AMD Radeon RX 590 vs AMD Radeon RX 480

VS
Performance
Radeon RX 59030% better
23,362.522% of 104,598
Radeon RX 480
17,91917% of 104,598

The Radeon RX 590 has 30% better performance than the Radeon RX 480 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 5907% better
83.7452% of 161.45
Radeon RX 480
78.2548% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 590 has 7% better value for the money than the Radeon RX 480 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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About the AMD Radeon RX 590 GPU

The AMD Radeon RX 590 is a desktop graphics card that launched in Q4 2018 with a MSRP of $279. It is built on the GCN 4.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Polaris 30) and is manufactured on a 12 nm process.

Memory

The RX 590 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 2,000 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 256 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The RX 590 includes 2,304 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,469 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,545 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 144 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The RX 590 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 450 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 175 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The RX 590 has the 100th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 22.34% 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.

About the AMD Radeon RX 480 GPU

The AMD Radeon RX 480 is a desktop graphics card that launched in Q2 2016 with a MSRP of $229. It is built on the GCN 4.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Ellesmere) and is manufactured on a 14 nm process.

Memory

The RX 480 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 2,000 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 256 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The RX 480 includes 2,304 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,120 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,266 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 144 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The RX 480 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 450 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 150 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The RX 480 has the 124th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 17.13% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 17,919 score and $229 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 78.25. This is the 38th 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 590Radeon RX 480
ManufacturerAMDAMD
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 4.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ4 2018Q2 2016
Launch Price (MSRP)$279$229
Production StatusActiveActive
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
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Baldur's Gate 3
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Outriders
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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
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Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Display FPS for DIRT 5
DIRT 5
Display FPS for Watch Dogs: Legion
Watch Dogs: Legion

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 Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Radeon RX 590Radeon RX 480
Low - 1080p
--
--
Medium - 1080p
--
--
High - 1080p
--
--
Ultra - 1080p
--
29 FPS
QHD - 1440p
--
--
4K UHD - 2160p
--
--
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 590 orRadeon RX 480
GPUFrames Per Second
Arc A77083.2+192%
GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER47.5+67%
GeForce GTX 166043.1+51%
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER35.2+24%
Radeon RX 5500 XT34.5+21%
Radeon RX 48028.5
Radeon RX 6500 XT23.5-18%

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 590 orRadeon RX 480
GPUCost Per Frame
Arc A7703.95-51%
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER4.52-44%
GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER4.82-40%
Radeon RX 5500 XT4.9-39%
GeForce GTX 16605.08-37%
Radeon RX 4808.04
Radeon RX 6500 XT8.47+5%

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
Radeon RX 59030% better
23,362.522% of 104,598
Radeon RX 480
17,91917% of 104,598

The Radeon RX 590 has 30% better performance than the Radeon RX 480 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 590 is ranked 100th with a score of 23,362.5, and the Radeon RX 480 is ranked 124th with a score of 17,919.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 5907% better
83.7452% of 161.45
Radeon RX 480
78.2548% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 590 has 7% better value for the money than the Radeon RX 480 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 590 is ranked 32nd with a performance per dollar of 83.74, and the Radeon RX 480 is ranked 38th with a performance per dollar of 78.25.

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 590 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce RTX 206027,162.5+16%
GeForce GTX 107024,652+6%
Radeon RX 59023,362.5
GeForce GTX 980 Ti23,057-1%
Radeon RX 6500 XT22,954-2%
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER18,224.5-22%
Radeon R9 390X17,944-23%
Radeon RX 48017,919-23%
Radeon RX 47017,624.5-25%
GeForce GTX 98017,604.5-25%

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 590 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 590Radeon RX 480
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
4,871.5
(+25.49%)
3,882
3DMark Time Spy Score
5,271
(+31.74%)
4,001
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
86,825
(+20.23%)
72,213
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
16,813.5
(+37.97%)
12,186
3DMark Night Raid Graphics
62,469
--
3DMark 11 Performance Score
20,421.5
(+31.96%)
15,476
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
--
166
PassMark G3D Mark
9,388
(+8.86%)
8,624
PassMark G2D Mark
796
(+1.27%)
786
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
--
132
Unigine Heaven 3.0 OpenGL
--
105
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 590Radeon RX 480
CodenamePolaris 30Ellesmere
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 4.0
Process Size12 nm14 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 590Radeon RX 480
Memory Size8 GB8 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth256 Gb/s256 Gb/s
Memory Clock2,000 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 590Radeon RX 480
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)175 W150 W
Suggested PSU450 W450 W
Power Connectors1x 8-pin1x 6-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 590Radeon RX 480
Stream Processors (SP)2,3042,304
Compute Units (CU)3636
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)144144
Render Output Units (ROP)3232
Core Clock Speed1,469 MHz1,120 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,545 MHz1,266 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 590Radeon RX 480
Pixel Fill Rate49.44 GPixel/s40.51 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate222.5 GTexel/s182.3 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance7.12 TFLOPS5.83 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance445 GFLOPS364.6 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 590Radeon RX 480
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.