AMD Radeon HD 7970 vs AMD Radeon Pro 570X Comparison

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 and the AMD Radeon Pro 570X represent two distinct generations of graphics technology, separated by seven years and aimed at different market segments. The data shows a clear head-to-head winner in the single shared benchmark, but the broader picture is more nuanced given their divergent architectures and intended use cases. The HD 7970, a 2012 flagship, leverages its older but wider memory interface and higher shading unit count, while the Pro 570X, a 2019 mobile part, relies on a newer process node and higher clock speeds to achieve efficiency. Benchmark results indicate that raw specifications tell only part of the story, as software support and API compatibility shift the practical performance landscape.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable test in the FACT PACK is Geekbench OpenCL, and the results are decisively in favor of the older card. The AMD Radeon HD 7970 scores 34,541 points, while the AMD Radeon Pro 570X manages 27,604 points. This translates to a 25.1% advantage for the HD 7970, a substantial margin that underscores the impact of its architectural design. The HD 7970’s 2048 shading units and 128 texture mapping units, paired with a 384-bit memory bus, allow it to sustain higher throughput in compute-heavy OpenCL workloads compared to the Pro 570X’s 1792 shading units and 112 TMUs on a 256-bit bus.

However, the Pro 570X does not compete solely on OpenCL. Its benchmark suite includes Geekbench Metal and Vulkan scores, where it achieves 40,066 and 28,859 points respectively. These results are significantly higher than its OpenCL score, suggesting that the Pro 570X is optimized for Apple’s Metal API and modern Vulkan pipelines. The HD 7970 lacks these specific benchmark entries, so a direct comparison on those APIs is impossible from the data. The average benchmark score across all tests for the Pro 570X is 32,176 points, which is 2,365 points lower than the HD 7970’s single average of 34,541 points, yet the Pro 570X’s Metal result demonstrates that it excels in environments that leverage its native API support.

Looking at the nearest rivals provides context for these scores. The HD 7970 sits within 0.5% of the NVIDIA TITAN V (34,355 points) and 1% of the NVIDIA RTX A1000 (34,207 points), placing it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs. The Pro 570X, meanwhile, is 0.9% ahead of the Intel Arc Pro A30M (31,894 points) and 0.7% behind the AMD FirePro S10000 (32,388 points), landing in the 76th percentile. This shows that while the HD 7970 outperforms the Pro 570X in OpenCL by a wide margin, both cards occupy similar tiers relative to their contemporaries, with the HD 7970 holding a slight edge in overall ranking.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in OpenCL performance?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7970 wins decisively, scoring 34,541 points versus 27,604 points for the AMD Radeon Pro 570X, a 25.1% difference in favor of the HD 7970.

Q: Does the Pro 570X have any performance advantage?

A: Yes, but only in APIs not shared by the HD 7970. The Pro 570X scores 40,066 points in Geekbench Metal and 28,859 points in Vulkan, though the HD 7970 has no scores for these tests in the data, so a head-to-head comparison is not possible.

Q: How do these cards compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The HD 7970 is 0.1% behind the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB (34,561 points) and 0.4% behind the NVIDIA A2 (34,690 points). The Pro 570X is 0.9% ahead of the Intel Arc Pro A30M (31,894 points) and 1.1% behind the AMD FirePro S9300 X2 (32,540 points).

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card?

A: The HD 7970 has an average score of 34,541 points, while the Pro 570X averages 32,176 points across its three benchmark results, showing a 2,365-point gap in favor of the HD 7970.

Q: Which card has a higher percentile ranking?

A: The HD 7970 ranks in the 79th percentile of all GPUs, while the Pro 570X ranks in the 76th percentile, indicating the HD 7970 sits slightly higher in the overall performance distribution.

Q: Are these cards still in production?

A: No, both are marked as end-of-life products. The HD 7970 was released in January 2012, and the Pro 570X was released in March 2019.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 wins in raw compute throughput, specifically in OpenCL workloads. Its 25.1% advantage over the Pro 570X in this benchmark suggests it is better suited for tasks that rely heavily on general-purpose GPU computing, such as scientific simulations, video encoding, or any OpenCL-accelerated application. The card’s higher texture rate of 118.4 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 29.60 GPixel/s, while not directly benchmarked here, align with its compute-oriented design. The HD 7970’s 3.789 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 264.0 GB/s memory bandwidth provide a strong foundation for data-intensive operations, making it the pick for legacy OpenCL pipelines.

