AMD Radeon HD 6770 vs AMD Radeon R5 M330 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the AMD Radeon R5 M330 and AMD Radeon HD 6770 compare in overall benchmark performance?

A: The R5 M330 has an average benchmark score of 4170, while the HD 6770 scores 3649. In the single head-to-head test available (Geekbench OpenCL), the R5 M330 wins by 17.9%.

Q: What is the performance gap between the R5 M330 and its closest rival?

A: The R5 M330 sits within 1.9% of its nearest rivals. It is 0.4% faster than the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M, 0.5% slower than the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 1.7% slower than the Quadro K3000M, and 1.9% faster than the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB.

Q: How does the HD 6770 fare against its nearest competitors?

A: The HD 6770 is 0.6% faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050, 0.9% faster than the GeForce GT 735M, 1.2% slower than the GeForce 825M, and 1.5% faster than the RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation.

Q: What are the key memory differences between the two cards?

A: The R5 M330 uses 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, providing 14.40 GB/s bandwidth. The HD 6770 uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 76.80 GB/s, which is more than five times the bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel and texture fill rate?

A: The HD 6770 leads with 13.60 GPixel/s and 34.00 GTexel/s, while the R5 M330 trails at 8.240 GPixel/s and 20.60 GTexel/s.

Q: What is the power consumption difference between the two?

A: The R5 M330 is rated at 18 W TDP, whereas the HD 6770 consumes 108 W, a six-fold difference. The HD 6770 also requires a 6-pin power connector and a 300 W suggested PSU, while the R5 M330 needs none.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different design eras from AMD. The Radeon R5 M330 is built on the Graphics Core Next (GCN) 1.0 architecture, specifically the Exo chip, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. This is a mobile-oriented, power-efficient design. The HD 6770, in contrast, uses the older TeraScale 2 architecture with the Juniper chip, produced on a 40 nm process. The process node difference alone is significant: 28 nm versus 40 nm, which directly impacts transistor density.

The transistor counts tell a compelling story. The HD 6770 packs 1,040 million transistors on a 166 mm² die, yielding a density of 6.3 million transistors per mm². The R5 M330 has only 690 million transistors but on a much smaller 56 mm² die, achieving 12.3 million transistors per mm². This means the newer chip is nearly twice as dense, a direct benefit of the smaller fabrication process.

Shader architecture diverges sharply. The HD 6770 has 800 shading units, 40 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 16 raster operation units (ROPs). The R5 M330 has 320 shading units, 20 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. Despite having fewer units, the R5 M330's GCN design is more efficient per unit. The HD 6770's raw numbers suggest higher theoretical throughput, but the benchmark results show otherwise.

Clock speeds also differ. The R5 M330 runs at 955 MHz base and 1030 MHz boost, while the HD 6770 has no listed base or boost clocks; only its memory clock of 1200 MHz (4.8 Gbps effective) is recorded. The R5 M330's memory runs at 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective). The HD 6770 uses GDDR5, which explains its much higher effective memory speed.

API support shows the generational leap. The R5 M330 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The HD 6770 only reaches DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4, with no Vulkan support at all. This is a critical differentiator for modern workloads.

The bus interface also differs: PCIe 3.0 x8 for the R5 M330 versus PCIe 2.0 x16 for the HD 6770. While the older card has twice the lanes, the newer protocol offers more bandwidth per lane.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and it delivers a clear verdict. The Radeon R5 M330 scores 4302, while the Radeon HD 6770 scores 3649. The R5 M330 wins by 17.9%, a decisive margin. This is notable because the HD 6770 has 2.5 times the shading units, double the TMUs, double the ROPs, and more than five times the memory bandwidth.

How does this happen? The architecture explains it. GCN 1.0 is a modern, efficient design that extracts more useful work per shader than TeraScale 2. The R5 M330's 659.2 GFLOPS FP32 throughput is lower than the HD 6770's 1,360.0 GFLOPS, yet it still wins the benchmark. This suggests the HD 6770's theoretical peak is not translating into real-world OpenCL performance.

The R5 M330's 17.9% lead places it in a different competitive tier. Its average score of 4170 puts it at the 25th percentile of all GPUs, while the HD 6770's 3649 sits at the 22nd percentile. Both are low-end performers by modern standards, but the R5 M330 is measurably ahead.

Memory bandwidth appears to be a non-factor in this test. The HD 6770's 76.80 GB/s should dominate the R5 M330's 14.40 GB/s, yet the newer card wins. This implies the OpenCL workload is compute-bound rather than bandwidth-bound, favoring the GCN architecture's scheduling and wavefront execution.

