AMD Radeon HD 7730M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M and AMD Radeon HD 7730M are both end-of-life mobile GPUs from 2012, but they occupy very different performance tiers. The data shows that the GTX 680M decisively outperforms the HD 7730M in the only shared benchmark, with a 40.3% lead in Geekbench OpenCL. However, the Radeon’s much lower power draw and different architectural priorities make it a viable choice for specific, power-constrained scenarios. This analysis breaks down exactly where each part wins and who should consider them.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark between these two GPUs is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is not close. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M scores 9,230 points, while the AMD Radeon HD 7730M scores 6,581 points. That is a delta of 40.3% in favor of the GTX 680M. In practical terms, this means the NVIDIA part delivers roughly 1.4 times the compute throughput of the AMD part in this workload. For OpenCL applications that scale well with raw shader count and memory bandwidth, this gap will translate into proportionally faster execution times.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the GTX 680M’s average benchmark score is 7,023, which places it at the 39th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals, the NVIDIA T600 and GeForce GTX 970, score 7,035 and 7,157 respectively, putting the 680M within 0.2% and 1.9% of those parts. The 680M also sits just 1.1% above its direct predecessor, the GeForce GTX 675M, which scores 6,946. This positioning shows that the 680M is a solid mid-range performer, not a flagship, but comfortably ahead of the entry-level pack.

The HD 7730M, by contrast, has an average benchmark score of 6,581 and sits at the 38th percentile. Its nearest rivals are a mixed bag: the Intel UHD Graphics P750 scores 6,554 (0.4% behind), the AMD Radeon R7 M460 scores 6,612 (0.5% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M scores 6,513 (1% behind). The HD 7730M also edges out the older GeForce GT 555M by 1.4%. What this tells us is that the HD 7730M is essentially at parity with several other low-power and integrated-class GPUs, whereas the GTX 680M is competing in a higher performance bracket.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 680M wins the compute benchmark outright, but its advantage is rooted in a vastly larger hardware configuration. It has 1,344 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, compared to the HD 7730M’s 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. This translates to a peak FP32 throughput of 2.038 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA part versus 691.2 GFLOPS for the AMD part. The pixel rate also favors the GTX 680M at 21.22 GPixel/s versus 10.80 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 84.90 GTexel/s versus 21.60 GTexel/s. In any workload that is shader-bound, texture-bound, or fill-rate-bound, the GTX 680M will be the clear winner.

Memory is another decisive factor. The GTX 680M has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth. The HD 7730M has 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus, yielding just 28.80 GB/s. That is a 4x difference in memory bandwidth. For modern games or compute tasks that stream large textures or datasets, this bandwidth deficit will severely bottleneck the AMD part, even if its core clock were higher.

The HD 7730M’s only clear win is power consumption. Its TDP is 25 W, compared to the GTX 680M’s 100 W. That is a 75% reduction in power draw. In a thin-and-light laptop with limited cooling and battery capacity, the HD 7730M is far more usable. It also uses a standard PCIe 2.0 x16 interface, while the GTX 680M uses an MXM-B (3.0) module, which is a larger and less common form factor. For system integrators targeting compact or low-power designs, the HD 7730M is the only practical choice between these two.

The Verdict

Strictly from the data, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M is the superior GPU for almost any performance-oriented task. It wins the only head-to-head benchmark by 40.3%, has 4x the memory bandwidth, and delivers nearly 3x the FP32 compute throughput. Its average benchmark score of 7,023 places it near the NVIDIA T600 and GeForce GTX 970, which are both respectable desktop-class parts. If you need a GPU for gaming, 3D rendering, or any compute-heavy workload on a laptop, the GTX 680M is the obvious pick.

The AMD Radeon HD 7730M should only be chosen when power efficiency is the top priority. With a TDP of 25 W, it draws one-quarter the power of the GTX 680M, making it suitable for ultraportable laptops or devices without active cooling. Its performance, however, is firmly in the entry-level tier. It trades blows with integrated graphics like the Intel UHD Graphics P750 and low-end discrete parts like the Radeon R7 M460. If you are building a laptop that must run all day on battery and only needs light graphics acceleration, the HD 7730M is acceptable. For anything else, the GTX 680M is the only rational choice.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M scores 9,230 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 40.3% higher than the AMD Radeon HD 7730M’s score of 6,581.

