R9 380X vs RX 480

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Combined performance score

RX 480
22.29
+38.7%

RX 480 outperforms R9 380X by 39% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking228306
Place by popularity93not in top-100
Value for money12.017.08
ArchitecturePolaris (2016−2019)GCN 3.0 (2014−2017)
GPU code namePolaris 10 EllesmereAntigua
GCN generation4th Genno data
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferencereference
Release date29 June 2016 (7 years old)19 November 2015 (8 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$229 $229
Current price$174 (0.8x MSRP)$11.81 (0.1x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 480 has 70% better value for money than R9 380X.

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores23042048
Compute units3632
Core clock speed1120 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1266 MHz970 MHz
Number of transistors5,700 million5,000 million
Manufacturing process technology14 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt190 Watt
Texture fill rate182.3124.2
Floating-point performance5,834 gflops3,973 gflops

Size and 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 supportn/aPCIe 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length241 mm221 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Form factorno datafull height / full length
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin​2 x 6-pin
Bridgeless CrossFire11

Memory

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
High bandwidth memory (HBM)no data-
Maximum RAM amount8 GB4 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed8000 MHz970 MHz
Memory bandwidth224 GB/s182.4 GB/s
Shared memory-no data

Video outputs and ports

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 Connectors1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Eyefinity11
Number of Eyefinity displaysno data6
HDMI2.0+
DisplayPort support1.4HDR+

Technologies

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

AppAccelerationn/a-
CrossFire11
Enduron/a-
FRTC11
FreeSync+1
HD3Dn/a+
LiquidVR11
PowerTune++
TressFX1no data
TrueAudion/a+
ZeroCore++
UVD+no data
VCE++
DDMA audiono data+

API support

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

DirectXDirectX® 12DirectX® 12
Shader Model6.46.3
OpenGL4.54.5
OpenCL2.02.0
Vulkan++
Mantlen/a+

Synthetic benchmark performance

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


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

RX 480 22.29
+38.7%
R9 380X 16.07

RX 480 outperforms R9 380X by 39% in our combined benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

RX 480 8639
+38.7%
R9 380X 6229

RX 480 outperforms R9 380X by 39% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

RX 480 12186
+28.1%
R9 380X 9510

RX 480 outperforms R9 380X by 28% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

Gaming performance

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

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD78
+41.8%
55−60
−41.8%
1440p54
+54.3%
35−40
−54.3%
4K35
+45.8%
24−27
−45.8%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+50%
24−27
−50%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 58
+45%
40−45
−45%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 35−40
+44.4%
27−30
−44.4%
Battlefield 5 70−75
+48%
50−55
−48%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 55−60
+45%
40−45
−45%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+50%
24−27
−50%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+47.5%
40−45
−47.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 60−65
+50%
40−45
−50%
Forza Horizon 4 100
+42.9%
70−75
−42.9%
Hitman 3 65−70
+46.7%
45−50
−46.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
+60%
30−33
−60%
Red Dead Redemption 2 69
+53.3%
45−50
−53.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 66
+46.7%
45−50
−46.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+43.3%
30−33
−43.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 49
+40%
35−40
−40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 35−40
+44.4%
27−30
−44.4%
Battlefield 5 70−75
+48%
50−55
−48%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35
+45.8%
24−27
−45.8%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+50%
24−27
−50%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+47.5%
40−45
−47.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 60−65
+50%
40−45
−50%
Forza Horizon 4 93
+43.1%
65−70
−43.1%
Hitman 3 65−70
+46.7%
45−50
−46.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
+60%
30−33
−60%
Metro Exodus 41
+51.9%
27−30
−51.9%
Red Dead Redemption 2 34
+41.7%
24−27
−41.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 57
+42.5%
40−45
−42.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 78
+41.8%
55−60
−41.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+43.3%
30−33
−43.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 35
+45.8%
24−27
−45.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 35−40
+44.4%
27−30
−44.4%
Battlefield 5 70−75
+48%
50−55
−48%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+50%
24−27
−50%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+47.5%
40−45
−47.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 69
+53.3%
45−50
−53.3%
Forza Horizon 4 77
+40%
55−60
−40%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 44
+46.7%
30−33
−46.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
+43.3%
30−33
−43.3%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 30−35
+41.7%
24−27
−41.7%
Hitman 3 35−40
+54.2%
24−27
−54.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−33
+42.9%
21−24
−42.9%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+57.1%
14−16
−57.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 21
+50%
14−16
−50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
+61.1%
18−20
−61.1%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+50%
16−18
−50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+50%
14−16
−50%
Battlefield 5 50−55
+42.9%
35−40
−42.9%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+40.7%
27−30
−40.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 50
+42.9%
35−40
−42.9%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+50%
30−33
−50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+44.4%
18−20
−44.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion 16−18
+60%
10−11
−60%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 16−18
+41.7%
12−14
−41.7%
Hitman 3 21−24
+50%
14−16
−50%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Metro Exodus 15
+50%
10−11
−50%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+50%
8−9
−50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 18
+50%
12−14
−50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 27
+50%
18−20
−50%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 17
+41.7%
12−14
−41.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+50%
8−9
−50%
Battlefield 5 24−27
+44.4%
18−20
−44.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Far Cry 5 18−20
+50%
12−14
−50%
Far Cry New Dawn 26
+44.4%
18−20
−44.4%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+47.6%
21−24
−47.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−11
+42.9%
7−8
−42.9%

This is how RX 480 and R9 380X compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • RX 480 is 41.8% faster than R9 380X

1440p resolution:

  • RX 480 is 54.3% faster than R9 380X

4K resolution:

  • RX 480 is 45.8% faster than R9 380X

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 22.29 16.07
Recency 29 June 2016 19 November 2015
Maximum RAM amount 8 GB 4 GB
Chip lithography 14 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 190 Watt

The Radeon RX 480 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 380X in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

User ratings

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AMD Radeon RX 480
Radeon RX 480
AMD Radeon R9 380X
Radeon R9 380X

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4.2 1547 votes

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3.8 166 votes

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Questions and comments

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