AMD Radeon HD 7790 vs AMD Radeon RX 7600S Comparison

The AMD Radeon HD 7790 and the AMD Radeon RX 7600S represent two very different eras of graphics technology, separated by a decade of architectural evolution. The HD 7790 is an end-of-life desktop part from the Southern Islands generation, built for 2013-era gaming, while the RX 7600S is an active mobile solution from the RDNA 3.0 lineup, designed for modern laptops. The data shows a massive generational gap, but the HD 7790 still holds a unique position in benchmark scores due to the specific tests measured.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark results paint a clear picture of specialization. The AMD Radeon HD 7790 achieves its single recorded benchmark score in Geekbench Metal, posting 17,666 points. This places it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, putting it statistically neck-and-neck with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, which scores 17,639 (a 0.2% difference). This is remarkable for a card from 2013, suggesting its Metal API performance is its primary strength in the modern testing landscape.

The AMD Radeon RX 7600S, by contrast, wins decisively in raw compute and modern API workloads, but its average benchmark score of 16,696 is dragged down by a diverse set of tests. Its strongest results come from Geekbench Vulkan at 73,868 points and Geekbench OpenCL at 68,012 points, showing it excels in cross-platform compute tasks. The RX 7600S also dominates in DirectX 9 legacy performance with a Passmark score of 211, which is its highest single-test result. For modern gaming, however, the data is less flattering; its Passmark DirectX 12 score is only 65, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 1,888, indicating that while it has the hardware for advanced features, the specific benchmark load may not favor it. The HD 7790 wins on the single Geekbench Metal metric, while the RX 7600S wins on every other benchmark category where data exists.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is stark and explains their performance profiles. The HD 7790 uses the Bonaire chip, built on GCN 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 2,080 million transistors into a 160 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 13.0M per mm². In contrast, the RX 7600S uses the Navi 33 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture, built on a 6 nm process, also at TSMC. This newer node allows for 13,300 million transistors in a 204 mm² die, achieving a dramatically higher density of 65.2M per mm².

Core configurations differ substantially. The HD 7790 has 896 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and only 16 ROPs. The RX 7600S doubles the shading units to 1,792, doubles the TMUs to 112, and quadruples the ROPs to 64. Crucially, the RX 7600S introduces 28 ray tracing cores, a feature completely absent from the older GCN 2.0 design. Memory technology also evolved: the HD 7790 uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus for 96.00 GB/s bandwidth, while the RX 7600S uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on the same 128-bit bus, but achieves 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7600S also supports a wider API set, including DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the HD 7790 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170.

The Verdict

The data indicates that these are not competing products but rather solutions for different problems. If your workload is specifically tied to the Geekbench Metal API, the HD 7790 is the surprising winner, sitting within 0.7% of the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000. It offers a specific niche performance that the newer card cannot match in that single test. However, for any general-purpose computing, modern graphics API support, or higher-resolution texture workloads, the RX 7600S is the clear choice.

The RX 7600S demonstrates its superiority in raw throughput with 15.77 TFLOPS FP32 performance versus the HD 7790's 1.792 TFLOPS. Its pixel rate of 140.8 GPixel/s and texture rate of 246.4 GTexel/s dwarf the HD 7790's 16.00 GPixel/s and 56.00 GTexel/s. The RX 7600S also has the advantage of being an active product with modern driver support, while the HD 7790 is end-of-life. Ultimately, the HD 7790 is a curiosity for Metal-specific benchmarks, but the RX 7600S is the practical choice for anyone needing a capable mobile GPU with ray tracing support and 8 GB of memory.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7790 has a higher average benchmark score of 17,666, compared to the RX 7600S's average of 16,696. This is because the HD 7790 has only one benchmark result, while the RX 7600S has ten, including some lower-scoring legacy tests.

Q: Does the RX 7600S support ray tracing?

A: Yes, the RX 7600S includes 28 ray tracing cores, a feature completely absent from the HD 7790. This allows it to support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) features.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have?

A: The HD 7790 has 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory, while the RX 7600S has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. Both use a 128-bit memory bus.

Q: What is the performance difference in Vulkan compute?

A: The RX 7600S scores 73,868 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the HD 7790 has no recorded Vulkan benchmark. The RX 7600S also scores 68,012 in Geekbench OpenCL, showing strong compute performance.

Q: Which GPU is more power-efficient per the data?

A: The RX 7600S has a lower TDP of 75 W, compared to the HD 7790's 85 W. Despite this, the RX 7600S delivers significantly higher performance, indicating better architectural efficiency.

Q: What are the production statuses of these GPUs?

A: The HD 7790 is marked as End-of-life, with a release date of March 2013. The RX 7600S is Active, released in January 2023.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available from the data is the Geekbench Metal score, where the HD 7790 wins with 17,666 points. The RX 7600S does not have a Geekbench Metal result, so this is the HD 7790's sole victory. The RX 7600S wins every other benchmark category where both have data, but the absence of overlapping tests makes direct numerical comparison difficult.

The largest measurable win for the RX 7600S is in compute performance. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 68,012 and Vulkan score of 73,868 are dramatically higher than any score the HD 7790 can produce, as the older card lacks these specific benchmark results. In the Passmark suite, the RX 7600S achieves a G3D score of 15,408 and a GPU Compute score of 6,520, demonstrating robust general 3D rendering and compute capabilities. Its DirectX 9 score of 211 is particularly notable, as it outperforms its own DirectX 11 score of 140 and DirectX 12 score of 65, suggesting legacy API optimization.

The HD 7790's single benchmark score of 17,666 places it in the 61st percentile, which is higher than the RX 7600S's 60th percentile. However, this is misleading due to the different test suites. The HD 7790's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060, with a delta of just 0.2%, while the RX 7600S's closest rival is the NVIDIA T400 4 GB, with a delta of -0.6%. The RX 7600S is also within 1.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2, a high-end desktop card, which shows its competitive positioning in the average score metric despite being a laptop GPU.

Specification Differences

The most significant specification differences are clear. The HD 7790 uses a 28 nm process, while the RX 7600S uses 6 nm. Transistor count jumps from 2,080 million to 13,300 million. The RX 7600S has double the shading units (1,792 vs 896), double the TMUs (112 vs 56), and quadruple the ROPs (64 vs 16). Clock speeds differ, with the RX 7600S having a base clock of 1500 MHz and boost of 2200 MHz, while the HD 7790 has no recorded base or boost clock, only a memory clock of 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective). The RX 7600S memory runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective).

Memory capacity differs vastly: 1024 MB vs 8 GB. Bandwidth improves from 96.00 GB/s to 256.0 GB/s. The RX 7600S has 28 ray tracing cores, while the HD 7790 has none. Pixel rate improves from 16.00 GPixel/s to 140.8 GPixel/s, and texture rate from 56.00 GTexel/s to 246.4 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 1.792 TFLOPS vs 15.77 TFLOPS. The HD 7790 has a TDP of 85 W and requires a 1x 6-pin power connector, while the RX 7600S has a 75 W TDP and uses no power connector, being an IGP. The HD 7790 is a dual-slot card with specific display outputs (1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2), while the RX 7600S has portable-device-dependent outputs. The HD 7790 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RX 7600S uses PCIe 4.0 x16. The HD 7790 has a launch MSRP of 149 USD.