590
Memory Size4 GB8 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth211.2 Gb/s256 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,650 MHz2,000 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit256 bit
L1 Cache16 KB16 KB
L2 Cache2 MB2 MB

Board Compatibility

Compatibility information like their slot size, bus interface, power consumption, and display support. These specs are useful for verifying compatibility with your motherboard, power supply, and monitor.

SpecRadeon RX 470Radeon RX 590
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)120 W175 W
Suggested PSU300 W450 W
Power Connectors1x 6-pin1x 8-pin
OutputsHDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4aHDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a

Cores & Clock Speeds

Processing power information like its cores and clock speed. These specs impact how fast they can process graphics. Each type of core or component serves a specific computational purpose.

SpecRadeon RX 470Radeon RX 590
Stream Processors (SP)2,0482,304
Compute Units (CU)3236
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)128144
Render Output Units (ROP)3232
Core Clock Speed926 MHz1,469 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,206 MHz1,545 MHz

Theoretical Performance

Theoretical performance numbers derived from the raw specifications of the different components like core count and clock speeds. While these provide a glimpse into peak processing power, they do not represent real-world performance.

SpecRadeon RX 470Radeon RX 590
Pixel Fill Rate38.59 GPixel/s49.44 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate154.4 GTexel/s222.5 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance4.94 TFLOPS7.12 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance308.7 GFLOPS445 GFLOPS

API Support

Graphics API versions supported by these graphics cards. APIs evolve over time, introducing new features and functionalities. Older GPUs may not support recent versions.

SpecRadeon RX 470Radeon RX 590
DirectX12 (12_0)12 (12_0)
OpenCL2.12.1
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.76.7

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* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.