GPU Showdown

Radeon RX 480vsGeForce RTX 4090

The GeForce RTX 4090 is a top-tier card for 4K gaming and heavy creative work, while the Radeon RX 480 is an older, budget-friendly option for 1080p gaming.

AMD Radeon RX 480
8 GB · 150W
VS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
24 GB · 450W
AMD

Radeon RX 480

GCN 4.0 · TSMC 14 nm · 2016

21score
4.3/ 5
0 votes
VRAM
8 GB
TDP
150W
CUDA Cores
2,304
Boost Clock
1266 MHz

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NVIDIA

GeForce RTX 4090

Ada Lovelace · TSMC 5 nm · 2022

92score
3.8/ 5
0 votes
VRAM
24 GB
TDP
450W
Shaders
16,384
Boost Clock
2520 MHz

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Aggregate Performance

Overall Performance Score

A unified score from combined synthetic and real-world benchmarks. 100 represents the fastest consumer GPU available.

RX 480
21
RTX 4090Winner
92
RTX 4090 leads by 338.1% in aggregate performance.
Where they rank overall
#2RTX 509094
#3RTX 409092
#4RTX 508086
#106RX 58021
#107RX 48021
#108RX 47019
Technical Specifications

Side-by-Side Specs

Every detail compared. Highlighted cells indicate the leading value for that metric.

SpecsRX 480RTX 4090
General
Process Node14 nm5 nm
Memory
VRAM8 GB24 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR6X
Memory Bus256-bit384-bit
Bandwidth224 GB/s1010 GB/s
Compute
CUDA Cores2,30416,384
TMUs144512
ROPs32176
Boost Clock1266 MHz2520 MHz
FP325.834 TF82.58 TF
Power
TDP150450
Power Connectors1x 6-pin1x 16-pin
Display
Max Resolution7680×43207680×4320
Display Outputs1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Verdict

Which should you buy?

Winner overall

The GeForce RTX 4090 wins easily for anyone needing top-tier performance, leaving the Radeon RX 480 far behind.

Best value

For budget buyers, the Radeon RX 480 is the smarter pick due to its much lower cost and sufficient power for older games.

When the other wins

The Radeon RX 480 is the right choice for a basic office PC where modern gaming or heavy graphics work isn't needed.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is the RX 480 better than the RTX 4090?

Overall the RTX 4090 is the stronger graphics card: it ranks higher in our aggregate performance score (92 vs 21 out of 100), so it leads the RX 480 in most workloads.

How much faster is the RTX 4090 than the RX 480?

Based on our aggregated benchmark scores the RTX 4090 is roughly 338% faster than the RX 480 overall. The real-world gap varies by game, resolution and settings.

Which should you buy, the RX 480 or the RTX 4090?

If you want the most performance, pick the RTX 4090. If the RX 480 is meaningfully cheaper where you shop, it can be the better value for similar real-world results — check current prices and the full spec comparison above before deciding.