AMD Radeon HD 7790 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Comparison

The AMD Radeon HD 7790 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 represent two distinct eras of graphics technology, separated by over seven years of architectural evolution. The data shows a stark contrast in raw capability, with the RTX 3070 holding a massive lead in nearly every measurable metric, yet both cards occupy the same performance percentile (61) relative to all GPUs, a curious statistical anomaly. The HD 7790’s single Geekbench Metal score of 17,666 positions it just 0.2% ahead of the RTX 4060 and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon 780M, while the RTX 3070’s average benchmark score of 17,208 places it 0.7% behind the RX 7600 XT and 1% behind the GTX 690. This suggests that in the specific workload captured by that Metal test, the older card holds its own against modern mid-range parts, but the RTX 3070’s broader benchmark suite reveals a far more versatile and powerful GPU.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Direct head-to-head comparisons are sparse, as the FACT PACK lists no common benchmark entries between the two cards. However, the available data for each card tells a compelling story. The RTX 3070’s Geekbench OpenCL score of 112,821 dwarfs the HD 7790’s Geekbench Metal score of 17,666, representing a 6.4x advantage in that compute-oriented test. Similarly, in Vulkan, the RTX 3070 scores 21,022, which is 19% higher than the HD 7790’s Metal result. The RTX 3070 also delivers a Passmark G3D score of 22,214, a figure that highlights its dominance in DirectX 11 and 12 workloads, while the HD 7790 has no comparable Passmark scores listed.

The RTX 3070’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,162 further underscores its modern architecture’s strength in contemporary APIs, a benchmark category entirely absent from the HD 7790’s data. The older card’s sole benchmark, while respectable for its era, cannot match the sheer throughput of the newer GPU. For instance, the RTX 3070’s Passmark GPU Compute score of 11,195 is over 60% of the HD 7790’s entire average benchmark score, illustrating how far compute performance has advanced. The deltaPct values in the nearestRivals data also hint at the competitive landscape: the HD 7790 is 0.7% ahead of the Radeon Pro 560 but 0.7% behind the Quadro RTX 4000, while the RTX 3070 is 1.1% ahead of the HD 7970M but 1.5% behind the Tesla K40c, showing that both cards sit in a tightly contested mid-range bracket relative to their respective peers.

Where Each One Wins

The HD 7790 wins decisively in the single benchmark it was tested on: Geekbench Metal. With a score of 17,666, it outperforms the RTX 3070’s Geekbench Vulkan score of 21,022 by a margin of 16% in that specific API test, though this is not an apples-to-apples comparison. The HD 7790 also demonstrates a winning profile in terms of power efficiency and physical footprint. Its 85W TDP is dramatically lower than the RTX 3070’s 220W, and its 183 mm length (7.2 inches) makes it significantly more compact than the RTX 3070’s 242 mm (9.5 inches). For legacy systems with PCIe 3.0 and older display outputs, the HD 7790’s 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 connections may be more compatible with older monitors, whereas the RTX 3070’s 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a require more modern displays to fully utilize.

The RTX 3070 wins in every other measurable category. Its memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s is 4.7x higher than the HD 7790’s 96.00 GB/s, and its 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer is eight times larger than the 1024 MB GDDR5 on the older card. The RTX 3070’s pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s and texture rate of 317.4 GTexel/s are 10.4x and 5.7x higher, respectively, than the HD 7790’s 16.00 GPixel/s and 56.00 GTexel/s. In compute, the RTX 3070’s FP32 throughput of 20.31 TFLOPS is 11.3x greater than the HD 7790’s 1.792 TFLOPS, and it even matches this in FP16 at 20.31 TFLOPS (1:1), a capability the HD 7790 does not list. The RTX 3070 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the HD 7790 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is immense. The HD 7790 is built on GCN 2.0 architecture, using the Bonaire chip, fabricated on TSMC’s 28 nm process node. It packs 2,080 million transistors into a 160 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 13.0M / mm². This is a Southern Islands generation part (HD 7700 series), released in 2013. In contrast, the RTX 3070 uses the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip, manufactured on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It contains 17,400 million transistors spread across a 392 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 44.4M / mm². This represents a 3.4x increase in density and an 8.4x increase in total transistor count.

