AMD Radeon HD 7730M vs NVIDIA Quadro P5000 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the NVIDIA Quadro P5000 compare to the AMD Radeon HD 7730M in OpenCL performance?

A: The Quadro P5000 scores 52,509 in the Geekbench OpenCL test, while the Radeon HD 7730M scores 6,581. This gives the Quadro P5000 a 697.9% advantage, the only benchmark where both cards have recorded scores.

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

A: The Quadro P5000 has an average benchmark score of 8,039 across ten recorded tests, while the Radeon HD 7730M has an average score of 6,581 from a single OpenCL test. The P5000 sits at the 41st percentile of all GPUs, and the HD 7730M is at the 38th percentile.

Q: Which cards are the nearest rivals to the Quadro P5000?

A: The P5000’s closest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M (average score 8,040, 0% delta), GeForce GTX 650 Ti (8,053, -0.2%), GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (8,067, -0.3%), and NVIDIA GRID K2 (8,080, -0.5%). The P5000 trails those cards by a fraction of a percent.

Q: Which cards are the nearest rivals to the Radeon HD 7730M?

A: The HD 7730M’s closest rivals are the Intel UHD Graphics P750 (6,554, 0.4% ahead of the HD 7730M), AMD Radeon R7 M460 (6,612, -0.5%), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (6,513, 1%), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M (6,493, 1.4%).

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The Quadro P5000 has 16 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 256-bit bus with 288.5 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon HD 7730M has 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus with 28.80 GB/s bandwidth.

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

A: The Quadro P5000 has a TDP of 180 W and requires a dual-slot cooler with a single 8-pin power connector and a 450 W suggested PSU. The Radeon HD 7730M has a TDP of 25 W and lists no power connectors or suggested PSU, as it is designed for portable devices.

The Verdict

The data presents two cards from different eras and use cases. The NVIDIA Quadro P5000 is a professional workstation GPU built on the Pascal architecture, while the AMD Radeon HD 7730M is a low-power mobile part from the GCN 1.0 generation.

For anyone choosing between these two for compute-heavy workloads, the verdict is unambiguous. The Quadro P5000 leads the only shared benchmark by 697.9%, a margin that dwarfs any other comparison in the database. Its average benchmark score of 8,039 versus 6,581 for the HD 7730M reflects a card that is in a completely different performance class. The P5000 also holds a 41st percentile ranking versus the HD 7730M’s 38th, confirming that even among all GPUs, the P5000 sits higher.

The Radeon HD 7730M, by contrast, is best suited for scenarios where power consumption is the dominant constraint. At 25 W TDP, it draws a fraction of the P5000’s 180 W, and it requires no external power connectors or specific PSU recommendation. Its 28 nm process and 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die make it a compact, efficient part for mobile systems, but the benchmark results show it is not competitive with the P5000 in raw performance.

The P5000 is the pick for professional 3D rendering, scientific compute, or any task that leverages its 16 GB GDDR5X frame buffer and 8.873 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput. The HD 7730M is the pick for a legacy laptop where low heat and minimal power draw matter more than speed. There is no scenario in the recorded data where the HD 7730M wins a performance comparison; the only advantage it holds is efficiency, and even that is qualitative rather than a direct measured metric.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only head-to-head benchmark in the database is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and it is a decisive win for the NVIDIA Quadro P5000. The P5000 scores 52,509, while the AMD Radeon HD 7730M scores 6,581. This is a delta of 697.9%, meaning the P5000 delivers nearly eight times the OpenCL compute performance of the HD 7730M. For context, the HD 7730M’s nearest rival, the Intel UHD Graphics P750, scores 6,554, a 0.4% gap. The P5000’s nearest rival, the GTX 880M, scores 8,040, a 0% delta. The gap between the two cards in this test is orders of magnitude larger than the gaps between either card and its own nearest competitors.

The P5000 also shows strength across its broader benchmark suite, which includes ten tests. Its highest individual scores are 12,634 in Passmark G3D, 6,508 in Passmark GPU Compute, and 674 in Passmark G2D. It scores 170 in Passmark DirectX 9, 102 in Passmark DirectX 11, 77 in Passmark DirectX 10, and 44 in Passmark DirectX 12. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it records 1,330, and in Geekbench Vulkan, 6,342. The HD 7730M has no recorded scores in any of these tests, so the P5000’s dominance cannot be challenged outside OpenCL.

