AMD Radeon HD 7970 vs AMD Radeon Pro 5300 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the recorded Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5300 wins the head-to-head OpenCL test with a score of 38,747 against 34,541 for the AMD Radeon HD 7970, a 12.2% advantage.

Q: How does the Radeon Pro 5300 compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The Pro 5300 has an average benchmark score of 40,870. It sits 0.8% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (41,187), 1.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (40,377), and 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (40,318).

Q: What is the performance percentile ranking for each card?

A: The Radeon Pro 5300 ranks in the 82nd percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the Radeon HD 7970 ranks in the 79th percentile.

Q: Does the HD 7970 have any benchmark wins over the Pro 5300?

A: No. The recorded head-to-head data shows the Pro 5300 with 1 win and the HD 7970 with 0 wins. The only shared benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, which the Pro 5300 wins.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The Pro 5300 has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The HD 7970 has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus with 264.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the Radeon HD 7970?

A: The launch MSRP was 549 USD. The Radeon Pro 5300 has no recorded launch MSRP in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different eras of AMD graphics architecture. The Radeon Pro 5300 is built on the RDNA 1.0 architecture with the Navi 14 chip, fabricated on TSMC's 7 nm process. The Radeon HD 7970 uses the older GCN 1.0 architecture with the Tahiti chip, manufactured on TSMC's 28 nm node. This generational gap drives nearly every performance and efficiency difference between the two.

The transistor counts tell a striking story of miniaturization. The Pro 5300 packs 6,400 million transistors into a die size of 158 mm², yielding a transistor density of 40.5M per mm². The HD 7970, by contrast, contains 4,313 million transistors spread across a much larger 352 mm² die, giving a density of just 12.3M per mm². The Pro 5300 achieves 3.3 times the transistor density of the older card.

Clock speeds are also a major differentiator. The Pro 5300 has a base clock of 1000 MHz and a boost clock of 1650 MHz. The HD 7970's base and boost clocks are not recorded in the database. The Pro 5300's higher clocks, combined with the architectural efficiency of RDNA 1.0, allow it to reach 4.224 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the HD 7970 manages 3.789 TFLOPS despite having significantly more shading units.

The shading unit counts differ notably. The HD 7970 features 2,048 shading units and 128 texture mapping units, while the Pro 5300 has only 1,280 shading units and 80 TMUs. Despite this 60% unit advantage for the older card, the Pro 5300 still produces higher raw throughput thanks to its clock speeds and architecture. The pixel rate tells a similar story: the Pro 5300 outputs 52.80 GPixel/s versus 29.60 GPixel/s for the HD 7970, an 78% advantage.

Memory technology also diverges sharply. The Pro 5300 uses GDDR6 at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while the HD 7970 uses GDDR5 at 1375 MHz (5.5 Gbps effective). Interestingly, the HD 7970 has the higher memory bandwidth at 264.0 GB/s due to its 384-bit bus, compared to 224.0 GB/s for the Pro 5300's 128-bit bus. This is one area where the older card retains a measurable advantage.

API support shows the Pro 5300's newer pedigree. The Pro 5300 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4, while the HD 7970 supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both cards support OpenGL 4.6. The Pro 5300 also supports FP16 computation at 8.448 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, a feature entirely absent from the HD 7970's specifications.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data paints a clear picture: the Radeon Pro 5300 wins the only directly comparable test. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Pro 5300 scores 38,747 versus 34,541 for the HD 7970, a 12.2% lead. This suggests the Pro 5300 is the better choice for compute workloads that leverage OpenCL, including many professional applications.

The Pro 5300's advantage extends beyond raw compute scores. Its 82nd percentile ranking versus the HD 7970's 79th percentile indicates that the Pro 5300 outperforms a slightly larger fraction of the GPU universe. The Pro 5300 also shows additional benchmark results in the database: 48,070 in Geekbench Metal and 35,793 in Geekbench Vulkan. These results are not recorded for the HD 7970, so direct comparisons are unavailable, but their presence indicates a broader test coverage for the newer card.

The HD 7970's strengths are narrower but real. Its memory bandwidth of 264.0 GB/s is 17.9% higher than the Pro 5300's 224.0 GB/s. For workloads that are heavily bandwidth-bound rather than compute-bound, this could provide an advantage, though no direct benchmark in the database tests this scenario. The HD 7970 also has more shading units (2,048 versus 1,280) and TMUs (128 versus 80), which could theoretically benefit certain shader-heavy tasks. However, the measured performance data shows the Pro 5300 winning the one test where both cards have recorded scores.

