When comparing AMD Radeon RX 480 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB, the Slant community recommends AMD Radeon RX 480 for most people. In the question“What are the best value GPUs for VR gaming?” AMD Radeon RX 480 is ranked 1st while NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose AMD Radeon RX 480 is:
Price/performance wise, the RX 480 is an excellent graphics card. It performs better than previous generation high-end GPU's such as the GTX 980 and is suited for high-quality 1080p and 1440p gaming. In some situations, the RX 480 can even handle games in 4K-resolution, albeit with lower graphical settings. In Rise of the Tomb Raider on 'Very High' quality mode and all other graphical settings set to maximum, the RX 480 [achieves](http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_rx_480_8gb_review,10.html) an average framerate of 63 FPS in 1080p, 44 frames per second in 1440p and 23 FPS when playing in 4K resolution. Similar results can be seen in [benchmarks](http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_rx_480_8gb_review,11.html) for Hitman: an average FPS of 75 in 1080p, a very fluent 57 FPS in 1440p and 31 frames per second in 4K. Both Rise of The Tomb Raider and Hitman are DirectX 12 compatible games and can be considered as quite intensive to run. AMD's card also performs excellently in older titles such as Grand Theft Auto V: [84 FPS, 59 FPS and 30 FPS](http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_rx_480_8gb_review,18.html) for 1080p, 1440p and 4K, respectively. In Alien Isolation, [results](http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_rx_480_8gb_review,23.html) of 137 FPS for Full HD, 83 FPS for 1440p and 35 FPS for 4K are achieved. All graphical settings were set to maximum. In short, the RX 480 is ideal for high-fidelity gaming in 1080p and 1440p and often provides the player with a stable framerate of above 60 frames per second with all graphical settings and eyecandy set to the maximum. Gaming in 4K isn't as fluent, but performance can be improved by using less intensive settings.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Excellent performance for the price
Price/performance wise, the RX 480 is an excellent graphics card. It performs better than previous generation high-end GPU's such as the GTX 980 and is suited for high-quality 1080p and 1440p gaming. In some situations, the RX 480 can even handle games in 4K-resolution, albeit with lower graphical settings.
In Rise of the Tomb Raider on 'Very High' quality mode and all other graphical settings set to maximum, the RX 480 achieves an average framerate of 63 FPS in 1080p, 44 frames per second in 1440p and 23 FPS when playing in 4K resolution. Similar results can be seen in benchmarks for Hitman: an average FPS of 75 in 1080p, a very fluent 57 FPS in 1440p and 31 frames per second in 4K. Both Rise of The Tomb Raider and Hitman are DirectX 12 compatible games and can be considered as quite intensive to run.
AMD's card also performs excellently in older titles such as Grand Theft Auto V: 84 FPS, 59 FPS and 30 FPS for 1080p, 1440p and 4K, respectively. In Alien Isolation, results of 137 FPS for Full HD, 83 FPS for 1440p and 35 FPS for 4K are achieved. All graphical settings were set to maximum.
In short, the RX 480 is ideal for high-fidelity gaming in 1080p and 1440p and often provides the player with a stable framerate of above 60 frames per second with all graphical settings and eyecandy set to the maximum. Gaming in 4K isn't as fluent, but performance can be improved by using less intensive settings.
Pro Low power consumption
The AMD RX 480 can be powered via a single 6-pin PCIe power connector with a maximum energy consumption of 150 watts. A single connector not only ensures a low energy consumption, but is also ideal for power supplies with a limited amount of wattage and/or 6-pin connectors.
Pro Asynchronous shaders improve performance in recent games and VR
The RX 480 offers concurrent/parallel CPU to GPU communication in DirectX 12, Mantle and Vulkan with asynchronous shaders for the stream processors. Asynchronous shaders allow the developers of games to maximize the potential of AMD's new Polaris architecture and this technology is used to optimize DX12, Mantle and Vulkan performance in recently released compatible games. In short, developers can now use multiple task queues and split up GPU power across multiple tasks at the same time.
This also works well in virtual reality situations, where head tracking is required. Latency (delay between the images that appear on the display) and stuttering can be reduced by using asynchronous shading. This is reflected in the SteamVR Performance Test, where the RX 480 is given the 'VR Ready' label, indicating that the card is able to maintain a minimum framerate of 90 FPS at all times in an average virtual reality game.
Pro Two RX480 cards are a decent alternative for a single GTX 1080
The GTX 1080 is the second fastest grpahics card by NVIDIA and comes with a price tag of over $600. Two Radeon RX 480 cards configured in a CrossFire-setup perform similarly to a single GTX 1080, but with a much lower combined price tag of around $400. In Ashes of the Singularity, performance is identical with an average framerate of 55 FPS. In most other gaming situations, the two RX 480 cards are a tad slower than a GTX 1060. The dual RX 480's score 16,763 3DMark Firestrike Benchmark points, while the GTX 1080 achieves a result of 17,671 - a five percent increase. In Metro Last Light, two RX 480's are capable of achieving an average framerate of 131 FPS for 1080p, 89 FPS for 1440p and 43 FPS for 4K, respectively. Results for the GTX 1080 are 156 FPS (1080p), 98 FPS (1440p) and 45 FPS (4K).