The P5000’s average benchmark score of 8,039 is 22.2% higher than the HD 7730M’s 6,581. While the average is pulled down by the P5000’s lower DirectX scores (44 in DX12, 77 in DX10), those same tests show the card’s range: it is built for compute and professional workloads, not necessarily legacy API rasterization. The HD 7730M’s single score offers no such range, making any comparison beyond OpenCL speculative.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The Quadro P5000 uses a 16 nm process, while the HD 7730M uses 28 nm. Both are fabricated by TSMC, but the P5000 packs 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die, versus 1,500 million on 123 mm² for the HD 7730M. Transistor density is 22.9M per mm² for the P5000 and 12.2M per mm² for the HD 7730M.

Clock speeds are vastly different. The P5000 runs at a base clock of 1607 MHz and a boost clock of 1733 MHz. The HD 7730M runs at 575 MHz base and 675 MHz boost. Memory clocks also differ: the P5000 uses 1127 MHz with 9 Gbps effective, while the HD 7730M uses 900 MHz with 1800 Mbps effective.

Memory capacity and type are major differentiators. The P5000 has 16 GB of GDDR5X on a 256-bit bus, delivering 288.5 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 10x difference in bandwidth and an 8x difference in capacity.

Compute resources follow the same pattern. The P5000 has 2,560 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The HD 7730M has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. Pixel rate is 110.9 GPixel/s for the P5000 versus 10.80 GPixel/s for the HD 7730M. Texture rate is 277.3 GTexel/s versus 21.60 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 8.873 TFLOPS versus 691.2 GFLOPS. The P5000 also has a recorded FP16 rate of 138.6 GFLOPS (1:64), while the HD 7730M has no FP16 listing.

Power and physical requirements diverge sharply. The P5000 has a 180 W TDP, a dual-slot cooler, one 8-pin power connector, and a 450 W suggested PSU. It measures 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height. The HD 7730M has a 25 W TDP, no slot width, no power connectors, no suggested PSU, and no listed dimensions. The P5000 uses PCIe 3.0 x16; the HD 7730M uses PCIe 2.0 x16. Display outputs are 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.4a for the P5000, while the HD 7730M lists only "Portable Device Dependent."

API support also differs. The P5000 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The HD 7730M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both are end-of-life products, and neither has RT cores or tensor cores.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA Quadro P5000 is built on the Pascal architecture, using the GP104 chip. It belongs to the Quadro Pascal generation (Px000). The AMD Radeon HD 7730M uses the GCN 1.0 architecture with the Chelsea chip, part of the London (HD 7700M) generation. These are fundamentally different GPU designs separated by four years of development, with the P5000 releasing in 2016 and the HD 7730M in 2012.

The process node difference is significant: 16 nm for the P5000 versus 28 nm for the HD 7730M. This allows the P5000 to fit 7,200 million transistors into 314 mm², while the HD 7730M fits only 1,500 million into 123 mm². Transistor density is nearly double on the P5000, at 22.9M per mm² versus 12.2M per mm². The smaller node and denser packing enable the P5000’s much higher clock speeds and compute throughput.

Cache and memory architecture also reflect the generational gap. The P5000 uses GDDR5X, a high-bandwidth memory type that was current in 2016, while the HD 7730M uses DDR3, a memory type common in low-power mobile designs. The P5000’s 256-bit memory bus is double the HD 7730M’s 128-bit bus, and its 288.5 GB/s bandwidth is roughly ten times the HD 7730M’s 28.80 GB/s. The P5000 supports PCIe 3.0, while the HD 7730M is limited to PCIe 2.0.

Feature support shows the architectural evolution. The P5000 supports DirectX 12_1, the higher tier of DX12 feature levels, while the HD 7730M supports only 11_1. Vulkan support is also newer on the P5000, at version 1.4 versus 1.2.170. The P5000 has FP16 capability (138.6 GFLOPS at a 1:64 ratio), while the HD 7730M has no FP16 listing, indicating a lack of dedicated half-precision support.

The predecessor and successor lineages differ as well. The P5000 follows Quadro Maxwell and leads to Quadro Volta. The HD 7730M follows the Vancouver generation and leads to Solar System. These are distinct product lines with different design goals: the P5000 is a workstation-class part, while the HD 7730M is a mobile efficiency part. The 180 W TDP of the P5000 versus the 25 W TDP of the HD 7730M underscores this divide. The architecture differences explain why the P5000 dominates in compute benchmarks and why the HD 7730M remains relevant only in power-constrained scenarios.