Radeon RX 480 vs RX Vega 56

Place in performance ranking	141	230
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	26.65	11.41
Architecture	Vega (2017−2021)	Polaris (2016−2019)
GPU code name	Vega	Polaris 10 Ellesmere
GCN generation	no data	4th Gen
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	no data	reference
Release date	14 August 2017 (6 years ago)	29 June 2016 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$399	$229
Current price	$224 (0.6x MSRP)	$174 (0.8x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX Vega 56 has 134% better value for money than RX 480.

Detailed specifications

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 cores	3584	2304
Compute units	no data	36
Core clock speed	1138 MHz	1120 MHz
Boost clock speed	1474 MHz	1266 MHz
Number of transistors	12,500 million	5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	210 Watt	150 Watt
Texture fill rate	329.5	182.3
Floating-point performance	10,566 gflops	5,834 gflops

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 support	no data	n/a
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	267 mm	241 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 8-pin	1x 6-pin
Bridgeless CrossFire	no data	1

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 type	HBM2	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	409.6 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	800 MHz	8000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	409.6 GB/s	224 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 Connectors	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Eyefinity	no data	1
HDMI	+	2.0
DisplayPort support	no data	1.4HDR

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration	no data	n/a
CrossFire	no data	1
Enduro	no data	n/a
FRTC	no data	1
FreeSync	no data	+
HD3D	no data	n/a
LiquidVR	no data	1
PowerTune	no data	+
TressFX	no data	1
TrueAudio	no data	n/a
ZeroCore	no data	+
UVD	no data	+
VCE	no data	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	DirectX® 12
Shader Model	6.4	6.4
OpenGL	4.6	4.5
OpenCL	2.0	2.0
Vulkan	1.1.125	+
Mantle	no data	n/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 Vega 56 34.34
+53.8%

RX 480 22.33

RX Vega 56 outperforms RX 480 by 54% based on our aggregate 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 Vega 56 13261
+53.8%

RX 480 8623

RX Vega 56 outperforms RX 480 by 54% in Passmark.

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

RX Vega 56 29086
+62.3%

RX 480 17919

RX Vega 56 outperforms RX 480 by 62% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

RX Vega 56 54586
+38%

RX 480 39552

RX Vega 56 outperforms RX 480 by 38% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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 Vega 56 20759
+70.4%

RX 480 12186

RX Vega 56 outperforms RX 480 by 70% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

RX Vega 56 125359
+73.6%

RX 480 72213

RX Vega 56 outperforms RX 480 by 74% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

RX Vega 56 412820
+7.7%

RX 480 383333

RX Vega 56 outperforms RX 480 by 8% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.

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 HD	115 +40.2%	82 −40.2%
1440p	70 +22.8%	57 −22.8%
4K	51 +41.7%	36 −41.7%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

55−60

no data

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	77	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65	no data
Battlefield 5	164	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	55−60	no data
Far Cry 5	115	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	114	no data
Forza Horizon 4	141	no data
Hitman 3	70−75	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	130−140	no data
Metro Exodus	144	no data
Red Dead Redemption 2	85−90	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	120−130	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90	no data

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65	no data
Battlefield 5	153	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	55−60	no data
Far Cry 5	92	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	88	no data
Forza Horizon 4	272	no data
Hitman 3	70−75	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	130−140	no data
Metro Exodus	106	no data
Red Dead Redemption 2	85−90	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	120−130	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	124	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90	no data

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	52	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	55−60	no data
Far Cry 5	69	no data
Forza Horizon 4	109	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	130−140	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	120−130	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	74	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90	no data

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

85−90

no data

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	98	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	84	no data

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	44	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	35−40	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27	no data
Far Cry 5	74	no data
Forza Horizon 4	88	no data
Hitman 3	40−45	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75	no data
Metro Exodus	74	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	80−85	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	45−50	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30	no data

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

55−60

no data

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	46	no data
Far Cry New Dawn	32	no data
Hitman 3	27−30	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45	no data
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	31	no data
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	44	no data

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	27	no data
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24	no data
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24	no data
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12	no data
Far Cry 5	23	no data
Forza Horizon 4	59	no data
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45	no data
Metro Exodus	42	no data
Watch Dogs: Legion	16−18	no data