GeForce GTX 470 vs GTX 480

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 480
2010
1536 MB GDDR5, 250 Watt
10.66
+32.1%

GTX 480 outperforms GTX 470 by a substantial 32% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking433517
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.651.35
Power efficiency2.922.57
ArchitectureFermi (2010−2014)Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code nameGF100GF100
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date26 March 2010 (14 years ago)26 March 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499 $349

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 480 has 22% better value for money than GTX 470.

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 cores480448
Core clock speed700 MHz607 MHz
Number of transistors3,100 million3,100 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)250 Watt215 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature105 °C105 °C
Texture fill rate42.0634.05
Floating-point processing power1.345 TFLOPS1.089 TFLOPS
ROPs4840
TMUs6056

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 support16x PCI-E 2.016x PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length267 mm241 mm
Height4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin2x 6-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 amount1536 MB1280 MB
Memory bus width384 Bit320 Bit
Memory clock speed1848 MHz (3696 data rate)1674 MHz (3348 data rate)
Memory bandwidth177.4 GB/s133.9 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 ConnectorsTwo Dual Link DVI, Mini HDMITwo Dual Link DVIMini HDMI
Multi monitor support++
HDMI++
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x15362048x1536
Audio input for HDMIInternalInternal

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_0)12 (11_0)
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.24.2
OpenCL1.11.1
VulkanN/AN/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. 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.

GTX 480 10.66
+32.1%
GTX 470 8.07

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.

GTX 480 4106
+32%
GTX 470 3110

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.

GTX 480 5014
+15.5%
GTX 470 4342

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.

GTX 480 3650
+32.4%
GTX 470 2758

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

GTX 480 13135
+20.1%
GTX 470 10940

Octane Render OctaneBench

This is a special benchmark measuring graphics card performance in OctaneRender, which is a realistic GPU rendering engine by OTOY Inc., available either as a standalone program, or as a plugin for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and many other apps. It renders four different static scenes, then compares render times with a reference GPU which is currently GeForce GTX 980. This benchmark has nothing to do with gaming and is aimed at professional 3D graphics artists.

GTX 480 54
+22.7%
GTX 470 44

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:

900p70−75
+27.3%
55
−27.3%
Full HD80−85
+25%
64
−25%
1200p70−75
+32.1%
53
−32.1%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.245.45

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+23.1%
12−14
−23.1%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+25%
20−22
−25%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 16−18
+45.5%
10−12
−45.5%
Battlefield 5 30−35
+37.5%
24−27
−37.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+23.1%
12−14
−23.1%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+38.9%
18−20
−38.9%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−33
+30.4%
21−24
−30.4%
Forza Horizon 4 70−75
+31.5%
50−55
−31.5%
Hitman 3 20−22
+25%
16−18
−25%
Horizon Zero Dawn 55−60
+26.1%
45−50
−26.1%
Metro Exodus 30−35
+41.7%
24−27
−41.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−33
+36.4%
21−24
−36.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+29.6%
27−30
−29.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+14%
55−60
−14%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+25%
20−22
−25%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 16−18
+45.5%
10−12
−45.5%
Battlefield 5 30−35
+37.5%
24−27
−37.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+23.1%
12−14
−23.1%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+38.9%
18−20
−38.9%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−33
+30.4%
21−24
−30.4%
Forza Horizon 4 70−75
+31.5%
50−55
−31.5%
Hitman 3 20−22
+25%
16−18
−25%
Horizon Zero Dawn 55−60
+26.1%
45−50
−26.1%
Metro Exodus 30−35
+41.7%
24−27
−41.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−33
+36.4%
21−24
−36.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+29.6%
27−30
−29.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 27−30
+21.7%
21−24
−21.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+14%
55−60
−14%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+25%
20−22
−25%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 16−18
+45.5%
10−12
−45.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+23.1%
12−14
−23.1%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+38.9%
18−20
−38.9%
Forza Horizon 4 70−75
+31.5%
50−55
−31.5%
Hitman 3 20−22
+25%
16−18
−25%
Horizon Zero Dawn 55−60
+26.1%
45−50
−26.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 35−40
+29.6%
27−30
−29.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 27−30
+21.7%
21−24
−21.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+14%
55−60
−14%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30−33
+36.4%
21−24
−36.4%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 16−18
+33.3%
12−14
−33.3%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−11
+25%
8−9
−25%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+58.1%
30−35
−58.1%
Hitman 3 14−16
+27.3%
10−12
−27.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 21−24
+29.4%
16−18
−29.4%
Metro Exodus 16−18
+60%
10−11
−60%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+114%
7−8
−114%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−11
+42.9%
7−8
−42.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70
+31.4%
50−55
−31.4%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 18−20
+28.6%
14−16
−28.6%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 10−11
+42.9%
7−8
−42.9%
Far Cry New Dawn 8−9
+33.3%
6−7
−33.3%
Hitman 3 7−8
+75%
4−5
−75%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
+62.1%
27−30
−62.1%
Metro Exodus 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+60%
5−6
−60%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%
Forza Horizon 4 12−14
+44.4%
9−10
−44.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%
Watch Dogs: Legion 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+25%
8−9
−25%

This is how GTX 480 and GTX 470 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 480 is 27% faster in 900p
  • GTX 480 is 25% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 480 is 32% faster in 1200p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 480 is 167% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • GTX 480 is ahead in 71 test (99%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (1%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 10.66 8.07
Maximum RAM amount 1536 MB 1280 MB
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 215 Watt

GTX 480 has a 32.1% higher aggregate performance score, and a 20% higher maximum VRAM amount.

GTX 470, on the other hand, has 16.3% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 480 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 470 in performance tests.


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

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480
GeForce GTX 480
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470
GeForce GTX 470

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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.


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Questions & comments

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