AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K

How do two AMD Radeon RX 480 video cards perform in CrossFire? Do they beat the GeForce GTX 1080? Let's find out right now!

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14 minutes & 44 seconds read time

Introduction & Setting Expectations

Now that all of the first-week launch hoopla surrounding AMD's release of the Radeon RX 480 is over, I can finally do some interesting articles on the hardware I have sitting in my GPU labs. The first of which is this article, which will take a look at two AMD Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 17
VIEW GALLERY - 35 IMAGES

AMD showed off Radeon RX 480 CrossFire in a few of its briefings before the RX 480 launch, comparing it against NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1080 in only a single game; Ashes of the Singularity. AoTS just so happens to be a title that runs better on AMD hardware, and with the tease of the RX 480 CF setup beating the beastly GTX 1080, I had to test it for myself.

Well, now we're here - and we have two RX 480s on-hand for some CrossFire testing.

Setting Expectations

Setting your expectations too high, and you'll be disappointed - set them too low, and you won't have enough buzz around your product. This is a rule set to follow, and AMD has been walking a fine line between the two.

AMD didn't really push the multi-GPU angle of the Radeon RX 480, and that could be for a few reasons. If AMD had come out and pushed the RX 480 in CrossFire, it would have to have rock solid drivers - and it would also have to test games where CrossFire is not only supported, but it excels. Well, I like to be difficult - so I kept to the same benchmark suite I use in my video card reviews.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 01

A few of them don't have CrossFire support, so I've left them out, but I made sure to include Ashes of the Singularity as I wanted to see what type of performance I was going to get on my setup. You'll have to check the next few pages for benchmark results, but we have to establish a few things first.

One single Radeon RX 480 is a damn powerful card for the money, with the 4GB version costing $199 while the 8GB version is $40 more at $239. Two of the RX 480 8GB cards in CF will set you back $478 - which is about the cost of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1070.

This means in synthetic benchmarks where we get close to, if not 100% scaling, the RX 480 CrossFire setup should at least keep up with, but more often beat the GTX 1070. But what about the GTX 1080? Well, that's where things get interesting.

The Calm Before The Storm

To Be, Or Not To Be

AMD launched its new Polaris architecture with a single release; the Radeon RX 480. There were no other cards launched at the time, apart from the announcements of the cheaper, lower- and mid-range parts in the Radeon RX 460 and RX 470 which will launch later this year.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 03

I wish AMD had launched a new dual-GPU based on the RX 480's GPU, the Polaris 10 - and provided it with 8+8-pin PCIe power connectors. The RX 480 has a TDP of 150W, and while there are reports that the Radeon RX 480 is using more than the 75W of power available over the PCIe specification, a dual-GPU with 8+8-pin PCIe would've been fine.

This is the type of card that would've beaten the GTX 1070 and probably go toe-to-toe with the GTX 1080, but AMD didn't do it. It's still a possibility, but maybe the company wanted to sell as many single RX 480s as possible before it started putting two P10 GPUs onto a PCB with all of these voltage worries.

AMD Radeon RX 480 CrossFire - The Calm Before the Storm

Remember that it's early days of these next-gen GPUs, with future driver releases to improve CrossFire performance over time. From my testing, the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire actually performed pretty damn well - and in some cases, they beat the GeForce GTX 1080 - which is a great thing to see.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 500

But when you look at the power draw numbers, it paints a completely different picture. Sure, two Radeon RX 480s can beat a single GeForce GTX 1080 in some games in some resolutions, but the power consumed by the RX 480s is far beyond what NVIDIA uses with a single GeForce GTX 1080.

A single Radeon RX 480 in our test bed consumes around 250W average, the same number as the GTX 1080 - but the GTX 1080 is faster, by a decent mile in all resolutions. The second RX 480 enabled more performance with CrossFire, beating out the GTX 1080 in a few games at 1440p and 4K, but the total system power consumption went from 250W to 400W.

Our system power draw peaked at around 440W, which is up and above the 250W that the more efficient GeForce GTX 1080 pulls. There's nothing AMD can do to fix this, short of their promised new drivers providing a slice off of the RX 480s TDP.

Even if AMD managed to somehow cull 40W of power consumption from the card, that's 80W in total with two cards (give or take) - which still has it consuming around 350W of power - 100W more than the single GTX 1080.

For AMD fans, two Radeon RX 480s is an amazing amount of fun - and we're only playing with the reference cards. The AIB partners have some exciting cards coming out in the very near future, with the likes of SAPPHIRE, XFX, ASUS, GIGABYTE, and others to surely blow our minds with new Polaris 10-powered video cards.

Testing Methodology & Test Setup Configuration

Testing Method

For the purposes of testing the AMD Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire, and for all future GPU reviews and articles, we've changed up our benchmark suite. I've removed Battlefield 4, GRID: Autosport, BioShock: Infinite, and Grand Theft Auto V. In their place, I've got Far Cry Primal and The Division.

