AMD Radeon HD 7950 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is older, the AMD Radeon HD 7950 or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7950 was released on January 30, 2012, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER launched on January 23, 2024.

Q: What are the memory specifications of the two cards?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7950 has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus with 240.0 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus with 672.3 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of raw FP32 compute?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7950 delivers 2.867 TFLOPS, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER delivers 44.10 TFLOPS, which is over 15 times higher.

Q: What is the process node difference?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7950 uses a 28 nm process at TSMC, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses a 5 nm process at TSMC.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7950 has a single recorded benchmark score of 33,951 (Geekbench Metal), while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has an average benchmark score of 31,087 across multiple tests.

Q: What are the power connector requirements?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7950 uses 2x 6-pin power connectors with a 550 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses a single 16-pin connector with a 600 W suggested PSU.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs spans more than a decade of design philosophy. The AMD Radeon HD 7950 is built on GCN 1.0 architecture, the first generation of AMD's Graphics Core Next design, using the Tahiti chip. It is manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC, packing 4,313 million transistors into a 352 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 12.3M per mm².

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip. It is fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC, containing 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, which yields a much higher transistor density of 121.1M per mm². This represents a nearly tenfold increase in density.

The HD 7950 has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. It does not have dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, as those technologies did not exist in 2012. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, by contrast, has 8,448 shading units, 264 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 66 ray tracing cores, and 264 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-accelerated features.

Memory architecture differs substantially as well. The HD 7950 uses 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, while the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses 16 GB of GDDR6X on a narrower 256-bit bus. Despite the narrower bus, the newer card achieves 672.3 GB/s versus 240.0 GB/s due to much faster memory clocks.

The API support reflects the era of each card. The HD 7950 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, adding features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading.

Physical design differs significantly. The HD 7950 is a dual-slot card measuring 278 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 38 mm in width. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is a triple-slot card at 310 mm long, 140 mm high, and 61 mm wide, requiring more case space and a larger cooler.

Power delivery also changed. The HD 7950 uses 2x 6-pin PCIe power connectors and has a 200 W TDP. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER uses a single 16-pin connector and has a 285 W TDP, with the suggested PSU rising from 550 W to 600 W.

The Verdict

The data presents an overwhelming case for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER in nearly every measurable category. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has 15.4 times the FP32 throughput, 2.8 times the memory bandwidth, and over five times the VRAM capacity compared to the Radeon HD 7950.

However, the HD 7950 holds a notable position in the database's percentile ranking. It sits at the 78th percentile against all GPUs, while the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER sits at the 76th percentile. This is partly because the HD 7950's recorded benchmark score of 33,951 in Geekbench Metal is strong relative to its age, and it lands within 0.6% of several modern rivals like the AMD Radeon RX 480 and the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB.

For practical purposes, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the clear choice for any modern workload. It supports current APIs including DirectX 12 Ultimate, has ray tracing and tensor cores, and offers far higher pixel and texture rates: 250.6 GPixel/s versus 25.60 GPixel/s, and 689.0 GTexel/s versus 89.60 GTexel/s.

The HD 7950 is end-of-life and has no path to modern gaming performance. It is a historical artifact, relevant only for legacy systems or collector purposes. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is also marked end-of-life, but its performance envelope remains competitive for demanding applications.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon HD 7950 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | Ada Lovelace |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | 4,313 million | 45,900 million |

| Die Size | 352 mm² | 379 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.3M / mm² | 121.1M / mm² |

| Memory Size | 3 GB | 16 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6X |

| Memory Bus | 384 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 240.0 GB/s | 672.3 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1,792 | 8,448 |

| TMUs | 112 | 264 |

| ROPs | 32 | 96 |

| RT Cores | None | 66 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 264 |

| Pixel Rate | 25.60 GPixel/s | 250.6 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 89.60 GTexel/s | 689.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 2.867 TFLOPS | 44.10 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | Not specified | 44.10 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 200 W | 285 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Triple-slot |

| Power Connectors | 2x 6-pin | 1x 16-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 600 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | 1.2.170 | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2012-01-30 | 2024-01-23 |

| Launch MSRP | 449 USD | 799 USD |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains only one benchmark entry for the AMD Radeon HD 7950: a Geekbench Metal score of 33,951. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has a broader suite of recorded results, with its average benchmark score across all tests being 31,087.

In the Geekbench Metal test, the HD 7950's score of 33,951 places it in close competition with several modern GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 480, scores 33,997, a delta of -0.1%, meaning the HD 7950 is essentially tied with that card. The RX 7700S is 0.3% behind, and the RX 560 XT is 0.5% ahead. The NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB sits 0.6% higher.

The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's average score of 31,087 is lower than its nearest rivals. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000 scores 31,206 (0.4% higher), the GRID M60-1Q scores 31,220 (0.4% higher), the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 31,532 (1.4% higher), and the TITAN RTX scores 31,676 (1.9% higher).

The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER has a wide spread of scores across different test types. In Passmark G3D, it scores 31,811. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 199,267. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 53,683. Its Passmark G2D score is 1,225, and its GPU compute score is 18,372. DirectX-specific Passmark tests show 181 for DirectX 10, 278 for DirectX 11, 119 for DirectX 12, and 360 for DirectX 9.

These numbers show that the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is strongest in compute-heavy OpenCL workloads and modern API tests, while its DirectX 12 Passmark score is comparatively low, possibly indicating that the test does not fully exercise the card's capabilities.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon HD 7950 wins only in the narrow category of historical relevance and legacy compatibility. Its 200 W TDP is lower than the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's 285 W, making it less demanding on power supplies. Its dual-slot design and smaller physical footprint (278 mm versus 310 mm) allow installation in older or smaller cases. It also uses standard 2x 6-pin connectors, avoiding the need for a 16-pin adapter.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER wins in every performance metric recorded. Its FP32 throughput of 44.10 TFLOPS versus 2.867 TFLOPS makes it suitable for compute-heavy tasks like scientific simulation, AI inference, and content creation. Its 16 GB VRAM versus 3 GB allows large datasets, high-resolution textures, and multi-monitor setups without memory pressure. Its 672.3 GB/s bandwidth versus 240.0 GB/s reduces bottlenecks in bandwidth-sensitive workloads.

The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER also supports modern graphics features that the HD 7950 cannot: hardware ray tracing with 66 RT cores, tensor core acceleration with 264 tensor cores, and DirectX 12 Ultimate. Its PCIe 4.0 x16 interface doubles the bandwidth available to the HD 7950's PCIe 3.0 x16.

For gaming, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's pixel rate of 250.6 GPixel/s versus 25.60 GPixel/s means it can drive high refresh rate displays at high resolutions. The texture rate of 689.0 GTexel/s versus 89.60 GTexel/s ensures detailed textures do not cause frame drops.

The HD 7950 has no benchmark wins recorded in the head-to-head comparison. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the only reasonable selection for any modern use case, while the HD 7950 remains a museum piece for retro builds or as a low-power secondary display adapter.