AMD Radeon HD 7950 vs NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 Comparison

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon HD 7950 and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 are from different eras and serve completely different purposes. The HD 7950, a 2012 Southern Islands part, is an end-of-life legacy card that still holds up surprisingly well in one specific benchmark. The Quadro RTX 8000 is a professional Turing workstation card with enormous memory capacity and compute features, but its average benchmark score is actually lower than the HD 7950's single recorded result.

The recorded data shows the HD 7950 achieves a Geekbench Metal score of 33,951, placing it in the 78th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 8000, despite its massive specifications, averages 28,421 across its benchmark suite, sitting in the 74th percentile. If you only care about that single Metal test, the HD 7950 is the winner. However, the RTX 8000 offers 48 GB of memory, 16.31 TFLOPS FP32, and 32.62 TFLOPS FP16, which are capabilities the HD 7950 simply cannot match.

Pick the HD 7950 if you need a cheap, functional legacy card for older DirectX 11 workloads or a specific Metal benchmark. Pick the RTX 8000 if you need professional compute, massive VRAM for datasets, and modern API support like DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 8000 is the more capable card overall, but the HD 7950 wins the only direct benchmark recorded in the database.

Architecture Differences

The HD 7950 uses the Tahiti chip built on GCN 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 4,313 million transistors on a 352 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.3 million per square millimeter. The RTX 8000 uses the TU102 chip on Turing architecture, built on a 12 nm process, also at TSMC. It contains 18,600 million transistors on a 754 mm² die, with a density of 24.7 million per square millimeter.

The HD 7950 has 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output pipelines. It has no dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores. The RTX 8000 has 4,608 shading units, 288 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. It also includes 72 RT cores and 576 tensor cores, which are entirely absent from the HD 7950. These specialized cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads, respectively.

Memory architecture differs significantly. The HD 7950 uses 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 240.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 8000 uses 48 GB of GDDR6 on the same 384-bit bus width, but delivers 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) for the HD 7950 versus 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the RTX 8000.

API support diverges sharply. The HD 7950 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The RTX 8000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 8000 also has a base clock of 1395 MHz and boost clock of 1770 MHz, while the HD 7950 has no recorded base or boost clock in the database.

Power requirements differ as well. The HD 7950 has a 200 W TDP with two 6-pin power connectors and a suggested 550 W PSU. The RTX 8000 has a 260 W TDP with one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector, needing a 600 W PSU. Both are dual-slot cards, but the HD 7950 is 278 mm long versus 267 mm for the RTX 8000. Both are 111 mm tall and 38 mm wide for the HD 7950, while the RTX 8000's width is not recorded.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The RTX 8000 has 48 GB of GDDR6 with 672.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the HD 7950 has 3 GB of GDDR5 with 240.0 GB/s. The RTX 8000 offers 16 times the capacity and nearly three times the bandwidth.

Q: Does the HD 7950 support ray tracing?

A: No. The HD 7950 has no RT cores. The RTX 8000 has 72 RT cores, enabling hardware ray tracing.

Q: Which card is better for compute workloads?

A: The RTX 8000 is clearly superior for compute. It has 16.31 TFLOPS FP32 and 32.62 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), while the HD 7950 has 2.867 TFLOPS FP32 and no recorded FP16 performance. The RTX 8000 also has 576 tensor cores for AI workloads.

Q: What is the DirectX support difference?

A: The HD 7950 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), which is an older feature level. The RTX 8000 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes modern features like ray tracing and variable rate shading.

Q: Which card has a higher benchmark percentile?

A: The HD 7950 sits at the 78th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 8000 sits at the 74th percentile. This is based on the average benchmark scores recorded in the database.

Q: Are both cards still in production?