I've also added in some DX12 testing, with Hitman and Ashes of the Singularity. This will provide us with enough variety, but I'm on the hunt for new benchmarks all the time. The second that Battlefield 1 drops, we'll be including that in our GPU reviews, while I'll also be keeping an eye out on the release of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

Test System Configuration

Video Card test system

Corsair sent us over their kick-ass AX1500i PSU, which provides 1500W of power for our 3 and 4-way GPU testing that we have coming very soon.

Anthony's Video Card Test System Specifications

Benchmarks - Synthetic

3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p

3DMark Fire Strike benchmark

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 50

3DMark Fire Strike Extreme - 1440p

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 51

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra - 4K (3840x2160)

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 71

Heaven - 1080p

Unigine Heaven benchmark

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 52

Heaven - 1440p

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 53

Heaven - 4K (3840x2160)

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 72

Benchmarks @ 1080p

1080p Benchmarks

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 101

Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 61
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 103

We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 63
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 104

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 64
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 105

Thief has been around for quite a while now, with the latest version of the first-person stealth game powered by Epic Games' older Unreal Engine 3. While it's old, it has some great multi-GPU scaling that we use to test out our various GPU setups.

You can buy Thief at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 65
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 106

Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.

You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 67

Benchmarks @ 1440p

1440p Benchmarks

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 101

Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 89
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 103

We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 82
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 104

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 83
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 105

Thief has been around for quite a while now, with the latest version of the first-person stealth game powered by Epic Games' older Unreal Engine 3. While it's old, it has some great multi-GPU scaling that we use to test out our various GPU setups.

You can buy Thief at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 84
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 106

Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.

You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 855

Benchmarks @ 4K

4K Benchmarks

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 101

Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 41
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 103

We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.

You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 43
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 104

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 44
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 105

Thief has been around for quite a while now, with the latest version of the first-person stealth game powered by Epic Games' older Unreal Engine 3. While it's old, it has some great multi-GPU scaling that we use to test out our various GPU setups.

You can buy Thief at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 45
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 106

Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.

You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 47

Benchmarks @ DX12

DirectX 12 Performance

We have now tested Ashes of the Singularity with DirectX 12 with our Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire, with some great results. They're not as good as what AMD had when they originally debuted the RX 480s in CF against the GTX 1080 - but they're damn close.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 108
AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 600

Benchmark Results

In our synthetic benchmarking with Heaven, the Radeon RX 480s in CF beat everything else on our charts except the GTX 1080. This includes the HBM1-based Radeon R9 Fury X, and even the GeForce GTX 1070. When it comes to 3DMark FireStrike at 1080p, the Radeon RX 480 CrossFire slays all of the other GPUs with the highest result.

1080p - Not Bad

Metro: Last Light Redux is a pretty hard benchmark for the best of the best, with the RX 480 CF setup providing 130FPS of average frame rate at 1080p, losing only to the GTX 1070 and GTX 1080. We see some great scaling here, as a single Radeon RX 480 only manages 81FPS average - the boost up to 130FPS is definitely a nice thing to see.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 18

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of my favorite games to benchmark, as it stresses out the GPU so much. With two P10-powered Radeon RX 480s, we have an average frame rate of 140FPS which is amazing, as the single RX 480 pushes out just 87FPS. NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 is the only card capable of beating the RX 480s in CrossFire, with the GTX 1070 falling behind by 10%.

Thief is another interesting benchmark for the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire, as they didn't fare so well here. We have 96FPS average, compared to the 80FPS from the single RX 480. NVIDIA's older cards like the GTX 980 Ti and Titan X run rings around two of AMD's next-gen Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire in Thief at 1080p - but will things improve in 1440p and 4K?

Multi-GPU scaling has always been great in Tomb Raider, but even with it being an AMD optimized title, the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire don't do too well here at 1080p either. We have 181FPS average - which is way more than you'll need for now, compared to 149FPS on the single RX 480. The GTX 1080 pushes a huge 261FPS average at 1080p in Tomb Raider.

Overall I wouldn't recommend Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire for 1080p, but I wouldn't recommend most multi-GPU setups for 1080p. Multiple GPUs are great for 1080p if you have a 120/144/165Hz display and want to push as many FPS as you can - but you need great CF/SLI scaling to do so.

At 1080p, a single GPU is what you want. It's the most efficient way of gaming. If you're using a 1440p display, and especially the ones with 120/144Hz, then multiple video cards begins to make much more sense - and becomes a huge upgrade path for those chasing frames.

1440p - Getting Better

Starting with Far Cry Primal at 1440p, we have the RX 480s in CrossFire pumping away at 67FPS average - which is perfect. Anything over 60FPS average is fine with me, and considering the much faster, and much more expensive NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 is capable of 80FPS, the RX480s in CF are holding up extremely well in FCP at 1440p.

