GeForce GTX 480 vs Radeon R9 270

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 270 and GeForce GTX 480, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 270
2013
2 GB GDDR5, 150 Watt
9.63
+4.4%

R9 270 outperforms GTX 480 by a minimal 4% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking433438
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation4.381.44
Power efficiency5.112.94
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code nameCuracaoGF100
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date13 November 2013 (11 years ago)26 March 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$179 $499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

R9 270 has 204% better value for money than GTX 480.

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores1280480
Core clock speedno data700 MHz
Boost clock speed925 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,800 million3,100 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt250 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data105 °C
Texture fill rate74.0042.06
Floating-point processing power2.368 TFLOPS1.345 TFLOPS
ROPs3248
TMUs8060

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportPCIe 3.016x PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length210 mm267 mm
Heightno data4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
SLI options-+

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1536 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speedno data1848 MHz (3696 data rate)
Memory bandwidth179.2 GB/s177.4 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPortTwo Dual Link DVI, Mini HDMI
Multi monitor supportno data+
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
HDCP-+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
DisplayPort support+-
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
HD3D+-
LiquidVR+-
TressFX+-
TrueAudio+-
UVD+-
DDMA audio+no data

API and SDK compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectXDirectX® 1212 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.64.2
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan+N/A
CUDA-+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score.

R9 270 9.63
+4.4%
GTX 480 9.22

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

R9 270 4306
+4.5%
GTX 480 4121

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

R9 270 5930
+62.5%
GTX 480 3650

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Battlefield 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Fortnite 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Valorant 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Battlefield 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Dota 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Fortnite 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Metro Exodus 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Valorant 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Dota 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Valorant 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Metro Exodus 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Metro Exodus 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Valorant 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Dota 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Far Cry 5 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 9.63 9.22
Recency 13 November 2013 26 March 2010
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1536 MB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 250 Watt

R9 270 has a 4.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 33.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 42.9% more advanced lithography process, and 66.7% lower power consumption.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Radeon R9 270 and GeForce GTX 480.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon R9 270
Radeon R9 270
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480
GeForce GTX 480

Other comparisons

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.9 629 votes

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Questions & comments

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