AMD Radeon HD 7730M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only common benchmark recorded for both parts is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is heavily one-sided. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost scores 9302, while the AMD Radeon HD 7730M manages 6581. That puts the NVIDIA part 41.3% ahead in raw compute throughput. In this single measured discipline, the GTX 650 Ti Boost takes the win, leaving the HD 7730M with no benchmark victories in the comparison.

Looking at the broader database context, the GTX 650 Ti Boost sits in the 42nd percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 8067 across multiple tests. Its closest rivals confirm the picture: the NVIDIA GRID K2 scores 8080 (0.2% higher), the GeForce GTX 650 Ti scores 8053 (0.2% lower), the GeForce GTX 880M scores 8040 (0.3% lower), and the Quadro P5000 scores 8039 (0.3% lower). So the GTX 650 Ti Boost is essentially in a tight cluster where a few points separate four near-identical performers. The OpenCL win over the HD 7730M, however, is not a close margin; it is a decisive gap.

The AMD Radeon HD 7730M, by contrast, ranks in the 38th percentile, with an average benchmark score of 6581. Its nearest rivals are much lower-powered parts: the Intel UHD Graphics P750 scores 6554 (0.4% lower), the AMD Radeon R7 M460 scores 6612 (0.5% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M scores 6513 (1% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M scores 6493 (1.4% lower). The HD 7730M sits among integrated and older mobile GPUs, which tells you where its performance ceiling lies. Its 41.3% deficit to the GTX 650 Ti Boost in OpenCL is consistent with that positioning.

What the head-to-head data does not show is any Vulkan or Metal comparison, because the HD 7730M has no recorded scores in those tests. The GTX 650 Ti Boost has Geekbench Vulkan at 10041 and Geekbench Metal at 4858, but without a counterpart score from the AMD part, those numbers cannot be used for a direct comparison. The only apples-to-apples metric is OpenCL, and there the result is unambiguous.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the only direct benchmark comparison?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost wins Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 9302 against the AMD Radeon HD 7730M's 6581, a 41.3% advantage.

Q: How does the GTX 650 Ti Boost compare to its nearest rivals?

A: Its average benchmark score is 8067. It trails the NVIDIA GRID K2 by 0.2%, leads the GeForce GTX 650 Ti by 0.2%, leads the GeForce GTX 880M by 0.3%, and leads the Quadro P5000 by 0.3%. The group is separated by less than a percentage point.

Q: Where does the HD 7730M sit relative to its own competitor set?

A: The HD 7730M's average score is 6581. It leads the Intel UHD Graphics P750 by 0.4%, trails the AMD Radeon R7 M460 by 0.5%, leads the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M by 1%, and leads the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M by 1.4%. All rivals are within 1.4% either way.

Q: Does the HD 7730M have any benchmark win against the GTX 650 Ti Boost?

A: No. In the recorded head-to-head data, the GTX 650 Ti Boost wins the only shared test (Geekbench OpenCL), giving it 1 win and the HD 7730M 0 wins.

Q: What other benchmark scores exist for the GTX 650 Ti Boost?

A: The GTX 650 Ti Boost also has Geekbench Vulkan at 10041 and Geekbench Metal at 4858. The HD 7730M has no recorded scores in either test, so no comparison is possible there.

Q: What is the percentile ranking for each GPU?

A: The GTX 650 Ti Boost ranks in the 42nd percentile among all GPUs, while the HD 7730M ranks in the 38th percentile.

The Verdict

The data is clear: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost is the faster part. Its 41.3% OpenCL lead over the AMD Radeon HD 7730M is a wide margin, and its 42nd percentile standing versus the HD 7730M's 38th percentile reinforces that gap. Anyone choosing between these two strictly on benchmark performance should pick the GTX 650 Ti Boost.

The HD 7730M is not without context, though. Its nearest rivals are integrated graphics and older mobile parts, which means it occupies a much lower performance tier. The GTX 650 Ti Boost, by contrast, trades blows with workstation and high-end mobile GPUs like the GRID K2 and GTX 880M, all within 0.3% of each other. That places the NVIDIA part in a completely different performance class.

