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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 vs AMD Radeon RX 480

NVIDIA
VS
AMD
Performance
GeForce GTX 108063% better
29,26328% of 104,937
Radeon RX 480
17,91917% of 104,937

The GeForce GTX 1080 has 63% better performance than the Radeon RX 480 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 1080
48.8530% of 161.45
Radeon RX 48060% better
78.2548% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 480 has 60% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 1080 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

#

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU

The GeForce GTX 1080 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card by NVIDIA. It launched in Q2 2016 with a suggested retail price of $599. Its GP104 chip that powers the GPU uses the Pascal architecture and is fabricated on the 16 nm process.

Memory

This GPU is paired with 8 GB of GDDR5X VRAM. Its 1,251 MHz memory clock and 256 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 320.3 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

Compatibility

The GTX 1080 is a dual slot graphics card, taking up 2 PCIe slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4a display ports. This desktop card has a TDP of 180 W. NVIDIA 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.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The GeForce GTX 1080 has the 78th highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 27.89% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 29,263 score and $599 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 48.85. This is the 65th best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

About the AMD Radeon RX 480 GPU

The Radeon RX 480 is a desktop graphics card by AMD. It launched in Q2 2016 with a suggested retail price of $229. Its Ellesmere chip that powers the GPU uses the GCN 4.0 architecture and is fabricated on the 14 nm process.

Memory

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.

Compatibility

The RX 480 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 150 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.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The Radeon RX 480 has the 122nd highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 17.08% 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.

InfoGeForce GTX 1080Radeon RX 480
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitecturePascalGCN 4.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ2 2016Q2 2016
Launch Price (MSRP)$599$229
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeActive
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
Display FPS for Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3
Display FPS for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
Display FPS for Outriders
Outriders
Display FPS for Flight Simulator 2020
Flight Simulator 2020
Display FPS for F1 2020
F1 2020
Display FPS for Valorant
Valorant

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
GeForce GTX 1080Radeon RX 480
Low - 1080p
--
--
Medium - 1080p
--
--
High - 1080p
--
--
Ultra - 1080p
47 FPS(+63.51%)
29 FPS
QHD - 1440p
28 FPS
--
4K UHD - 2160p
11 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:GeForce GTX 1080 orRadeon RX 480

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:GeForce GTX 1080 orRadeon RX 480
GPUCost Per Frame
Radeon RX 570025.47-53%
Radeon RX 5700 XT25.58-53%
GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER28.77-47%
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti42.88-21%
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER47.32-13%
GeForce GTX 108054.45

Benchmark Performance

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Performance
GeForce GTX 108063% better
29,26328% of 104,937
Radeon RX 480
17,91917% of 104,937

The GeForce GTX 1080 has 63% better performance than the Radeon RX 480 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 1080 is ranked 78th with a score of 29,263, and the Radeon RX 480 is ranked 122nd with a score of 17,919.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 1080
48.8530% of 161.45
Radeon RX 48060% better
78.2548% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 480 has 60% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 1080 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 1080 is ranked 65th with a performance per dollar of 48.85, 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:GeForce GTX 1080 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
Radeon RX Vega 6430,823.5+5%
GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER29,636.5+1%
GeForce GTX 108029,263
Radeon RX Vega 5629,086-1%
GeForce RTX 306028,375-3%
GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER18,218-38%
Radeon R9 390X17,944-39%
Radeon RX 48017,919-39%
Radeon RX 47017,624.5-40%
GeForce GTX 98017,604.5-40%

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:GeForce GTX 1080 or
GPUPerformance Per Dollar
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti82.05+68%
GeForce GTX 105078.63+61%
Radeon RX 48078.25+60%
GeForce RTX 206077.83+59%
Radeon RX Vega 5672.9+49%
Radeon VII54.19+11%
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti53.89+10%
GeForce GTX 108048.85
GeForce RTX 2080 Ti47.21-3%
GeForce GTX 980 Ti35.53-27%

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
BenchmarkGeForce GTX 1080Radeon RX 480
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
7,185
(+85.09%)
3,882
3DMark Time Spy Score
6,902
(+72.51%)
4,001
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
119,971
(+66.13%)
72,213
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
21,408.5
(+75.68%)
12,186
3DMark 11 Performance Score
21,289.5
(+37.56%)
15,476
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
121.8
166
(+36.29%)
PassMark G3D Mark
15,537
(+80.18%)
8,623
PassMark G2D Mark
901
(+16.26%)
775
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
269
(+103.79%)
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.

SpecGeForce GTX 1080Radeon RX 480
CodenameGP104Ellesmere
ArchitecturePascalGCN 4.0
Process Size16 nm14 nm
Transistors7,200 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 1080Radeon RX 480
Memory Size8 GB8 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5XGDDR5
Memory Bandwidth320.3 Gb/s256 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,251 MHz2,000 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit256 bit
L1 Cache48 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 1080Radeon RX 480
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)180 W150 W
Suggested PSU450 W450 W
Power Connectors1x 8-pin1x 6-pin
OutputsDVI, HDMI 2.0, 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 1080Radeon RX 480
Stream Processors (SP)--2,304
CUDA Cores2,560--
Compute Units (CU)--36
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)20--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)160144
Render Output Units (ROP)6432
Core Clock Speed1,607 MHz1,120 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,733 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 1080Radeon RX 480
Pixel Fill Rate110.9 GPixel/s40.51 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate277.3 GTexel/s182.3 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance8.87 TFLOPS5.83 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance277.3 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 1080Radeon RX 480
DirectX12 (12_1)12 (12_0)
OpenCL3.02.1
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.