AMD Radeon 740M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data splits cleanly between these two GPUs, and the outcome is not close. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 wins both recorded head-to-head tests, but the margin tells different stories depending on the workload.

In GeekBench OpenCL, the GTX 770 posts a score of 15707 against the Radeon 740M's 10172. That is a 54.4% advantage, the single largest gap in any comparison here. OpenCL workloads tend to favor raw compute throughput, and the GTX 770's dedicated graphics architecture with 1536 shading units and a 256-bit memory bus delivers that in spades. The Radeon 740M, by contrast, is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) sharing system memory, and its 256 shading units are simply outgunned in this scenario.

In GeekBench Vulkan, the gap narrows considerably. The GTX 770 scores 19166, while the Radeon 740M reaches 15568. That is still a 23.1% win for NVIDIA, but the smaller delta suggests the AMD part scales better under Vulkan's lower-overhead API. Modern API efficiency can compensate for some hardware disadvantages, and the Radeon 740M shows that trait here, though it does not close the gap entirely.

The Radeon 740M's only meaningful advantage in this dataset is efficiency and form factor. It carries a 45 W TDP versus the GTX 770's 230 W, and it is an IGP with no power connectors and no slot width, meaning it drops into a laptop or compact motherboard without any discrete card. The GTX 770 is a dual-slot card requiring 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors and a 550 W suggested PSU. None of that shows up in raw benchmark scores, but it defines where each part can actually be used.

For raw performance in both recorded tests, the GTX 770 wins outright. For deployment flexibility and power draw, the Radeon 740M is the only viable option in many systems. The data supports the GTX 770 as the faster part in every measured metric, but the Radeon 740M exists in a different category altogether: it is a modern integrated solution, not a legacy discrete card.

The Verdict

If you need maximum compute performance in OpenCL or Vulkan workloads and have a desktop chassis with room for a dual-slot card, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 is the clear pick. It leads by 54.4% in OpenCL and by 23.1% in Vulkan, and its average benchmark score of 14747 versus the Radeon 740M's 12870 puts it roughly 14.6% ahead overall. The GTX 770 also sits at the 57th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the Radeon 740M sits at the 53rd percentile, a modest but consistent ranking gap.

The Radeon 740M is not a competitor in raw speed, but it wins on integration. It is an active, current-generation IGP built on a 4 nm process, with no power connectors, no slot requirement, and system-shared memory. That makes it the only choice for thin-and-light laptops or small form factor builds where a 267 mm card with external power simply cannot fit. Its 45 W TDP is a fraction of the GTX 770's 230 W, and it supports PCIe 4.0 x8 versus the GTX 770's PCIe 3.0 x16.

The verdict splits by use case. Desktop builders with a PSU rated at 550 W or better and a full-size chassis should take the GTX 770 for its decisive benchmark wins. Anyone needing a GPU that requires no extra power, no slot, and no cooling beyond what a laptop or motherboard provides should take the Radeon 740M, accepting its lower scores as the price of integration.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two recorded head-to-head tests cover OpenCL and Vulkan, and the GTX 770 wins both. The OpenCL result is the most lopsided. NVIDIA's card delivers 15707 points against AMD's 10172, a 54.4% lead. That margin is large enough to classify as a different performance tier. The GTX 770's dedicated GDDR5 memory with 224.4 GB/s of bandwidth and 128 texture units gives it a structural advantage that the Radeon 740M's system-shared memory cannot offset, regardless of the latter's higher boost clock of 2800 MHz versus 1085 MHz.

The Vulkan test is closer but still decisive. The GTX 770 scores 19166, and the Radeon 740M scores 15568, a 23.1% gap. Vulkan's lower CPU overhead and better multi-threading can help a smaller GPU, and the Radeon 740M does close some distance here compared to OpenCL. However, the GTX 770 still holds a comfortable lead, and its higher absolute score in Vulkan (19166 versus its own OpenCL score of 15707) suggests the NVIDIA driver stack extracts more from the hardware under this API.

The Radeon 740M's Vulkan score of 15568 is actually higher than its OpenCL score of 10172 by roughly 53%, which indicates the architecture responds well to modern API features. But the GTX 770's Vulkan score of 19166 is also higher than its OpenCL score, by about 22%, so the NVIDIA part is not standing still. The delta between the two narrows from 54.4% to 23.1% when moving from OpenCL to Vulkan, but the winner does not change.

