GTX 1060 vs RX 480

[CreepDragon]

ok so i want a clear winner. I know that AMD drivers for gta v are shit but we are talking about 1 or 2 games in which the rx 480 is slower but im also playing a lot of GTA V so which of those 2 cards are you sugesting me the rx 480 is also cheaper here

 

[timeconsumer]

Unfortunately these comparisons rarely result in a clear answer. Otherwise these products wouldn't be able to compete with eachother.

I'll give you two analyses of the RX 480 8gb vs GTX 1060 6gb using some of the lowest priced models I can, this does not take into account overclocking or boost clocks:
MSI Armor RX 480: $220
MSI GTX 1060 6gb: $240

Using PC-Gamer's 16 game average:
RX 480 8gb: 73.1 FPS average in 1080p
GTX 1060 6gb: 76.7 FPS average in 1080p

RX 480: 0.33 FPS/$ (winner, but barely)
GTX 1060: 0.32 FPS/$

Now let's look directly at GTA V (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-pascal,4679-3.html):

RX 480 averages 99.3 FPS (0.45 FPS/$)
GTX 1060 averages 115 FPS (0.48 FPS/$) Winner

Now let's also remember that these numbers are for the 8gb RX 480, the 4gb will have a small performance hit in 1080p (maybe 5 FPS) but comes in much cheaper at $185. I won't do another analysis to reflect that. Also the prices I linked are for cards that likely have different base/boost clocks than the ones in the different benchmarks. And finally again this doesn't include overclocking.

So, clear as mud? Thought so. There just isn't a clear-cut winner without going out and buying one of each and testing them directly based upon those exact two and their prices. FWIW I don't think either is a bad decision, both are great cards and will perform very well. When facing this decision myself I settled on the 1060 6gb, but would be just as happy if I ended up with a 480 4gb.

 

[CreepDragon]

thanks a lot man i think i'm going to go with the rx 480 because it also has crossfire support

 

[TJ Hooker]

Crossfiring/SLI-ing mid range cards isn't recommended. Better to get the best single card you can afford.

 

[CreepDragon]

Yeah i know but the rx 480 is still "top end" for AMD plus in my opinion it just looks badass and will still perform almost as good as a 1080 in optimised games.

 

[Jarmund]

Yeah i know but the rx 480 is still "top end" for AMD plus in my opinion it just looks badass and will still perform almost as good as a 1080 in optimised games.

Plus, the RX 480 has an advantage over the GTX1060 (6gb) in DX12/Vulkan titles. the 4gb version is the way to go for 1080p IMO.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Yeah i know but the rx 480 is still "top end" for AMD plus in my opinion it just looks badass and will still perform almost as good as a 1080 in optimised games.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/RX_480_CrossFire/21.html

Radeon RX 480 CrossFire is not a viable solution if you plan to buy two cards upfront. When averaged over all our games, it is consistently slower than a single GeForce GTX 1070 at all the resolutions that matter - 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. Instead of buying two cards upfront, you're much better off putting your monies into a single GTX 1070, not just for better performance but to dodge the spectre of application multi-GPU support, which continues to haunt both SLI and CrossFire.

We averaged games that do take advantage of CrossFire in a separate relative performance data-point than the overall relative-performance. The findings are interesting; when averaged among games that do scale, the RX 480 CrossFire is about 5-10% faster than a GTX 1070. However, only 6 out of 16 tests are taking advantage of the second card.

Your call...

 

[Jarmund]

Yeah i know but the rx 480 is still "top end" for AMD plus in my opinion it just looks badass and will still perform almost as good as a 1080 in optimised games.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/RX_480_CrossFire/21.html

Radeon RX 480 CrossFire is not a viable solution if you plan to buy two cards upfront. When averaged over all our games, it is consistently slower than a single GeForce GTX 1070 at all the resolutions that matter - 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. Instead of buying two cards upfront, you're much better off putting your monies into a single GTX 1070, not just for better performance but to dodge the spectre of application multi-GPU support, which continues to haunt both SLI and CrossFire.

We averaged games that do take advantage of CrossFire in a separate relative performance data-point than the overall relative-performance. The findings are interesting; when averaged among games that do scale, the RX 480 CrossFire is about 5-10% faster than a GTX 1070. However, only 6 out of 16 tests are taking advantage of the second card.

Your call...

Want near GTX 1070 performance but for less money? just grab AMD's R9 Fury 😀