AMD Radeon HD 7790 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded data draws a stark generational line between these two GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is in a different performance class entirely, posting an average benchmark score of 20,282 against the AMD Radeon HD 7790's 17,666. That is a 14.8% gap based on their average scores, and it comes with a massive feature set advantage. The RTX 2070 SUPER lands at the 65th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the HD 7790 sits at the 61st percentile.

The verdict for most users is straightforward: the RTX 2070 SUPER is the only sensible pick for modern gaming, ray tracing, or compute workloads. It offers 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, 2,560 shading units, 40 RT cores, and 320 tensor cores, none of which the HD 7790 can match. The HD 7790, with 1 GB of GDDR5 and 896 shading units, is an end-of-life product from 2013 that belongs in legacy or low-demand systems. The data shows no head-to-head benchmark results between the two, but the aggregate scores and architectural specifications make the hierarchy clear.

Users on a strict legacy build or those needing a very low-power card for basic display output might consider the HD 7790, as its 85 W TDP and single 6-pin connector are modest. However, benchmark results indicate the RTX 2070 SUPER is over 100% faster in raw compute potential, so the older card cannot be recommended for any performance-oriented task.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from completely different architectural eras. The RTX 2070 SUPER uses the Turing architecture on a 12 nm process from TSMC, with 13,600 million transistors on a 545 mm² die. The HD 7790 uses GCN 2.0 on a 28 nm process, also from TSMC, with 2,080 million transistors on a 160 mm² die. The transistor density tells the story: the RTX 2070 SUPER packs 25.0 million transistors per mm², while the HD 7790 has 13.0 million per mm².

The RTX 2070 SUPER features 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 64 raster output units. It also includes 40 RT cores for ray tracing and 320 tensor cores for AI workloads. The HD 7790 has 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no RT or tensor cores at all. The memory subsystem is equally divergent: the RTX 2070 SUPER uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the HD 7790 has 1 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Clock behavior is fundamentally different as well. The RTX 2070 SUPER has a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz, while the HD 7790 has no base or boost clock recorded in the database. The RTX 2070 SUPER also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6, whereas the HD 7790 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0), Vulkan 1.2.170, and OpenGL 4.6.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no direct head-to-head benchmark results between the RTX 2070 SUPER and the HD 7790. Instead, each card has its own recorded workload scores. The RTX 2070 SUPER shows a wide range of results: 1,651 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 83,358 in Geekbench OpenCL, 90,637 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 18,169 in Passmark G3D. It also scores 7,557 in Passmark GPU Compute, 878 in Passmark G2D, 223 in Passmark DirectX 9, 151 in Passmark DirectX 11, 132 in Passmark DirectX 10, and 67 in Passmark DirectX 12.

The HD 7790 has only one recorded benchmark: 17,666 in Geekbench Metal. That single score is close to the RTX 2070 SUPER's average of 20,282, but it is not a like-for-like comparison since Metal is an Apple-specific API and the HD 7790's score likely reflects a particular workload environment.

Looking at the RTX 2070 SUPER's nearest rivals, it sits 1% below the NVIDIA Quadro M4000M (20,480), 1.2% below the RTX 3070 Mobile (20,534), 1.3% below the Intel Arc B570 (20,556), and 1.5% below the Intel Arc A750 (20,582). These are small deltas, indicating the RTX 2070 SUPER is closely matched with those GPUs. The HD 7790's nearest rivals show it is 0.2% above the RTX 4060 (17,639), 0.4% above the AMD Radeon 780M (17,588), 0.7% above the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17,551), and 0.7% below the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 (17,789).

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has more memory?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the AMD Radeon HD 7790 has 1 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon HD 7790 support ray tracing?

A: No, the HD 7790 has no RT cores. Only the RTX 2070 SUPER includes 40 RT cores for ray tracing.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 20,282, while the HD 7790 has an average score of 17,666, a difference of 2,616 points.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel rate?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has a pixel rate of 113.3 GPixel/s, compared to the HD 7790's 16.00 GPixel/s.

Q: What is the TDP of each card?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has a TDP of 215 W, while the HD 7790 has a TDP of 85 W.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor count?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER has 13,600 million transistors, far more than the HD 7790's 2,080 million.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 2070 SUPER wins in nearly every measurable category. Its FP32 performance is 9.062 TFLOPS versus the HD 7790's 1.792 TFLOPS, a 5x advantage. The texture rate is 283.2 GTexel/s versus 56.00 GTexel/s, and the pixel rate is 113.3 GPixel/s versus 16.00 GPixel/s. Memory bandwidth is 448.0 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s. The RTX 2070 SUPER also has exclusive features: RT cores, tensor cores, and FP16 performance at 18.12 TFLOPS (2:1), none of which the HD 7790 offers.

The HD 7790's only advantages are power and physical size. Its 85 W TDP is far lower than the RTX 2070 SUPER's 215 W, and its suggested power supply is 250 W versus 550 W. It is also shorter at 183 mm (7.2 inches) versus 267 mm (10.5 inches), and it uses a single 6-pin power connector instead of the RTX 2070 SUPER's 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin configuration. The HD 7790 also has a lower launch MSRP of 149 USD, but the RTX 2070 SUPER launched at 499 USD, a price difference that reflects their vastly different capabilities.

For modern gaming, ray tracing workloads, AI tasks, or high-resolution content, the RTX 2070 SUPER is the clear winner. For a compact, low-power legacy system or a basic display adapter, the HD 7790 could suffice, but only for tasks that do not demand significant GPU performance.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ on nearly every specification field. The RTX 2070 SUPER uses a TU104 chip on a 12 nm process, while the HD 7790 uses a Bonaire chip on 28 nm. Transistor counts are 13,600 million versus 2,080 million, and die sizes are 545 mm² versus 160 mm². The RTX 2070 SUPER has a base clock of 1605 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz; the HD 7790 has no recorded base or boost clocks. Memory clocks are 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the RTX 2070 SUPER versus 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective) for the HD 7790.

Memory capacity is 8 GB versus 1 GB, type is GDDR6 versus GDDR5, bus width is 256 bit versus 128 bit, and bandwidth is 448.0 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s. Shading units are 2,560 versus 896, TMUs are 160 versus 56, and ROPs are 64 versus 16. The RTX 2070 SUPER has 40 RT cores and 320 tensor cores; the HD 7790 has none. Pixel rates are 113.3 versus 16.00 GPixel/s, texture rates are 283.2 versus 56.00 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 9.062 versus 1.792 TFLOPS.

TDP is 215 W versus 85 W, power connectors are 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin versus 1x 6-pin, and suggested PSU is 550 W versus 250 W. Display outputs differ as well: the RTX 2070 SUPER has 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C, while the HD 7790 has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2. The RTX 2070 SUPER supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the HD 7790 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Dimensions also differ: the RTX 2070 SUPER is 267 mm long, 116 mm tall, and 35 mm wide, while the HD 7790 is 183 mm long with no recorded height or width.