While a single GTX 1080 is still somewhat faster than two Radeon RX480 cards configured in CrossFire, the performance difference can be described as minimal and similar performance can be achieved for a much lower price point. It is worth noting however that not all games support multi-GPU's setups (well), which can lead to marginable performance gains for the second card. This setup also requires more power compared to a single 1080.
Pro Great performance improvements in Vulkan-compatible games
When using Vulkan, a graphical API that allows developers to better communicate with the GPU, the RX 480 can achieve great performance improvements compared to the more standard DirectX 12 or OpenGL API's. Some recent games offer support for Vulkan, such as Doom, Dota 2 and Ashes of The Singularity. When playing Doom in 4K, the RX 480 is able to achieve an average framerate of 26 FPS in OpenGL, while Vulkan performance is significantly better at 35 frames per second. Similar results are seen when playing at a lower 1440p or 1080p resolution: 51 FPS (OpenGL) and 69 FPS (Vulkan) and 78 FPS (OpenGL) and 110 FPS (Vulkan), respectively.
While NVIDIA's new Pascal architecture is also compatible with the Vulkan API, the AMD RX series benefit greatly from it. In fact, the GTX 1060 which is considered the direct competitor of the RX 480 and is faster than the RX 480 in terms of raw power, does not benefit from using Vulkan at all. Because of this, the RX 480 is still significantly faster as seen in these benchmarks.
Pro Some 4GB version cards can be upgraded to 8 GB with a new BIOS
AMD has chosen to provide all reference RX 480 cards with 8 gigabytes of video memory, even on the cheaper models which are specified for 4 GB only. This applies to the reference cards and most third party RX 480 chips as well - the decision to implement 8 GB regardless of the RX 480 edition was made for performance reasons. A tool has been posted online called ATIFlash, which allows users to edit the BIOS of a '4 GB' RX 480. A BIOS file of the 8 GB card is also available via the same link. It is however only recommended for enthusiast tweakers and is at your own risk. It's also necessary to check if you indeed are using a card with the extra memory, as it's possible newer batches of the RX 480 will effectively limit physical memory to 4 GB. However, this is an easy and especially inexpensive method of upgrading a RX 480 4 GB to a RX 480 8 GB card.
Pro Outperforms AMD's RX 480
The GTX 1060 can be seen as NVIDIA's direct competitor to the AMD RX 480, with both cards offering similar price points. The GTX 1060 outperforms the RX 480 in most gaming titles, except for those that are optimized for AMD's Graphics Core Next platform, such as Hitman or Ashes of the Singularity. In most other titles however, such as Battlefield 4, GTA V, Metro: Last Light, Rise of The Tomb Raider, The Division and others, the GTX 1060 outperforms its competition. The average performance increase over the RX 480 is 13,5%.
Pro Adequate amount of VRAM available
The GTX 1060 comes with 6 gigabytes of VRAM memory, which puts this GPU directly between other mid-range cards with 4 or 8 gigabytes of memory. Lots of video RAM isn't particularly useful in current games, but future titles will most likely take advantage of larger amounts of video memory. 6 GB is considered a sweet spot and the two extra gigabytes compared to the more standard 4 GB makes the card a bit more future proof.
Pro Consumes little power for its performance
Power consumption levels of the GTX 1060 are very good. While the power consumption is somewhat higher than the previous-generation GTX 960 in some gaming circumstances - the new 1060 is the fastest graphics card on the market with a limited maximum consumption of 120 watts. In an idle situation, the GTX 1060 only uses about 9 watts of power - almost half of the amount a RX 480 requires at 16 watts. When looking at intensive full load scenario's such as a Furmark test, the maximum power consumption measured for the GTX 1060 is around 122 watts - a whopping 44 watts less than AMD's RX 480.
The power consumption difference between the GTX 1060 3GB and 6GB is negligible, although the 3GB-version surprisingly consumes around 4 watts more power under load.
Pro Excellent 1080p and VR performance, suitable for 1440p
The GTX 1060 performs extremely well in 1080 (Full HD) gaming situations, often providing a very playable framerate with maximum fidelity settings. For example, the average FPS in Battlefield 4 under the Ultra Preset is 97.5. In Grand Theft Auto V under very high settings, the card is able to reach an average FPS of 115, which is remarkable for a mid-range graphics card. The GPU also does well in games that are optimized for AMD's architecture such as Ashes of the Singularity, where the GTX 1060 is able to achieve a result of 46 FPS under the Extreme Preset. In short, this GPU performs excellently in demanding gaming situations in 1080p and offers the player a good framerates coupled with maximum graphic settings.
