AMD Radeon HD 7770M vs NVIDIA Tesla M2090 Comparison

# AMD Radeon HD 7770M vs NVIDIA Tesla M2090

The AMD Radeon HD 7770M and NVIDIA Tesla M2090 represent two fundamentally different approaches to GPU design from the early 2010s. The data shows a curious matchup: the mobile-oriented AMD part scores 13,536 in Geekbench Metal, while the compute-focused NVIDIA accelerator scores 13,075 in Geekbench OpenCL. Despite their different test suites, their overall benchmark scores land them within 3.5% of each other — a remarkable convergence for products built on opposite ends of the GPU spectrum. The HD 7770M sits at the 54th percentile of all GPUs, while the Tesla M2090 rests at the 53rd, making their overall performance essentially neck-and-neck in the database's rankings. However, the underlying architectures, memory subsystems, and power envelopes tell a far more complex story than the raw scores suggest.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data reveals no direct head-to-head tests between these two GPUs, as each was evaluated using a different benchmark suite. The AMD Radeon HD 7770M was tested with Geekbench Metal, scoring 13,536, while the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 was tested with Geekbench OpenCL, scoring 13,075. This difference of 461 points (approximately 3.5%) is notable, but the different test methodologies make direct comparison imperfect.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each card provides valuable context. The HD 7770M's score of 13,536 places it just 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (13,543) — a staggeringly close margin for a mobile chip from 2012 facing a modern desktop flagship. It edges out the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 (13,515) by 0.2%, the NVIDIA P106-090 (13,470) by 0.5%, and the AMD Radeon Pro 555 (13,407) by 1%. These margins are remarkably tight, suggesting the HD 7770M delivers performance competitive with much more recent hardware in the Metal API.

The Tesla M2090's OpenCL score of 13,075 tells a similar story. It sits 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (12,986), which is a much newer consumer card. It trails the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 (13,189) by 0.9%, but leads the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Mobile (12,940) by 1% and the AMD Radeon RX 580 (12,928) by 1.1%. The Tesla M2090's compute-oriented architecture clearly holds its own against gaming-focused cards from later generations, even in a general-purpose compute benchmark.

The head-to-head benchmark list is empty, and the win counts show zero victories for each card. This means the database contains no direct comparison data, and the rivalry must be inferred from the individual benchmark scores and their relative positions against shared competitors.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon HD 7770M wins in raw benchmark score territory. Its 13,536 Metal score exceeds the Tesla M2090's 13,075 OpenCL score by 461 points, a 3.5% advantage. In terms of percentile ranking, the HD 7770M's 54th percentile edges out the Tesla M2090's 53rd percentile, reinforcing the AMD card's slight overall performance lead in the database's aggregate metrics.

The HD 7770M also wins decisively in efficiency metrics. Its 32 W TDP represents a tiny fraction of the Tesla M2090's 250 W TDP, meaning the AMD card delivers comparable benchmark performance while consuming approximately 87% less power. The HD 7770M achieves its 691.2 GFLOPS of FP32 performance at that 32 W envelope, while the Tesla M2090 delivers 1,332.2 GFLOPS at 250 W. When normalized, the HD 7770M produces about 21.6 GFLOPS per watt, versus roughly 5.3 GFLOPS per watt for the Tesla M2090 — a fourfold efficiency advantage for the AMD part.

The NVIDIA Tesla M2090 wins in absolute compute throughput. Its 1,332.2 GFLOPS of FP32 performance is nearly double the HD 7770M's 691.2 GFLOPS. The Tesla M2090 also dominates in memory bandwidth at 177.4 GB/s versus 64.00 GB/s, a 2.77x advantage. Its 6 GB of GDDR5 memory dwarfs the HD 7770M's 1 GB, making the Tesla card far better suited for large datasets. The Tesla M2090's 384-bit memory bus versus the HD 7770M's 128-bit bus further emphasizes its compute-oriented design.

The Tesla M2090 also wins on texture and pixel throughput. Its 41.66 GTexel/s texture rate is 1.93x the HD 7770M's 21.60 GTexel/s, and its 20.83 GPixel/s pixel rate is 1.93x the AMD card's 10.80 GPixel/s. These figures reflect the Tesla M2090's 64 TMUs and 48 ROPs, versus 32 TMUs and 16 ROPs on the HD 7770M.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split: the AMD Radeon HD 7770M is the choice for efficiency-sensitive mobile workloads where Metal API performance matters and power consumption is a constraint. Its 32 W TDP makes it suitable for portable devices, and its benchmark score of 13,536 demonstrates that low power does not necessarily mean low performance. The HD 7770M's 54th percentile ranking, sitting alongside the RX 9070 XT within 0.1%, suggests this mobile chip punches well above its weight class.

