AMD Radeon 780M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile is in a completely different performance class than the AMD Radeon 780M. Across every recorded test, the RTX 3070 Mobile wins decisively, with the narrowest margin being a 157.6% lead in Geekbench Vulkan. The Radeon 780M, as an integrated graphics processor (IGP), delivers respectable results for its power envelope, but it cannot challenge a dedicated mobile GPU in raw compute or gaming workloads.

The RTX 3070 Mobile is the choice for users who need discrete-level performance in a laptop. Its average benchmark score of 20,534 places it at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, and it sits within 0.6% of rivals like the AMD Radeon R9 M390X and within 0.2% of the Intel Arc A750. The Radeon 780M, with an average score of 17,588, holds the 61st percentile and trades blows with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (0.3% behind) and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (0.2% ahead). The percentile gap between these two is narrow, but the absolute score gap is substantial: the RTX 3070 Mobile leads by 2,946 points on average, a 16.7% advantage.

The data shows that the RTX 3070 Mobile is suited for demanding tasks: high-resolution gaming, 3D rendering, and compute workloads. The Radeon 780M is suited for lightweight gaming and general productivity in a thin-and-light chassis, where its 15 W TDP and system-shared memory are acceptable trade-offs. No recorded benchmark favors the AMD part, so the verdict is simple: pick the RTX 3070 Mobile for performance, pick the Radeon 780M only if the form factor and power draw are the priority.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures and process nodes. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile uses the GA104 chip with the Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. It packs 17,400 million transistors onto a 392 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 44.4 million per mm². The AMD Radeon 780M uses the Phoenix chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 4 nm process. It integrates 25,390 million transistors on a much smaller 178 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 142.6 million per mm², over three times denser than the NVIDIA part.

The Radeon 780M is part of the Navi III IGP generation, released on 2024-01-30, while the RTX 3070 Mobile belongs to the GeForce 30 Mobile generation, released on 2021-01-11. The NVIDIA part is marked end-of-life, whereas the AMD part is active in production. The AMD chip is a system-on-chip design, with the GPU sharing memory with the CPU. The RTX 3070 Mobile has dedicated 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon 780M uses system-shared memory with bandwidth described as system dependent, which is a significant architectural limitation.

Compute resources differ sharply. The RTX 3070 Mobile has 5,120 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, 80 render output units, 40 ray tracing cores, and 160 tensor cores. The Radeon 780M has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 12 ray tracing cores, with no tensor cores listed. The FP32 throughput is 15.97 TFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 8.909 TFLOPS for AMD, a 79% advantage in raw floating-point compute. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is not a differentiator.

Clock speeds and power draw tell the rest of the story. The RTX 3070 Mobile runs at a base of 1110 MHz and boosts to 1560 MHz, with a TDP of 115 W. The Radeon 780M has a lower base of 800 MHz but a much higher boost of 2900 MHz, while sipping just 15 W. The bus interface differs too: PCIe 4.0 x16 for NVIDIA versus PCIe 4.0 x8 for AMD. The RTX 3070 Mobile is a discrete card with portable-device-dependent display outputs; the Radeon 780M is an IGP with motherboard-dependent outputs.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 Mobile wins everywhere the data measures. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, it scores 2,380 versus 480 for the Radeon 780M, a 395.8% lead. This is a modern DirectX 12 workload that stresses ray tracing and mesh shaders, and the gap is enormous. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 92,939 versus 18,602, a 399.6% lead, reflecting its massive advantage in general-purpose compute. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 86,768 versus 33,683, a 157.6% lead, which is the closest result in the head-to-head but still a decisive win.

The Radeon 780M has no recorded benchmark win. Its strengths lie outside the measured performance metrics. The data shows it operates at 15 W, a fraction of the 115 W TDP of the RTX 3070 Mobile, which makes it suitable for passively cooled or thin designs. Its 4 nm process node and high transistor density (142.6M / mm²) indicate a modern, efficient design. The 780M also has a higher boost clock at 2900 MHz versus 1560 MHz, though this does not translate into performance wins in the recorded tests.