For the HD 6770, its only benchmark entry is the same OpenCL test, scoring 3649. There is no Vulkan result recorded, consistent with its lack of Vulkan support. The R5 M330 also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 4037, though this is not part of the head-to-head comparison.

The Verdict

The data shows a clear winner: the Radeon R5 M330 outperforms the Radeon HD 6770 by 17.9% in OpenCL, the only benchmark where both are measured. Despite the HD 6770's superior hardware specifications on paper, the newer GCN architecture delivers better real-world results.

Who should pick the R5 M330? Anyone running OpenCL or Vulkan workloads. Its 4037 Vulkan score confirms modern API support, and its 18 W TDP makes it suitable for thin-and-light systems, as indicated by its integrated graphics package (IGP) slot width. It also has 2 GB of memory, which is double the HD 6770's 1 GB.

Who should pick the HD 6770? The data does not support this choice for compute performance. However, the HD 6770's 76.80 GB/s bandwidth and 1,360.0 GFLOPS suggest it may handle memory-intensive tasks that are not captured by the OpenCL test. Its 108 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a desktop-oriented card with more thermal headroom.

The R5 M330 also edges out the HD 6770 in the percentile ranking: 25th versus 22nd. This places both in the lower quartile of all GPUs, but the R5 M330 is consistently ahead.

In practical terms, the R5 M330 is the better choice for anyone who cares about compute performance and power efficiency. The HD 6770 is a legacy part from 2011, and its architecture shows its age.

Specification Differences

| Field | AMD Radeon R5 M330 | AMD Radeon HD 6770 |

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

| Chip | Exo | Juniper |

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | TeraScale 2 |

| Generation | Gem System (R5 M300) | Northern Islands (HD 6700) |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 40 nm |

| Transistors | 690 million | 1,040 million |

| Die Size | 56 mm² | 166 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.3M / mm² | 6.3M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 955 MHz | Not specified |

| Boost Clock | 1030 MHz | Not specified |

| Memory Clock | 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective) | 1200 MHz (4.8 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 1024 MB |

| Memory Type | DDR3 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 64 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 14.40 GB/s | 76.80 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 320 | 800 |

| TMUs | 20 | 40 |

| ROPs | 8 | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 8.240 GPixel/s | 13.60 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 20.60 GTexel/s | 34.00 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 659.2 GFLOPS | 1,360.0 GFLOPS |

| TDP | 18 W | 108 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

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

| Suggested PSU | Not specified | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.3a, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.1 |

| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 11.2 (11_0) |

| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.4 |

| Vulkan | 1.2.170 | Not specified |

| Length | Not specified | 198 mm (7.8 inches) |

| Release Date | 2015-05-04 | 2011-01-20 |

| Launch MSRP | Not specified | 129 USD |

Where Each One Wins

AMD Radeon R5 M330 wins in:

• OpenCL compute performance, with a 17.9% lead over the HD 6770.
• Vulkan support: it has a recorded score of 4037, while the HD 6770 has no Vulkan capability.
• Power efficiency: 18 W TDP versus 108 W, making it usable in integrated graphics form factors.
• Memory capacity: 2 GB versus 1 GB, which benefits larger data sets.
• Modern API coverage: DirectX 12 (11_1) and OpenGL 4.6 versus the HD 6770's older DX 11.2 and OpenGL 4.4.
• Transistor density: 12.3M per mm² versus 6.3M, indicating a more advanced manufacturing process.

AMD Radeon HD 6770 wins in:

• Raw memory bandwidth: 76.80 GB/s versus 14.40 GB/s, a 5.3x advantage that could favor bandwidth-heavy tasks.
• Theoretical compute: 1,360.0 GFLOPS versus 659.2 GFLOPS, though this does not translate to OpenCL wins.
• Fill rates: 13.60 GPixel/s and 34.00 GTexel/s versus 8.240 and 20.60 respectively.
• Shader count: 800 versus 320, offering more parallel execution units.
• Bus interface width: PCIe 2.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x8, though the newer protocol may offset this.
• Memory type: GDDR5 versus DDR3, a faster memory standard.

The benchmark data favors the R5 M330 in the one measurable test. The HD 6770's advantages are mostly theoretical, suggesting it may excel in specific legacy workloads but cannot match the newer GPU's overall efficiency and modern API support. For anyone choosing between these two today, the R5 M330 is the data-backed recommendation.