GeForce GTX 480 vs GTX 680

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 680 and GeForce GTX 480, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 680
2012
2048 MB GDDR5, 195 Watt
14.45
+35.6%

GTX 680 outperforms GTX 480 by a substantial 36% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking361433
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation3.031.65
Power efficiency5.082.92
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code nameGK104GF100
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date22 March 2012 (12 years ago)26 March 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499 $499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 680 has 84% 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 cores1536480
Core clock speed1006 MHz700 MHz
Boost clock speed1058 MHzno data
Number of transistors3,540 million3,100 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)195 Watt250 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data105 °C
Texture fill rate135.442.06
Floating-point processing power3.25 TFLOPS1.345 TFLOPS
ROPs3248
TMUs12860

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 supportPCI Express 3.016x PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length254 mm267 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 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 amount2048 MB1536 MB
Memory bus width256-bit GDDR5384 Bit
Memory clock speed1502 MHz1848 MHz (3696 data rate)
Memory bandwidth192.2 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 ConnectorsOne Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPortTwo Dual Link DVI, Mini HDMI
Multi monitor support4 displays+
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
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan1.1.126N/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 680 14.45
+35.6%
GTX 480 10.66

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 680 5567
+35.6%
GTX 480 4106

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 680 10217
+104%
GTX 480 5014

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 680 7587
+108%
GTX 480 3650

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 680 18403
+40.1%
GTX 480 13135

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 680 54
GTX 480 54

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:

900p45
+50%
30−35
−50%
Full HD74
+48%
50−55
−48%
4K23
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.749.98
4K21.7031.19

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+37.5%
16−18
−37.5%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+32%
24−27
−32%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+42.4%
30−35
−42.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+38.1%
21−24
−38.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+37.5%
16−18
−37.5%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+36%
24−27
−36%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+30%
30−33
−30%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+32.4%
70−75
−32.4%
Hitman 3 27−30
+35%
20−22
−35%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+27.6%
55−60
−27.6%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+44.1%
30−35
−44.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+33.3%
30−33
−33.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+34.3%
35−40
−34.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+16.9%
65−70
−16.9%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+32%
24−27
−32%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Battlefield 5 45−50
+42.4%
30−35
−42.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+38.1%
21−24
−38.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+37.5%
16−18
−37.5%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+36%
24−27
−36%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+30%
30−33
−30%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+32.4%
70−75
−32.4%
Hitman 3 27−30
+35%
20−22
−35%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+27.6%
55−60
−27.6%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+44.1%
30−35
−44.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+33.3%
30−33
−33.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+34.3%
35−40
−34.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 94
+236%
27−30
−236%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+16.9%
65−70
−16.9%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+32%
24−27
−32%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
+43.8%
16−18
−43.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+38.1%
21−24
−38.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
+37.5%
16−18
−37.5%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+36%
24−27
−36%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
+32.4%
70−75
−32.4%
Hitman 3 27−30
+35%
20−22
−35%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+27.6%
55−60
−27.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+34.3%
35−40
−34.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 22
−27.3%
27−30
+27.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
+16.9%
65−70
−16.9%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+33.3%
30−33
−33.3%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 27−30
+33.3%
21−24
−33.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
+37.5%
16−18
−37.5%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+36.4%
10−12
−36.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+41.7%
12−14
−41.7%
Forza Horizon 4 70−75
+51%
45−50
−51%
Hitman 3 16−18
+21.4%
14−16
−21.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
+31.8%
21−24
−31.8%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+56.3%
16−18
−56.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
+66.7%
14−16
−66.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+50%
10−11
−50%
Watch Dogs: Legion 85−90
+32.8%
65−70
−32.8%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+33.3%
18−20
−33.3%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
+40%
10−11
−40%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Hitman 3 10−11
+42.9%
7−8
−42.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
+51.1%
45−50
−51.1%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+55.6%
9−10
−55.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16
+100%
8−9
−100%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
+33.3%
6−7
−33.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+33.3%
6−7
−33.3%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
+46.2%
12−14
−46.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Watch Dogs: Legion 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%

This is how GTX 680 and GTX 480 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 680 is 50% faster in 900p
  • GTX 680 is 48% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 680 is 44% faster in 4K

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 680 is 236% faster.
  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 480 is 27% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • GTX 680 is ahead in 71 test (99%)
  • GTX 480 is ahead in 1 test (1%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 14.45 10.66
Recency 22 March 2012 26 March 2010
Maximum RAM amount 2048 MB 1536 MB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 195 Watt 250 Watt

GTX 680 has a 35.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 33.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 42.9% more advanced lithography process, and 28.2% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 680 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 480 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 680
GeForce GTX 680
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480
GeForce GTX 480

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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