AMD Radeon HD 7770M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Comparison

The AMD Radeon HD 7770M and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER occupy entirely different corners of the GPU landscape, separated by seven years of architecture and a massive gap in raw silicon. The HD 7770M is a 2012-era mobile chip built on a 28 nm process, while the GTX 1660 SUPER is a 2019 desktop card on a 12 nm node. Based solely on the available data, the GTX 1660 SUPER is the decisive winner in every measurable category, but the HD 7770M holds a slight edge in one specific benchmark metric. The data shows a 54th percentile ranking for the HD 7770M compared to a 53rd percentile for the GTX 1660 SUPER, which is a statistical near-tie in overall standing among all GPUs, but the actual performance scores tell a far more lopsided story.

The Verdict

The GTX 1660 SUPER is the clear choice for anyone building or upgrading a desktop system that needs modern gaming performance. Its benchmark scores are overwhelmingly higher across compute, graphics, and API-specific tests, and it offers 6 GB of GDDR6 memory versus the HD 7770M’s 1 GB of GDDR5. The HD 7770M, conversely, is a portable-device part that ships in laptops with a 32 W TDP, making it appropriate only for legacy systems or low-power mobile use where the GTX 1660 SUPER’s 125 W TDP and dual-slot cooler would be impossible. For a desktop builder, the GTX 1660 SUPER is the only rational pick from this pair. For someone maintaining an old laptop, the HD 7770M is what it is—a capable-for-its-era part, but one that the GTX 1660 SUPER outclasses by an order of magnitude in raw throughput. The GeForce card’s launch MSRP was 229 USD, and it remains a far more capable part than the older AMD mobile chip despite the similar percentile rankings.

Architecture Differences

The HD 7770M uses the Chelsea chip under AMD’s GCN 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC with 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. The GTX 1660 SUPER uses the TU116 chip under NVIDIA’s Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process, also at TSMC, with 6,600 million transistors on a 284 mm² die. The transistor density tells a story of progression: the HD 7770M packs 12.2M transistors per mm², while the GTX 1660 SUPER reaches 23.2M per mm². Neither card has ray tracing cores or tensor cores, and both lack dedicated hardware for those features. The HD 7770M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the GTX 1660 SUPER supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The NVIDIA card also has a dual-slot form factor, a single 8-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 300 W, whereas the AMD mobile chip has no slot width, power connector, or PSU recommendation because it is portable-device dependent. The bus interface differs too: PCIe 2.0 x16 for the HD 7770M versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for the GTX 1660 SUPER.

Where Each One Wins

The HD 7770M wins in exactly one benchmark category: the Geekbench Metal test, where it scores 13536 against the GTX 1660 SUPER’s lack of a Metal score in the provided data. That single score also places the HD 7770M at a 54th percentile, which is one point higher than the GTX 1660 SUPER’s 53rd percentile. The GTX 1660 SUPER wins everywhere else. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 52490; in Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 57102. It also posts strong Passmark results: 12699 in G3D, 5076 in GPU compute, and 805 in G2D. The HD 7770M has no corresponding scores in those tests, meaning the GTX 1660 SUPER dominates all cross-API workloads where both are measured. The AMD card’s Metal score is its sole claim to a victory, and that is a narrow one—its nearest rival on that test is the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT at 13543 with a deltaPct of -0.1, so the HD 7770M is essentially tied with that much newer card in Metal. For every other workload, the GTX 1660 SUPER is the only part with data, making it the default winner in OpenCL, Vulkan, and all DirectX and Passmark tests.

FAQ

Q: Is the AMD Radeon HD 7770M faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER?

A: In the only benchmark where both have scores, the HD 7770M scores 13536 in Geekbench Metal, while the GTX 1660 SUPER has no Metal score. In all other listed benchmarks, the GTX 1660 SUPER is the only part with data, and its scores range from 50 in Passmark DirectX 12 to 57102 in Geekbench Vulkan, so the NVIDIA card is faster in every comparable workload.