The AMD Radeon Pro 570X, conversely, wins in modern API adaptability and efficiency. Its Metal score of 40,066 points is the highest single benchmark result in its entire data set, indicating that it is optimized for Apple’s ecosystem, where Metal is the primary graphics and compute API. Its Vulkan score of 28,859 points also exceeds its OpenCL result, showing better compatibility with current cross-platform standards. The card’s FP16 performance of 3.960 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio with FP32 is a notable feature, enabling faster half-precision computations in supported applications. With a TDP of 150 W and no external power connectors, it is designed for integrated or portable systems, prioritizing power efficiency over peak performance.

In practical terms, the HD 7970 wins where legacy OpenCL code is the bottleneck, while the Pro 570X wins in modern macOS environments or Vulkan-based workloads that can leverage its architectural improvements. The Pro 570X’s 4 GB of memory, though on a narrower 256-bit bus, offers more capacity than the HD 7970’s 3 GB, which could benefit texture-heavy applications with larger data sets.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge significantly in their core specifications. The HD 7970 uses a 28 nm process node from TSMC, while the Pro 570X uses a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, a difference that contributes to the latter’s lower power draw. The HD 7970 has 4,313 million transistors on a 352 mm² die, whereas the Pro 570X has 5,700 million transistors on a smaller 232 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 12.3M per mm² for the HD 7970 and 24.6M per mm² for the Pro 570X. The HD 7970 features 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, while the Pro 570X has 1792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 32 ROPs.

Memory configurations differ as well: the HD 7970 uses 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with a bandwidth of 264.0 GB/s, while the Pro 570X uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with a bandwidth of 217.0 GB/s. The HD 7970’s memory clock is 1375 MHz (5.5 Gbps effective), whereas the Pro 570X runs at 1695 MHz (6.8 Gbps effective). Clock speeds for the HD 7970 are not listed, but the Pro 570X has a base clock of 1000 MHz and a boost clock of 1105 MHz.

Power and physical design also differ. The HD 7970 has a TDP of 250 W, requires a 600 W PSU, and uses one 6-pin and one 8-pin power connector, while the Pro 570X has a TDP of 150 W, no power connectors, and no suggested PSU. The HD 7970 is a dual-slot card measuring 275 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 38 mm in width, whereas the Pro 570X is an integrated GPU (IGP) with no listed dimensions. Display outputs vary too: the HD 7970 offers one DVI, one HDMI 1.4a, and two mini-DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, while the Pro 570X’s outputs are portable device dependent.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between the two is generational. The HD 7970 is based on GCN 1.0 with the Tahiti chip, part of the Southern Islands generation (HD 7900 series), while the Pro 570X uses GCN 4.0 with the Ellesmere chip, from the Radeon Pro Mac (500X Series) generation. This means the Pro 570X benefits from four generations of architectural refinement, including improved instruction scheduling and memory compression techniques, which likely contribute to its higher efficiency despite fewer shading units.

The process node difference is critical: 28 nm for the HD 7970 versus 14 nm for the Pro 570X. The smaller node allows the Pro 570X to pack more transistors (5,700 million versus 4,313 million) into a smaller die (232 mm² versus 352 mm²), enabling higher clock speeds and lower power consumption. The Pro 570X also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, a feature absent from the HD 7970’s data, which is significant for machine learning and media applications that use half-precision arithmetic.

API support differs as well. The HD 7970 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), while the Pro 570X supports DirectX 12 (12_0), indicating the newer card has access to more advanced DirectX 12 features. Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the Pro 570X supports Vulkan 1.3, while the HD 7970 is limited to Vulkan 1.2.170. The Pro 570X’s higher Vulkan version suggests better long-term driver support and compatibility with newer applications. The HD 7970’s predecessor is Northern Islands and its successor is Sea Islands, while the Pro 570X has no listed predecessor or successor, reflecting its position as a specialized mobile part.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear choice for different users. If your workload is locked into OpenCL, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 is the superior option, with a 25.1% performance lead over the Pro 570X in that specific benchmark. Its higher shading unit count, wider memory bus, and 264.0 GB/s bandwidth make it a brute-force compute solution that still holds its own against much newer cards, as evidenced by its 79th percentile ranking and its proximity to the NVIDIA TITAN V. This is the card for legacy compute tasks, Linux-based OpenCL pipelines, or any scenario where raw FP32 throughput is the primary requirement.

If your environment is built around Metal or Vulkan, the AMD Radeon Pro 570X is the better fit. Its Metal score of 40,066 points exceeds any result the HD 7970 can offer, and its Vulkan support at version 1.3 provides a more modern and feature-rich API experience. The Pro 570X’s lower TDP of 150 W and integrated form factor make it suitable for portable systems where power and space are constrained, and its 4 GB memory capacity offers more headroom for larger assets. Neither card is in production, so availability is limited to used or refurbished markets, but the choice hinges on software compatibility: the HD 7970 for OpenCL dominance, the Pro 570X for modern API efficiency and lower power draw.