The RTX 3070’s architecture brings dedicated hardware that the HD 7790 lacks entirely: 46 RT cores for ray tracing and 184 tensor cores for AI acceleration. These features enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS, capabilities that are simply nonexistent in the GCN 2.0 design. The shading unit count tells a similar story, with the RTX 3070 featuring 5,888 shading units versus the HD 7790’s 896, a 6.6x difference. Texture mapping units (184 vs 56) and ROPs (96 vs 16) also show substantial scaling, with 3.3x and 6x increases, respectively. The memory subsystem evolved from 128-bit GDDR5 to 256-bit GDDR6, doubling the bus width and quadrupling the effective memory speed from 6 Gbps to 14 Gbps.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field. The RTX 3070 has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz, while the HD 7790 lists no base or boost clocks, only a memory clock of 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective). The RTX 3070’s memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective). Memory size jumps from 1024 MB to 8 GB, and bandwidth from 96.00 GB/s to 448.0 GB/s. The bus interface advances from PCIe 3.0 x16 to PCIe 4.0 x16, doubling the potential data transfer rate. Power requirements escalate from an 85W TDP with a 250W suggested PSU and a single 6-pin connector to a 220W TDP with a 550W suggested PSU and a single 12-pin connector. Physical dimensions grow from 183 mm (7.2 inches) in length to 242 mm (9.5 inches) in length and 112 mm (4.4 inches) in height, though both remain dual-slot designs. The RTX 3070 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the HD 7790 is capped at DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both cards support OpenGL 4.6.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17,208, which is 3.4% higher than the HD 7790’s average score of 17,666. This is counterintuitive, as the RTX 3070’s individual benchmark scores are far higher, but the HD 7790’s single Geekbench Metal score skews its average upward.

Q: How do the memory bandwidths compare?

A: The RTX 3070 offers 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, which is 4.7 times the HD 7790’s 96.00 GB/s. This is driven by a 256-bit bus and 14 Gbps GDDR6 memory versus a 128-bit bus and 6 Gbps GDDR5.

Q: What are the transistor density differences?

A: The RTX 3070 has a transistor density of 44.4M / mm², which is 3.4 times higher than the HD 7790’s 13.0M / mm². This is a result of moving from a 28 nm TSMC process to an 8 nm Samsung process.

Q: Does the HD 7790 support ray tracing?

A: No, the HD 7790 has no RT cores listed, while the RTX 3070 includes 46 RT cores. The older card also lacks tensor cores, which are present in the RTX 3070 at a count of 184.

Q: What is the difference in FP32 compute performance?

A: The RTX 3070 delivers 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is 11.3 times greater than the HD 7790’s 1.792 TFLOPS. The RTX 3070 also matches this in FP16 with 20.31 TFLOPS (1:1), a feature the HD 7790 does not list.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The RTX 3070 has a pixel rate of 165.6 GPixel/s, which is 10.4 times higher than the HD 7790’s 16.00 GPixel/s. This is due to its 96 ROPs versus the HD 7790’s 16 ROPs.

The Verdict

The data unequivocally points to the RTX 3070 as the superior performer for any modern workload. Its 11.3x lead in FP32 compute, 10.4x lead in pixel rate, and 4.7x lead in memory bandwidth make it the only viable choice for high-resolution gaming, content creation, or compute-intensive tasks. The inclusion of 46 RT cores and 184 tensor cores adds capabilities that the HD 7790 cannot match, enabling features like real-time ray tracing and AI-based upscaling. The RTX 3070’s 8 GB of GDDR6 memory is also critical for modern game textures, whereas the HD 7790’s 1 GB frame buffer would be severely limiting. However, the HD 7790 retains appeal for specific legacy use cases: its 85W TDP and compact 183 mm length make it ideal for small form factor or low-power builds, and its 1x DVI output may be necessary for older monitors. The HD 7790’s Geekbench Metal score of 17,666, which edges out the RTX 4060 by 0.2%, suggests it still holds up in certain Apple ecosystem benchmarks, but this is a niche advantage. For anyone choosing between these two, the RTX 3070 is the clear pick for performance, while the HD 7790 only makes sense for retro builds or power-constrained systems where its 85W draw and 250W suggested PSU are paramount. The percentile rank of 61 for both cards is misleading; the RTX 3070’s dataset includes demanding DX12 and Vulkan tests, while the HD 7790’s single Metal result does not reflect its limitations in modern APIs.