Q: Which GPU has more memory?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth. The HD 7770M has 1 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 64.00 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA card has six times the memory capacity and over five times the bandwidth.

Q: What is the TDP difference between these two cards?

A: The HD 7770M has a TDP of 32 W, making it suitable for portable devices. The GTX 1660 SUPER has a TDP of 125 W and requires a 300 W suggested PSU, reflecting its desktop-oriented design.

Q: Which card has better API support?

A: The GTX 1660 SUPER supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4, while the HD 7770M supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the NVIDIA card has a more modern DirectX and Vulkan feature set.

Q: Are these cards comparable in transistors?

A: No. The GTX 1660 SUPER has 6,600 million transistors on a 284 mm² die, while the HD 7770M has 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. The NVIDIA card has over four times the transistor count.

Q: Which card has a higher percentile ranking?

A: The HD 7770M ranks at the 54th percentile among all GPUs, while the GTX 1660 SUPER ranks at the 53rd percentile. Despite the GTX 1660 SUPER’s vastly higher benchmark scores, the HD 7770M has a one-point edge in this overall standing metric.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark list is empty, so the comparison relies entirely on the individual benchmark suites. The GTX 1660 SUPER’s Geekbench Vulkan score of 57102 is its highest single measurement, followed by its OpenCL score of 52490. These numbers dwarf the HD 7770M’s only score of 13536 in Geekbench Metal. In Passmark tests, the GTX 1660 SUPER posts 12699 in G3D, 5076 in GPU compute, and 805 in G2D, with DirectX-specific results ranging from 50 in DirectX 12 to 189 in DirectX 9. The HD 7770M has no Passmark scores at all, so it cannot be compared on that suite. The GTX 1660 SUPER also has a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1278, which the HD 7770M lacks. In terms of pixel and texture rates, the GTX 1660 SUPER produces 85.68 GPixel/s and 157.1 GTexel/s, versus 10.80 GPixel/s and 21.60 GTexel/s for the HD 7770M. The FP32 compute is similarly lopsided: 5.027 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card versus 691.2 GFLOPS for the AMD chip. The GTX 1660 SUPER also supports FP16 at 10.05 TFLOPS (2:1), while the HD 7770M has no listed FP16 capability. The GTX 1660 SUPER’s nearest rival on average score is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile at 12940 with a deltaPct of 0.4, while the HD 7770M’s nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT at 13543 with a deltaPct of -0.1. These rival comparisons show the HD 7770M sitting near a much newer flagship in Metal, but that is an isolated result.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every specification. The HD 7770M has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, against 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 48 ROPs for the GTX 1660 SUPER. The clock speeds are not directly comparable because the HD 7770M lists no base or boost clock, only a memory clock of 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective), while the GTX 1660 SUPER has a base clock of 1530 MHz and a boost clock of 1785 MHz with a memory clock of 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). The memory configuration is a major differentiator: 1 GB GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus versus 6 GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus. Bandwidth jumps from 64.00 GB/s to 336.0 GB/s. The process node shrinks from 28 nm to 12 nm, and the die grows from 123 mm² to 284 mm². Transistor count rises from 1,500 million to 6,600 million. The TDP goes from 32 W to 125 W, and the bus interface moves from PCIe 2.0 x16 to PCIe 3.0 x16. The HD 7770M has portable-device-dependent display outputs, while the GTX 1660 SUPER has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. The GTX 1660 SUPER measures 229 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 35 mm in width, while the HD 7770M has no listed dimensions. The release dates are 2012-04-23 for the AMD part and 2019-10-28 for the NVIDIA part, and both are end-of-life. The HD 7770M’s predecessor is Vancouver and its successor is Solar System, while the GTX 1660 SUPER’s predecessor is GeForce 10 and its successor is GeForce 20. The GTX 1660 SUPER has a launch MSRP of 229 USD; the HD 7770M has no launch MSRP listed.