For a desktop user who wants maximum compute throughput, the GTX 650 Ti Boost is the obvious choice. For a laptop user constrained by power and space, the HD 7730M is the only option in this pairing that fits a mobile form factor, but the performance sacrifice is substantial. There is no scenario in the recorded data where the HD 7730M comes out ahead.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every hardware specification. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost uses a GK106 chip on a 221 mm² die with 2,540 million transistors, while the AMD Radeon HD 7730M uses a Chelsea chip on a 123 mm² die with 1,500 million transistors. Both are built on the same 28 nm TSMC process, but the transistor densities differ slightly: 11.5M per mm² for NVIDIA versus 12.2M per mm² for AMD.

Clock speeds are far apart. The GTX 650 Ti Boost runs at a base of 980 MHz and a boost of 1032 MHz, with memory at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective). The HD 7730M runs at a base of 575 MHz and a boost of 675 MHz, with memory at 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective). The NVIDIA part has 768 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, versus the AMD part's 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs.

Memory configuration also diverges. The GTX 650 Ti Boost has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 144.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The HD 7730M has 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 28.80 GB/s. That is a fivefold difference in memory bandwidth.

Rates and throughput follow the same pattern. The GTX 650 Ti Boost achieves 16.51 GPixel/s pixel rate, 66.05 GTexel/s texture rate, and 1.585 TFLOPS FP32. The HD 7730M achieves 10.80 GPixel/s, 21.60 GTexel/s, and 691.2 GFLOPS FP32.

Power and physical characteristics differ as well. The GTX 650 Ti Boost has a TDP of 134 W, is dual-slot, requires a 1x 6-pin power connector, and suggests a 300 W PSU. It measures 241 mm (9.5 inches) in length. The HD 7730M has a TDP of 25 W, no listed slot width, no power connectors, no suggested PSU, and no dimensions, since it is a mobile part with "Portable Device Dependent" display outputs.

The bus interface also differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 on the NVIDIA part versus PCIe 2.0 x16 on the AMD part. Display outputs are 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2 for the GTX 650 Ti Boost, while the HD 7730M relies on portable device dependent outputs. API support is similar but not identical: both support DirectX 12 (with different feature levels, 11_0 for NVIDIA and 11_1 for AMD), both support OpenGL 4.6, and both support Vulkan, with NVIDIA at 1.2.175 and AMD at 1.2.170.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two parts is significant. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost is built on the Kepler architecture, using the GK106 chip, and belongs to the GeForce 600 generation. Its predecessor is the GeForce 500 series and its successor is the GeForce 700 series. The AMD Radeon HD 7730M is built on GCN 1.0, using the Chelsea chip, and belongs to the London (HD 7700M) generation. Its predecessor is Vancouver and its successor is Solar System.

Kepler is NVIDIA's architecture that emphasizes efficiency through a large number of small cores, and the GTX 650 Ti Boost's 768 shading units reflect that design approach. The chip has 2,540 million transistors packed into 221 mm², which is a lower density than AMD's part but a much larger overall die. The 192-bit memory bus and GDDR5 memory are hallmarks of a mid-range desktop part from that era, and the 6 Gbps effective memory speed gives it a very wide bandwidth advantage.

GCN 1.0, AMD's Graphics Core Next architecture, was designed with compute workloads in mind, using a different scheduling model than Kepler. The HD 7730M's Chelsea chip has 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, making it smaller and denser per square millimeter. The 128-bit DDR3 memory bus is a major bottleneck, however, and the 575 MHz base clock is low even for a mobile part. The 25 W TDP indicates a design optimized for battery life and thermal limits, not for raw throughput.

The feature sets differ in ways that matter for real-world use. The GTX 650 Ti Boost has a dual-slot cooler, a 6-pin power connector, and a recommended 300 W PSU, which means it is designed for a desktop chassis with adequate power delivery. The HD 7730M has no such requirements, being a mobile GPU soldered into a laptop. The NVIDIA part's PCIe 3.0 interface doubles the bandwidth of the AMD part's PCIe 2.0 connection, though the HD 7730M's smaller memory bus would limit any benefit from a faster interface.

In terms of compute capability, the FP32 throughput tells the story: 1.585 TFLOPS for the GTX 650 Ti Boost versus 691.2 GFLOPS for the HD 7730M. That is more than twice the raw compute, which explains the 41.3% OpenCL benchmark gap. The pixel rate and texture rate also favor NVIDIA by roughly 2x and 3x, respectively. None of the architectural differences favor AMD in this pairing, and the recorded data confirms that the HD 7730M is a lower-tier part in every measurable way.