AMD Radeon HD 7790 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records only a single direct benchmark entry for the AMD Radeon HD 7790, a Geekbench Metal score of 17,666. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 has no corresponding Metal result, so direct head-to-head comparisons must rely on the aggregate average benchmark scores and the nearest rival deltas provided for each card.

The RTX 5050's average benchmark score is 21,035, placing it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs. Its closest competitors in the database include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (average score 21,153, a 0.6% delta), the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21,237, a 1% delta), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (21,379, a 1.6% delta). The RTX 5050 trails these three by small margins, while it sits 1.6% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (20,713). These deltas are narrow, all within a 3.2% spread, indicating that the RTX 5050 occupies a tightly contested performance tier.

The HD 7790's average benchmark score is 17,666, which places it in the 61st percentile. Its nearest rivals are surprisingly modern parts: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (average score 17,639, a 0.2% delta), the AMD Radeon 780M (17,588, a 0.4% delta), and the AMD Radeon Pro 560 (17,551, a 0.7% delta). The HD 7790 edges each of these by less than a percentage point, while the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 (17,789) leads it by 0.7%. The data shows the HD 7790, despite its age, still clusters with contemporary entry-level GPUs in this specific aggregate metric.

Comparing the two cards directly through their average scores, the RTX 5050 leads by 3,369 points, or roughly 19% higher than the HD 7790's average. This is a substantial margin, but the nature of the difference matters: the RTX 5050's average is derived from ten diverse benchmarks (including DirectX 9 through 12, OpenCL, Vulkan, and compute tests), while the HD 7790's average comes from a single Metal benchmark. The HD 7790's score may not be representative of its performance across all APIs, particularly given its older GCN architecture and lack of modern feature support.

In raw throughput figures from the database, the RTX 5050 delivers 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, 82.30 GPixel/s pixel rate, and 205.8 GTexel/s texture rate. The HD 7790 offers 1.792 TFLOPS FP32, 16.00 GPixel/s, and 56.00 GTexel/s. The RTX 5050 is 7.3 times faster in FP32 compute, 5.1 times faster in pixel fill, and 3.7 times faster in texture fill. Memory bandwidth also favors the newer card: 320.0 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s, a 3.3x advantage.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5050 wins in every measurable performance category where both cards have data. Its strength is in modern workloads: the database shows a PassMark DirectX 12 score of 66, a DirectX 11 score of 150, and a DirectX 10 score of 103. The HD 7790 has no comparable entries for these tests, but its API support stops at DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the RTX 5050 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6 (both cards share OpenGL 4.6). The RTX 5050 also has dedicated ray tracing cores (20) and tensor cores (80), features entirely absent from the HD 7790, which has no RT or tensor core entries.

For legacy and compute workloads, the RTX 5050 shows a PassMark G3D score of 17,326 and a GPU compute score of 9,184. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 90,334 and Vulkan score is 89,381. The HD 7790's only recorded benchmark is Geekbench Metal at 17,666. In scenarios where the HD 7790's single Metal score is the relevant metric, it performs within 0.7% of an NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 and 0.2% of an RTX 4060, per the nearest rivals data. This suggests that in Metal-specific applications, the HD 7790 competes with much newer GPUs, but that is its only isolated win context.

The RTX 5050's PassMark DirectX 9 score of 186 and G2D score of 1,113 indicate strong legacy rasterization performance, while the HD 7790 has no recorded DirectX 9 or G2D scores. The RTX 5050's 8 GB GDDR6 memory versus the HD 7790's 1 GB GDDR5 means the newer card can handle larger textures and datasets; the HD 7790's 1024 MB capacity is a hard constraint for modern game assets. The RTX 5050 also wins on power efficiency per the data: 130 W TDP for 13.17 TFLOPS versus 85 W for 1.792 TFLOPS, yielding 101.3 GFLOPS/W versus 21.1 GFLOPS/W, roughly 4.8x better.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two GPUs is vast. The RTX 5050 is built on NVIDIA's Blackwell 2.0 architecture, using the GB207 chip fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 16,900 million transistors on a 149 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 113.4 million per mm². The HD 7790 uses AMD's GCN 2.0 architecture, the Bonaire chip, on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. It has 2,080 million transistors on a 160 mm² die, for a density of 13.0 million per mm². The RTX 5050 packs 8.1 times more transistors into a slightly smaller die.