The database also places each GPU near its own set of rivals, which contextualizes the head-to-head. The GTX 770's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT with an average score of 14692, a delta of just 0.4%. The Radeon 740M's nearest rival is the AMD FirePro W5100 at 12847, a delta of 0.2%. These proximity figures show that both parts sit in the middle of the performance pack, but the GTX 770 sits roughly 13% higher in absolute terms.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 is significantly faster. It scores 15707 in GeekBench OpenCL versus the AMD Radeon 740M's 10172, a 54.4% advantage.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon 740M win any benchmark?

A: No. In the recorded head-to-head data, the GTX 770 wins both GeekBench OpenCL and GeekBench Vulkan. The Radeon 740M has zero wins in this comparison.

Q: How close is the Vulkan performance between the two?

A: The GTX 770 leads by 23.1% in GeekBench Vulkan, scoring 19166 versus 15568. This is a narrower gap than the OpenCL result, but still a clear win for NVIDIA.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The GTX 770 has an average benchmark score of 14747, while the Radeon 740M averages 12870. The GTX 770 is about 14.6% higher overall.

Q: Can the Radeon 740M replace the GTX 770 in a desktop?

A: Only if the system cannot physically accommodate a discrete card. The Radeon 740M is an IGP with no slot width, no power connectors, and a 45 W TDP, making it suitable for laptops or compact boards. The GTX 770 requires a dual-slot card, 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power, and a 550 W suggested PSU.

Q: Which GPU has better API support?

A: The AMD Radeon 740M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX 770 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175. The Radeon 740M also has 4 ray tracing cores, which the GTX 770 lacks.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different eras and different design philosophies. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 uses the GK104 chip built on Kepler architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 3,540 million transistors into a 294 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.0M per mm². The Radeon 740M uses the Phoenix2 chip built on RDNA 3.0, also fabricated at TSMC but on a 4 nm process. It contains 20,900 million transistors in a 137 mm² die, achieving a density of 152.6M per mm², over 12 times denser.

The GTX 770 is a discrete GPU with 1536 shading units, 128 texture units, and 32 ROPs. It has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The Radeon 740M is an integrated GPU with 256 shading units, 16 texture units, and 8 ROPs, but it includes 4 ray tracing cores. This is a fundamental architectural split: the GTX 770 relies on raw parallel throughput from its many shading units, while the Radeon 740M uses a newer, denser design with hardware ray tracing support.

Memory architecture also diverges sharply. The GTX 770 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 224.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon 740M uses system-shared memory, with the type, bus width, and bandwidth all marked as system dependent. This means the Radeon 740M's memory performance varies with the host system's RAM, while the GTX 770 has fixed, dedicated bandwidth.

The API feature sets reflect the generational gap. The GTX 770 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The Radeon 740M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The newer AMD part also advertises FP16 at 2.867 TFLOPS (1:1), while the GTX 770 has no FP16 figure recorded.

Specification Differences

The two parts differ in nearly every measurable specification, and the table below lists only the fields where they diverge.

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 | AMD Radeon 740M |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | Kepler | RDNA 3.0 |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 4 nm |

| Transistors | 3,540 million | 20,900 million |

| Die Size | 294 mm² | 137 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.0M / mm² | 152.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1046 MHz | 800 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1085 MHz | 2800 MHz |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | System Shared |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | System Shared |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | System Shared |

| Memory Bandwidth | 224.4 GB/s | System Dependent |

| Memory Clock | 1753 MHz, 7 Gbps effective | System Shared |

| Shading Units | 1536 | 256 |

| TMUs | 128 | 16 |

| ROPs | 32 | 8 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | None | 4 |

| Pixel Rate | 34.72 GPixel/s | 22.40 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 138.9 GTexel/s | 44.80 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 3.333 TFLOPS | 2.867 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | None recorded | 2.867 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 230 W | 45 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

| Power Connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | None |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| Display Outputs | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2 | Motherboard Dependent |

| DirectX Support | 12 (11_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.2.175 | 1.4 |

| Dimensions | 267 mm x 111 mm x 38 mm | Not applicable |

| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |

| Release Date | 2013-05-29 | 2024-01-30 |

| Launch MSRP | 399 USD | None |

The GTX 770 is a larger, hotter, older discrete card with far more shading units and memory bandwidth. The Radeon 740M is a smaller, denser, newer integrated part with a much higher boost clock, ray tracing support, and no external power requirements. The specification sheet tells the same story as the benchmarks: the GTX 770 wins on raw throughput, while the Radeon 740M wins on efficiency and integration.