I was expecting Metro Last Light Redux to squeeze the life out of the Radeon RX 480s in CF, and it did - we have 92FPS average, which is an amazing result compared to the 51FPS that the single Radeon RX 480 managed. The GTX 1080 edges out the RX 480s in CF at 1440p, with 98FPS.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 19

Ah, Shadow of Mordor - we meet again, but at 2560x1440. AMD's Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire did extremely well, with 107FPS average, a huge leap over the 61FPS average of the single RX 480 - and just shy of the 111FPS average that the GeForce GTX 1080 pumped out.

Thief is another surprise, with 89FPS average with the two Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire, especially from the 54FPS average that the single Radeon RX 480 is capable of. Thief at 1440p has the GeForce GTX 1080 with 95FPS, so the RX 480s are keeping up without a problem here with Thief at 1440p.

Tomb Raider scales well with multi-GPU, but the RX 480s in CrossFire did beautifully here at 1440p - beating out the GTX 1080 without a problem. The minimum FPS result hurts, with 72FPS average - the lowest on our charts, but it's a huge leap over the 94FPS on the single Radeon RX 480, that's for sure.

4K - There We Go!

4K is where the magic happens for the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire, starting with Far Cry Primal we have 50FPS average compared to 25FPS average on the single Radeon RX 480 - a 100% increase in performance. The GeForce GTX 1080 pushes just 45FPS average here at 4K in Far Cry Primal.

Moving onto Metro: Last Light Redux, the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire lose it with the minimum frame rate of just 4FPS, but with an average of 44FPS, it's only 1FPS behind the $699 GeForce GTX 1080. The single RX 480 pushed just 23FPS here, so again we're close to 100% scaling here.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 17

This is the test I was waiting for, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. AMD's new Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire are incredible here, with 61FPS average compared to the 33FPS of the single Radeon RX 480 - and it thrashes the GeForce GTX 1080 and its 52FPS average - especially given the $200+ cost savings with the 2 x RX 480s versus the single GTX 1080.

The same results are seen in Thief at 4K on the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire, with 56FPS average compared to 29FPS on the single card. NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1080 only manages 51FPS average at 4K, while the GTX 1070 trails with 42FPS average.

Things continue to get better for AMD with Tomb Raider at 4K on the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire hitting 84FPS average, compared to just 42FPS average on the single RX 480 - another 100% improvement. NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1080 manages 77FPS here at 4K in Tomb Raider, behind the RX 480s in CF by 7FPS. The GTX 1070 manages just 61FPS here.

Final Thoughts

Where's My Damn Radeon R9 295X2 Successor, AMD?!

Throughout all of my testing, all I kept thinking to myself was "where the hell is the successor to the Radeon R9 295X2" - you know, the dual-GPU based on the Radeon R9 290X that is still a beast today.

AMD's new Radeon RX 480 has a TDP of 150W, so taking into consideration a longer PCB and a more elaborate cooling system coupled with 8+8-pin PCIe power connectors, AMD could release a Radeon RX 490 (or whatever they want to call it) - maybe a Radeon RX 495X2, without going over 300W.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 18

The reason I want to see it is that the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire are an amazing value for money option when you consider the 4GB versions are $199 each and can currently, possibly not when you read this article weeks or months from now, be flashed to the 8GB versions.

For under $400, you're getting performance at 1440p and 4K that either keeps up or rivals NVIDIA's latest and greatest GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, which costs upwards of $699. When you consider the $699 cost of the GTX 1080 FE, the allure of the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire becomes amplified. For $400, you're getting some of the best bang for buck GPUs, period. But I will note: this is when you consider the $199 price of the 4GB variant of the Radeon RX 480, but even with the $239 price on the 8GB version, it's still under $480 - a $219 savings on the GTX 1080 Founders Edition at $699.

Well there you have it - AMD's Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire kick some major ass, with some stellar results at 1440p and especially 4K. If you're gaming on a 2560x1440 display and need 120/144Hz, and can't quite afford the $699 for the GeForce GTX 1080, the $400-$480 for the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire is a great alternative.

AMD Radeon RX 480 in CrossFire - Beating the GeForce GTX 1080 at 4K 17

As always, I still highly recommend a single-GPU solution for all gamers - no matter the resolution. If you asked me right now what I recommend for 1440p and 4K gaming (with 60FPS being the target average FPS), then I would recommend NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1070, which is an amazing card performance/dollar wise.

For 1080p 60FPS gaming, AMD's new Radeon RX 480 on its own is an incredible buy at $199/$239. For 1440p and beyond, you can grab a single Radeon RX 480, but you'll need to turn some details down to maintain 60FPS. 4K and beyond, you're going to want two of them - which really pack quite the punch for $400-$480.

Wrapping things up, AMD has impressed me with the results here with the Radeon RX 480s in CrossFire - with some of the best performance at $400-$480, and some damn good CrossFire scaling at 1440p and 4K. It is definitely going to give NVIDIA a run for their money when AIB partners start pumping out custom Radeon RX 480s, which will offer increased performance, especially at 1440p and 4K - and then in CrossFire? Color me excited... in red.

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Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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