The NVIDIA Tesla M2090 is the choice for compute-heavy workloads that demand maximum FP32 throughput, large memory capacity, and high bandwidth. Its 1,332.2 GFLOPS of compute performance, 6 GB of memory, and 177.4 GB/s bandwidth make it a dedicated compute accelerator. The 250 W TDP and dual-slot form factor with 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors indicate this is a workstation or server component, not a portable solution.

Users who need a GPU for a laptop or compact system should select the AMD Radeon HD 7770M. Users building a compute node with available power and space should select the NVIDIA Tesla M2090. The Tesla M2090's lack of display outputs confirms its purpose as a pure compute accelerator, while the HD 7770M's "Portable Device Dependent" display outputs show its flexibility for mobile graphics.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7770M scores 13,536 in Geekbench Metal, while the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 scores 13,075 in Geekbench OpenCL. The HD 7770M leads by 461 points, or approximately 3.5%.

Q: How do these GPUs compare to modern hardware?

A: The HD 7770M sits 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570. The Tesla M2090 is 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER and 1.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 580.

Q: Which GPU has more memory?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M2090 has 6 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, while the AMD Radeon HD 7770M has 1 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus. The Tesla M2090 provides 177.4 GB/s bandwidth versus 64.00 GB/s for the HD 7770M.

Q: What are the power consumption figures?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7770M has a 32 W TDP, while the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 has a 250 W TDP. The Tesla M2090 requires a 600 W suggested PSU and uses 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors.

Q: Which GPU is better for compute workloads?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M2090 provides 1,332.2 GFLOPS of FP32 performance, nearly double the HD 7770M's 691.2 GFLOPS. Its larger memory capacity and higher bandwidth make it better suited for data-intensive compute tasks.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same APIs?

A: Both support DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.6. The HD 7770M supports Vulkan 1.2.170, while the Tesla M2090 does not list Vulkan support. The HD 7770M's DirectX support is 12 (11_1), while the Tesla M2090 is 12 (11_0).

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon HD 7770M uses the Chelsea chip based on GCN 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.2 million per mm². The chip belongs to the London generation (HD 7700M series) and was released on 2012-04-23. Its predecessor is Vancouver and its successor is Solar System.

The NVIDIA Tesla M2090 uses the GF110 chip based on Fermi 2.0 architecture, also manufactured at TSMC but on a larger 40 nm process. It contains 3,000 million transistors on a 520 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 5.8 million per mm². The chip belongs to the Tesla Fermi generation (x20xx series) and was released on 2011-07-24. Its predecessor is Tesla and its successor is Tesla Kepler.

The process node difference is significant: 28 nm versus 40 nm. Despite the Tesla M2090 having twice the transistor count (3,000 million versus 1,500 million), the HD 7770M achieves higher transistor density (12.2M/mm² versus 5.8M/mm²) thanks to the smaller process node. This architectural generation gap explains why the HD 7770M can deliver competitive benchmark performance at a fraction of the power.

Both GPUs use GDDR5 memory, but with different configurations. The HD 7770M operates memory at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective), while the Tesla M2090 runs at 924 MHz (3.7 Gbps effective). The Tesla M2090's wider 384-bit bus compensates for its lower clock speed, resulting in much higher bandwidth.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every specification category. The AMD Radeon HD 7770M has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, while the NVIDIA Tesla M2090 also has 512 shading units but doubles the TMUs to 64 and triples the ROPs to 48. This gives the Tesla M2090 higher pixel and texture throughput.

Memory configurations differ substantially: 1 GB versus 6 GB, 128-bit versus 384-bit bus, and 64.00 GB/s versus 177.4 GB/s bandwidth. The memory clock also differs, with the HD 7770M at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective) and the Tesla M2090 at 924 MHz (3.7 Gbps effective).

FP32 compute performance shows the Tesla M2090 at 1,332.2 GFLOPS versus 691.2 GFLOPS for the HD 7770M. Pixel rate is 20.83 GPixel/s versus 10.80 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 41.66 GTexel/s versus 21.60 GTexel/s.

Power and physical specifications diverge sharply: 32 W TDP versus 250 W TDP. The Tesla M2090 is a dual-slot card measuring 248 mm (9.8 inches) in length, requiring 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connectors and a 600 W suggested PSU. The HD 7770M has no listed slot width, power connectors, or dimensions, consistent with its mobile design.

Display outputs also differ: the HD 7770M has "Portable Device Dependent" outputs, while the Tesla M2090 has no outputs at all. The HD 7770M supports Vulkan 1.2.170, while the Tesla M2090 lists no Vulkan support. The HD 7770M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), while the Tesla M2090 supports DirectX 12 (11_0). Both use PCIe 2.0 x16 interfaces.