The Pro 5300's efficiency advantages are substantial. Its TDP is 85 W versus 250 W for the HD 7970, meaning the newer card delivers higher performance at less than one-third the power draw. The suggested PSU requirement is correspondingly lower: 250 W for the Pro 5300 versus 600 W for the HD 7970. The Pro 5300 is also an IGP form factor with no power connectors and no display outputs, while the HD 7970 is a dual-slot card with a 275 mm length, 111 mm height, and 38 mm width, requiring a 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connection.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification category:

| Specification | AMD Radeon Pro 5300 | AMD Radeon HD 7970 |

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

| Chip | Navi 14 | Tahiti |

| Architecture | RDNA 1.0 | GCN 1.0 |

| Process Node | 7 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 6,400 million | 4,313 million |

| Die Size | 158 mm² | 352 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 40.5M / mm² | 12.3M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1000 MHz | Not recorded |

| Boost Clock | 1650 MHz | Not recorded |

| Memory Clock | 1750 MHz, 14 Gbps effective | 1375 MHz, 5.5 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 3 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 224.0 GB/s | 264.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1,280 | 2,048 |

| TMUs | 80 | 128 |

| ROPs | 32 | 32 |

| Pixel Rate | 52.80 GPixel/s | 29.60 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 132.0 GTexel/s | 118.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 4.224 TFLOPS | 3.789 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 8.448 TFLOPS (2:1) | Not recorded |

| TDP | 85 W | 250 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 250 W | 600 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | No outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (12_1) | 12 (11_1) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.2.170 |

| OpenGL Support | 4.6 | 4.6 |

| Release Date | 2020-08-03 | 2012-01-08 |

| Launch MSRP | Not recorded | 549 USD |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains one head-to-head benchmark between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. This test measures general-purpose compute performance using the OpenCL API, which is relevant to professional workloads, scientific computing, and certain rendering tasks.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the Radeon Pro 5300 scores 38,747, while the Radeon HD 7970 scores 34,541. The Pro 5300 wins by 12.2%. This is a decisive margin that reflects the architectural advantages of RDNA 1.0 over GCN 1.0, despite the HD 7970's higher shading unit count and wider memory bus. The Pro 5300's higher clock speeds and more efficient instruction execution more than compensate for its narrower memory interface.

The 12.2% delta is meaningful in context. It places the Pro 5300 firmly ahead of the HD 7970 in compute tasks, but the gap is not enormous. The HD 7970, released in 2012, remains competitive with a card released eight years later in 2020. This suggests that the Tahiti architecture aged relatively well for compute workloads, even if it lacks the modern features and efficiency of newer designs.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each card provides additional context. The Pro 5300's average benchmark score of 40,870 places it in the company of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti (41,187, 0.8% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (40,377, 1.2% slower), and the AMD Radeon Pro 580 (40,318, 1.4% slower). The Pro 5300 is essentially in the same performance class as these cards, despite being a much lower-power, integrated-form-factor solution.

The HD 7970's average score of 34,541 places it near the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB (34,561, 0.1% faster) and the NVIDIA A2 (34,690, 0.4% faster), while leading the NVIDIA TITAN V (34,355, 0.5% slower) and NVIDIA RTX A1000 (34,207, 1.0% slower). This cluster of scores suggests the HD 7970 remains a capable compute device, though its age shows in features and power efficiency.

The broader benchmark results also favor the Pro 5300. Its Geekbench Metal score of 48,070 and Geekbench Vulkan score of 35,793 demonstrate strong performance across multiple GPU APIs. The HD 7970 has no recorded Metal or Vulkan scores in the database, which limits direct comparison but also highlights the newer card's broader testing coverage.

In summary, the recorded data shows the Radeon Pro 5300 as the clear winner in compute performance, with a 12.2% lead in OpenCL and a higher overall percentile ranking. The HD 7970 retains advantages in memory bandwidth and raw component counts, but these do not translate to measured performance wins. The Pro 5300's combination of newer architecture, higher clocks, and better efficiency makes it the superior choice for most workloads represented in the database.