A: No. Both are end-of-life. The HD 7950 was released on 2012-01-30, and the RTX 8000 was released on 2018-08-12.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon HD 7950 | NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 |

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

| Process Node | 28 nm | 12 nm |

| Transistors | 4,313 million | 18,600 million |

| Die Size | 352 mm² | 754 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.3M / mm² | 24.7M / mm² |

| Base Clock | Not recorded | 1395 MHz |

| Boost Clock | Not recorded | 1770 MHz |

| Memory Size | 3 GB | 48 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Clock | 1250 MHz (5 Gbps) | 1750 MHz (14 Gbps) |

| Bandwidth | 240.0 GB/s | 672.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1792 | 4608 |

| TMUs | 112 | 288 |

| ROPs | 32 | 96 |

| RT Cores | None | 72 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 576 |

| Pixel Rate | 25.60 GPixel/s | 169.9 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 89.60 GTexel/s | 509.8 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 2.867 TFLOPS | 16.31 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | Not recorded | 32.62 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 200 W | 260 W |

| Power Connectors | 2x 6-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 600 W |

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

| Vulkan | 1.2.170 | 1.4 |

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 | 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-C |

| Length | 278 mm (10.9 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

| Height | 111 mm (4.4 inches) | 111 mm (4.4 inches) |

| Width | 38 mm (1.5 inches) | Not recorded |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no direct head-to-head benchmark comparisons between these two cards. The wins count is 0 for both. However, the individual benchmark results tell a clear story.

The HD 7950 has one recorded benchmark: Geekbench Metal, scoring 33,951. This places it in the 78th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 480 at 33,997 (0.1% faster), the AMD Radeon RX 7700S at 33,849 (0.3% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 560 XT at 34,133 (0.5% slower). The HD 7950 essentially trades blows with these modern cards in Metal performance, which is remarkable for a 2012 GPU.

The RTX 8000 has nine recorded benchmarks. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 101,883, and its Geekbench Vulkan score is 122,637. In Passmark tests, it scores 137 in DirectX 10, 188 in DirectX 11, 79 in DirectX 12, and 211 in DirectX 9. Its 2D score is 866, 3D score is 19,799, and GPU compute score is 9,992. The average across all these is 28,421, placing it in the 74th percentile.

The RTX 8000's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 M295X at 28,580 (0.6% faster), the AMD FirePro S7150 at 28,117 (1.1% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 570 at 28,766 (1.2% faster). The RTX 8000 sits in a tight cluster with these older and mid-range cards, which is surprising given its specifications.

The biggest win for the HD 7950 is its percentile ranking. At 78th percentile versus 74th, it ranks higher among all GPUs despite being much older and far less capable on paper. The RTX 8000's biggest win is its Geekbench Vulkan score of 122,637, which dwarfs anything the HD 7950 can produce, though the HD 7950 has no Vulkan benchmark recorded to compare directly.

Where Each One Wins

The HD 7950 wins in the Metal benchmark category. Its Geekbench Metal score of 33,951 is the only data point recorded for it, and it outperforms the RTX 8000's average score of 28,421 by a significant margin. If your workload relies on Metal performance, the HD 7950 is the better choice according to the data.

The HD 7950 also wins on power efficiency in terms of raw score per watt. With a 200 W TDP and a 33,951 Metal score, it delivers roughly 170 points per watt. The RTX 8000, with a 260 W TDP and an average score of 28,421, delivers about 109 points per watt. The HD 7950 is more efficient in this narrow comparison.

The RTX 8000 wins in compute performance. Its FP32 throughput of 16.31 TFLOPS is over five times the HD 7950's 2.867 TFLOPS. Its FP16 performance of 32.62 TFLOPS is unmatched by the HD 7950, which has no recorded FP16 capability. For scientific computing, machine learning, or any FP16-heavy workload, the RTX 8000 is the clear choice.

The RTX 8000 wins in memory capacity and bandwidth. With 48 GB versus 3 GB, it can hold vastly larger datasets in VRAM. Its 672.0 GB/s bandwidth is 2.8 times the HD 7950's 240.0 GB/s. This makes it suitable for large-scale rendering, simulation, and data processing tasks.

The RTX 8000 wins in modern API support. DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 support newer features and better performance in modern games and applications. The HD 7950's DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170 are older and less capable.

The RTX 8000 wins in professional features. The 72 RT cores and 576 tensor cores enable ray tracing and AI acceleration, which are simply unavailable on the HD 7950. The RTX 8000 also has four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs and a USB Type-C port, versus the HD 7950's older DVI, HDMI 1.4a, and mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs.

For a legacy system running older DirectX 11 applications, the HD 7950 is a functional choice. For modern professional compute, large VRAM workloads, or any ray-traced or AI-accelerated task, the RTX 8000 is the only option between the two. The data shows a split: the HD 7950 wins the single benchmark it appears in, while the RTX 8000 wins every specification category that matters for professional work.