Q: How much memory bandwidth do these GPUs have?

A: The GTX 680M has 115.2 GB/s of bandwidth from 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus. The HD 7730M has 28.80 GB/s from 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The GTX 680M has a TDP of 100 W, while the HD 7730M has a TDP of 25 W. That makes the AMD part 75 W lower in power consumption.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The GTX 680M has 1,344 shading units, while the HD 7730M has 512 shading units. The NVIDIA part also has 112 TMUs and 32 ROPs versus 32 TMUs and 16 ROPs on the AMD part.

Q: How do these compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 680M is within 0.2% of the NVIDIA T600 and 1.9% of the GeForce GTX 970. The HD 7730M is within 0.4% of the Intel UHD Graphics P750 and 0.5% of the AMD Radeon R7 M460.

Q: Which API versions do they support?

A: Both support DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.6. The GTX 680M supports Vulkan 1.2.175, and the HD 7730M supports Vulkan 1.2.170.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectures. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M is built on the Kepler architecture, specifically the GK104 chip. Kepler was designed for high shader throughput and efficient geometry processing, which explains the large 1,344-shader count. The chip is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. The transistor density is 12.0 million per mm². The HD 7730M uses AMD’s GCN 1.0 architecture on the Chelsea chip. GCN 1.0 was designed for compute-heavy workloads, but the Chelsea chip is much smaller, with 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, giving a density of 12.2 million per mm². Both use the same 28 nm TSMC process, but the NVIDIA chip is more than twice the die size.

The memory subsystem is also architecturally distinct. The GTX 680M uses GDDR5 memory with a 256-bit interface, while the HD 7730M uses DDR3 with a 128-bit interface. This is not just a bandwidth difference; GDDR5 typically offers lower latency and better power efficiency at high clocks. The GTX 680M’s memory clock is 900 MHz (3.6 Gbps effective), while the HD 7730M’s is also 900 MHz but only 1800 Mbps effective, reflecting the DDR3 standard.

The bus interface differs as well. The GTX 680M uses an MXM-B (3.0) module, which is a standardized mobile PCIe form factor for upgradeable laptop GPUs. The HD 7730M uses a standard PCIe 2.0 x16 interface, which is more typical of smaller, soldered mobile chips. Neither GPU has ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as they predate those features.

Specification Differences

The most glaring difference is in the compute units. The GTX 680M has 1,344 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The HD 7730M has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. This 2.6x difference in shader count and 3.5x difference in TMUs directly explains the performance gap. The clock speeds are also different: the GTX 680M runs at a base of 719 MHz and boosts to 758 MHz, while the HD 7730M runs at a base of 575 MHz and boosts to 675 MHz. The NVIDIA part has a higher base clock and a higher boost clock.

Memory capacity and type diverge sharply. The GTX 680M has 4 GB of GDDR5, while the HD 7730M has 2 GB of DDR3. The bus width is 256-bit versus 128-bit, and bandwidth is 115.2 GB/s versus 28.80 GB/s. The FP32 compute throughput is 2.038 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA part versus 691.2 GFLOPS for the AMD part. Pixel rate is 21.22 GPixel/s versus 10.80 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 84.90 GTexel/s versus 21.60 GTexel/s.

Power and interface are the remaining differences. The GTX 680M has a 100 W TDP, is an MXM module, and has no power connectors. The HD 7730M has a 25 W TDP, uses PCIe 2.0 x16, and the spec sheet lists no power connectors. Both are end-of-life products, with the HD 7730M releasing slightly earlier in 2012. The GTX 680M’s predecessor is the GeForce 500M, and its successor is the GeForce 700M. The HD 7730M’s predecessor is Vancouver, and its successor is Solar System.