For people using a slightly higher resolution such as 1440p (2560 x 1440 pixels), the GTX 1060 also does quite well. When looking back at the Battlefield 4 benchmarks, the GPU handles 1440p and Ultra very well with an average framerate of 62 frames per second. The same can be said for Grand Theft Auto V at 82.5 average FPS and the performance difference in Ashes of the Singularity is quite small at 40 FPS under extreme settings.
In terms of performance compared to NVIDIA's previous generation card, the GTX 1060 performs slightly worse than a GTX 980 and floats between the 970 and 980. Compared to the mid-range GTX 960 however, the performance improvement is over 70%. This MSI OC edition is also slightly overclocked with a boost of 40 MHz on the base clock, which will result in slightly better performance as well.
In terms of VR performance, the GTX 1060 6 GB scores 7.9 points in the relative SteamVR Performance Benchmark, which is firmly above the 'VR Capable' rating that's given to scores above 6.0. The VR Capable rating implies a steady framerate of at least 90 frames per second in an average VR-situation.
Pro Can handle overclocks well
By overclocking your graphics card, you increase the clock speeds of the chip and memory to gain even more performance. The GTX 1060 handles overclocks well, relatively high boosts of over 200 MHz for both the GPU and memory clock speeds aren't uncommon without the use of special cooling solutions. In this case, an overclock of 229 MHz on the GPU and 380 MHz on the memory result in a 14% better performance in Battlefield 3, in 1440p resolution.
Pro Offers exclusive features such as Ansel and Simultaneous multi-projection
The GTX 1060 and other Pascal-based GPU's from NVIDIA offer a couple of exclusive features that aren't available on previous-generation graphics cards or current GPU's made by AMD.
Taking advantage of the new GPU architecture, NVIDIA has introduced a feature called simultaneous multi-projection. It allows developers of games and applications to improve performance when rendering multiple viewports of the same image. This is particularly useful when using a multi-monitor setup or in virtual reality where two images are required, one for each eye. Simultaneous multi-projection allows up to 16 different viewpoints and only requires calculating the geometry of a scene once. In compatible games, users of multi-screen setups can calibrate this experience so that distortion no longer occurs. Virtual reality games can use SMP to improve performance, although developers will specifically need to implement this feature in their games.
Ansel is another feature that is exclusive to NVIDIA's Pascal-based graphics cards. Ansel can be described as a very extensive 'photomode', where you can capture massive in-game screenshots of several gigapixels or capture images in 360 degrees. The player is also able to use filters, adjust camera positions, take HDR-images and share them via the built-in software.
Cons
Con Limited overclocking potential
AMD has made it a bit harder to overclock the RX 480, as you can no longer adjust the voltage or clockspeed manually. Overclocking potential is disappointing, as the RX 480 does't appear to be stable at slightly higher clockspeeds. For example, a slight base clockspeed increase of 6.5% already caused artifacts and crashes. However, the video memory can be overclocked at maximum speed without many issues.
Con Power distribution raises some concerns
When the RX 480 cards were released, there was an issue where the GPU would draw too much power from the motherboard's PCIe slot, exceeding the 75W limit. This could lead to instability or permanent damage. AMD has somewhat resolved this issue by re-distributing power usage to the 6-pin connector, which is more capable of handling larger amounts of power than specified. Although this update prevents motherboard damage, the RX 480 still draws more power than stated in the thermal design point (TDP).
Users can choose to underclock the GPU to stay completely within the power limits, although this will lead to a minor performance decrease. This setting is turned off by default.
Con Lacks support for SLI
The GTX 1060 does not offer support for SLI - short for Scalable Link Interface - which allows users to install multiple identical graphics cards in order to gain performance. In other words, you can't connect two or more GTX 1060's and run a dual- or multiple-GPU solution which is very remarkable for mid-range graphics cards.
Con Disappointing performance improvements when using Vulkan
Vulkan is a graphical API that allows developers to communicate better with the GPU, which in theory should result to performance improvements compared to the more standard DirectX 12 or OpenGL API's. The GTX 1060 doesn't do particularly better in Vulkan however, and the difference with the standard OpenGL is very minimal.
Doom is one of the first (and only) titles with support for Vulkan and serves as a good benchmark for OpenGL vs Vulkan performance. Using Ultra settings and a 1080p resolution, the GTX 1060 is able to achieve an average framerate of 101.3 FPS in OpenGL. When tested in Vulkan, the performance difference is unnoticeable at 101.5 FPS, a very slight increase. In 1440p resolution, results for OpenGL are 68.3 FPS, while Vulkan only provides a small performance boost to 69.3 average frames per second. AMD's new Polaris-architecture graphics cards are significantly better optimized for Vulkan compared to the GTX 1060 and other NVIDIA Pascal-based GPU's. For example, the AMD Radeon RX 480 performs significantly better in Vulkan, with 1080p results of 85 FPS for OpenGL and 111 FPS in Vulkan, a 30.59% increase.