For specific use cases, the RTX 3070 Mobile is the pick for 3D rendering, GPU compute, and high-settings gaming. The Radeon 780M is the pick for basic graphics acceleration in an ultraportable system where battery life and thermals matter more than frame rates. The data does not support any scenario where the AMD part outperforms the NVIDIA part in the measured workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 20,534, compared to 17,588 for the AMD Radeon 780M, a lead of 2,946 points.

Q: How large is the performance gap in DirectX 12 gaming?

A: In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 2,380 versus 480 for the Radeon 780M, a 395.8% advantage.

Q: Is the Radeon 780M competitive in any benchmark?

A: No. The head-to-head data shows the RTX 3070 Mobile wins all three recorded tests, with the smallest margin being 157.6% in Geekbench Vulkan.

Q: How do the power requirements differ?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile has a TDP of 115 W, while the Radeon 780M has a TDP of 15 W.

Q: Which GPU has more compute units?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile has 5,120 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. The Radeon 780M has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs.

Q: What memory configurations do they use?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon 780M uses system-shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded head-to-head results are one-sided, but the margins vary meaningfully. The largest gap appears in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 92,939 against the Radeon 780M's 18,602, a 399.6% difference. This test measures raw compute throughput across a wide range of workloads, and the NVIDIA part's 5,120 shading units and dedicated memory bandwidth dominate the AMD IGP's 768 shading units and shared memory.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test shows a 395.8% lead for the RTX 3070 Mobile, with scores of 2,380 and 480 respectively. This modern DirectX 12 benchmark includes ray tracing and asynchronous compute, areas where the RTX 3070 Mobile's dedicated 40 RT cores and 160 tensor cores provide substantial hardware acceleration. The Radeon 780M has 12 RT cores and no tensor cores, limiting its performance in these workloads.

The closest contest is Geekbench Vulkan, where the RTX 3070 Mobile scores 86,768 versus 33,683, a 157.6% lead. Vulkan tends to scale well across different hardware designs, and the Radeon 780M's high boost clock of 2900 MHz helps it close some of the gap. Still, the NVIDIA part remains far ahead, and the delta is large enough to be decisive in any real-world application.

Looking at broader database context, the RTX 3070 Mobile sits at the 65th percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon 780M sits at the 61st. The RTX 3070 Mobile's nearest rivals include the Intel Arc B570 (0.1% behind) and the Intel Arc A750 (0.2% behind), while the Radeon 780M's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (0.3% behind) and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (0.2% ahead). This context shows that the RTX 3070 Mobile is competitive with recent discrete desktop GPUs, while the Radeon 780M is competitive with older entry-level discrete parts.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every hardware specification. The process node is 8 nm (Samsung) for the RTX 3070 Mobile versus 4 nm (TSMC) for the Radeon 780M. Transistor counts are 17,400 million versus 25,390 million, and die sizes are 392 mm² versus 178 mm², giving transistor densities of 44.4M / mm² and 142.6M / mm² respectively. The RTX 3070 Mobile has a base clock of 1110 MHz and a boost of 1560 MHz; the Radeon 780M has a base of 800 MHz and a boost of 2900 MHz.

Memory is a major split: the RTX 3070 Mobile has 8 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Radeon 780M uses system-shared memory with a system-dependent bus width and bandwidth. The RTX 3070 Mobile has 5,120 shading units, 160 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 40 RT cores, and 160 tensor cores. The Radeon 780M has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 12 RT cores, with no tensor cores. Pixel rates are 124.8 GPixel/s versus 92.80 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 249.6 GTexel/s versus 139.2 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 15.97 TFLOPS versus 8.909 TFLOPS.

TDP differs by a factor of over seven: 115 W for NVIDIA versus 15 W for AMD. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RTX 3070 Mobile and PCIe 4.0 x8 for the Radeon 780M. The RTX 3070 Mobile is a discrete card with portable-device-dependent display outputs; the Radeon 780M is an IGP with motherboard-dependent outputs. Release dates are 2021-01-11 for NVIDIA and 2024-01-30 for AMD. Production status is end-of-life for the RTX 3070 Mobile and active for the Radeon 780M. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API support is identical.