The RTX 5050 features 2,560 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs, along with 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores. The HD 7790 has 896 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor cores listed. The shading unit count is 2.9x higher on the RTX 5050, while TMUs are 1.4x higher and ROPs are 2x higher. Clock speeds differ significantly: the RTX 5050 runs at a base of 2317 MHz and boost of 2572 MHz, while the HD 7790 has no base or boost clocks recorded in the database. Memory clocks are 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective) for the RTX 5050 versus 1500 MHz (6 Gbps effective) for the HD 7790.

Memory subsystems diverge completely: the RTX 5050 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 320.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the HD 7790 uses 1 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth. Both use 128-bit buses, but the newer memory standard and higher clock deliver 3.3x the bandwidth. The HD 7790's memory size is a critical limitation, as 1 GB cannot accommodate modern game textures or compute workloads that the RTX 5050's 8 GB handles easily.

The RTX 5050 supports PCIe 5.0 x8, while the HD 7790 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The newer interface offers higher bandwidth per lane, though the x8 width may limit peak throughput compared to a x16 implementation. The RTX 5050 requires a 1x 8-pin power connector and a suggested 300 W PSU, while the HD 7790 uses a 1x 6-pin connector and a suggested 250 W PSU. Both are dual-slot cards. Display outputs differ: the RTX 5050 has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b, while the HD 7790 has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2. The RTX 5050 supports newer display standards with higher bandwidth.

The HD 7790 has a physical length of 183 mm (7.2 inches), while the RTX 5050's dimensions are not recorded. The HD 7790 is end-of-life, released in March 2013, while the RTX 5050 is active, released in June 2025. The RTX 5050's predecessor is the GeForce 40 series and successor is GeForce 60, while the HD 7790's predecessor is Northern Islands and successor is Sea Islands. The HD 7790 belongs to the Southern Islands generation (HD 7700 family), with a launch MSRP of 149 USD; the RTX 5050's launch MSRP is 249 USD.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The RTX 5050 outperforms the HD 7790 in every recorded metric that allows comparison. Its average benchmark score is 19% higher, its compute throughput is 7.3x greater, its memory bandwidth is 3.3x higher, and its memory capacity is 8x larger. The RTX 5050 also brings modern features like ray tracing cores, tensor cores, DirectX 12 Ultimate, and Vulkan 1.4 support, none of which the HD 7790 possesses.

The HD 7790's sole benchmark score, Geekbench Metal at 17,666, places it in the 61st percentile, which is only 5 percentage points below the RTX 5050's 66th percentile. In that specific test, the HD 7790 trades blows with the RTX 4060 and Quadro RTX 4000, per the nearest rivals data. This indicates that in Metal environments, the HD 7790 retains some relevance, but this is an isolated result.

For gamers or compute users, the RTX 5050 is the clear choice based on the recorded data. Its 8 GB memory, modern API support, and superior fill rates make it suitable for current workloads. The HD 7790, with 1 GB memory and no ray tracing capability, is limited to legacy applications or very low-resolution gaming. Its lower TDP of 85 W versus 130 W means it consumes less power, but at a massive performance cost.

The RTX 5050's nearest rivals, such as the RX 5600 XT and RTX A4000 Mobile, are all within 1.6% of its average score, indicating it sits in a competitive midrange tier. The HD 7790's nearest rivals are similarly close to its Metal score, but those rivals are modern GPUs, which suggests the HD 7790's single benchmark may overstate its general capability. The verdict: the RTX 5050 is the superior product for any workload where the data matters, while the HD 7790 is only defensible in Metal-specific scenarios where its score happens to align with newer parts.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5050 than the HD 7790 in FP32 compute?

A: The RTX 5050 delivers 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the HD 7790 provides 1.792 TFLOPS. This makes the RTX 5050 approximately 7.3 times faster.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference between the two cards?

A: The RTX 5050 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the HD 7790 has 1024 MB (1 GB) of GDDR5. The RTX 5050 has 8 times the memory capacity.

Q: Does the HD 7790 support ray tracing?

A: No. The HD 7790 has no ray tracing cores or tensor cores listed in the database. The RTX 5050 has 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores.

Q: What is the bandwidth advantage of the RTX 5050?

A: The RTX 5050 achieves 320.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, compared to 96.00 GB/s for the HD 7790, a 3.3x advantage.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The RTX 5050 has an average benchmark score of 21,035, while the HD 7790 has an average of 17,666 from a single Geekbench Metal test. The RTX 5050 leads by 3,369 points, approximately 19%.

Q: What are the process node differences?

A: The RTX 5050 uses a 5 nm process at TSMC with 16,900 million transistors, while the HD 7790 uses a 28 nm process at TSMC with 2,080 million transistors. The RTX 5050 has a transistor density of 113.4 million per mm² versus 13.0 million per mm² for the HD 7790.