AMD Radeon HD 7970 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark in the database is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 50,038, while the AMD Radeon HD 7970 posts 34,541. That translates to a 31% advantage for the NVIDIA part in raw OpenCL compute throughput. The delta is substantial — this is not a marginal win but a clear generational gap in compute performance.

The HD 7970’s score of 34,541 places it in the 79th percentile of all GPUs tracked. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB (34,561, -0.1%), the NVIDIA A2 (34,690, -0.4%), and the NVIDIA TITAN V (34,355, +0.5%). Essentially, the HD 7970 sits in a tight cluster where a single percentage point separates it from those three cards. The RTX 3050 Mobile, by contrast, scores 50,038 in Geekbench OpenCL, which lands it in the 78th percentile overall. Its closest competitors are the NVIDIA T550 Mobile (33,161, 0.0%), the AMD Radeon Pro 570 (33,207, -0.1%), the NVIDIA P104-100 (32,982, +0.6%), and the NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32,849, +1.0%).

One notable observation is the discrepancy between percentile rank and raw score. The RTX 3050 Mobile holds a 31% OpenCL lead over the HD 7970, yet its overall percentile (78th) is nearly identical to the HD 7970’s (79th). This suggests the RTX 3050 Mobile’s average benchmark score across all tests, 33,170, is dragged down by its other results — namely the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 421 and the Geekbench Vulkan score of 49,051. The HD 7970 has no corresponding data for those tests, so its average (34,541) is derived solely from its OpenCL result. When comparing average scores, the RTX 3050 Mobile (33,170) actually trails the HD 7970 (34,541) by roughly 4%, even though the head-to-head OpenCL comparison shows the NVIDIA card winning by 31%.

The data paints a nuanced picture: in a pure compute workload like OpenCL, the RTX 3050 Mobile is the clear victor. But the HD 7970’s single-benchmark profile inflates its average relative to the RTX 3050 Mobile’s multi-test average. For the head-to-head record, the scoreboard shows 1 win for the RTX 3050 Mobile and 0 wins for the HD 7970.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different eras of design. The AMD Radeon HD 7970 uses the Tahiti chip built on GCN 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 4,313 million transistors on a 352 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.3M / mm². This is a desktop card from the Southern Islands (HD 7900) generation, released in early 2012.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile uses the GA107 chip based on Ampere architecture, built on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It contains 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 43.5M / mm² — more than triple the HD 7970’s density. This is a mobile part from the GeForce 30 Mobile generation, released in 2021.

Memory configurations differ sharply. The HD 7970 carries 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 264.0 GB/s of bandwidth at 1375 MHz (or 5.5 Gbps effective). The RTX 3050 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, which provides 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). The HD 7970’s wider bus gives it a 37.5% bandwidth advantage, despite the older memory type.

Core configuration shows both GPUs share the same count of shading units: 2048. The HD 7970, however, has 128 texture mapping units versus the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 64, and both have 32 ROPs. The HD 7970’s texture rate is 118.4 GTexel/s versus 85.95 GTexel/s for the RTX 3050 Mobile — a 37.8% difference in the AMD’s favor. Pixel rates reverse the trend: the RTX 3050 Mobile hits 42.98 GPixel/s versus 29.60 GPixel/s for the HD 7970, a 45.2% advantage for NVIDIA.

Compute throughput tells another story. The RTX 3050 Mobile delivers 5.501 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, versus 3.789 TFLOPS for the HD 7970 — a 45.2% advantage for NVIDIA. The RTX 3050 Mobile also supports FP16 at 5.501 TFLOPS (1:1), while the HD 7970 has no listed FP16 capability. The NVIDIA part additionally includes 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores, features absent from the HD 7970 entirely.

Clock behavior differs as well. The RTX 3050 Mobile has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1343 MHz. The HD 7970 lists no base or boost clock figures, only its memory clock. Power consumption is a stark divider: the HD 7970 draws 250 W and requires a 600 W PSU with 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin connectors, while the RTX 3050 Mobile is rated at 45 W with no power connectors (an IGP form factor). The HD 7970 is a dual-slot 275 mm card; the RTX 3050 Mobile has no listed dimensions because it is designed for portable devices.

API support reflects their generations. The HD 7970 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The RTX 3050 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The NVIDIA card’s higher DirectX feature level and newer Vulkan version indicate broader modern API compatibility.

Where Each One Wins

The data points to a clear split along workload lines. The RTX 3050 Mobile dominates in raw compute tasks, as evidenced by its 31% lead in Geekbench OpenCL. Its 5.501 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 5.501 TFLOPS FP16 performance make it the stronger choice for general-purpose GPU compute, machine learning inference (via its 64 tensor cores), and ray-traced workloads (via its 16 RT cores). The Vulkan score of 49,051 further reinforces its strength in modern graphics APIs.

The HD 7970, meanwhile, excels in memory-bandwidth-bound scenarios. Its 264.0 GB/s bandwidth is 37.5% higher than the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 192.0 GB/s, and its texture rate of 118.4 GTexel/s beats the NVIDIA part’s 85.95 GTexel/s by 37.8%. For older games or workloads that rely heavily on texture fetching and high-bandwidth memory access, the HD 7970’s 384-bit bus and 128 TMUs provide a tangible advantage. Its 3 GB frame buffer, while smaller in capacity than the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 4 GB, is paired with a much wider interface.

Pixel throughput favors NVIDIA, with the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 42.98 GPixel/s outpacing the HD 7970’s 29.60 GPixel/s by 45.2%. This suggests the NVIDIA card handles fill-rate-limited scenarios, such as high-resolution rendering with heavy overdraw, more efficiently.

The power envelope is a decisive differentiator. The HD 7970 requires 250 W and a 600 W power supply, making it a desktop-only proposition with substantial thermal and electrical demands. The RTX 3050 Mobile’s 45 W TDP, by contrast, allows it to operate in thin-and-light laptops with no external power connectors. This fundamentally changes where each card can be deployed.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear, if nuanced, conclusion. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is the superior compute and modern-graphics GPU. Its 31% OpenCL lead over the HD 7970 is decisive, and its 5.501 TFLOPS FP32 performance, ray tracing cores, tensor cores, and DirectX 12 Ultimate support make it the more future-proof choice for contemporary workloads. Its 45 W power draw versus 250 W for the HD 7970 also makes it vastly more efficient per watt, even if the database does not list a direct efficiency metric.

The AMD Radeon HD 7970, however, retains specific strengths. Its 264.0 GB/s memory bandwidth and 118.4 GTexel/s texture rate are class-leading for its era and still exceed the RTX 3050 Mobile in those metrics. For legacy applications, older game titles, or bandwidth-sensitive compute tasks, the HD 7970 can hold its own. Its 79th percentile ranking versus the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 78th is telling — despite the NVIDIA card’s modern architecture and higher compute throughput, the HD 7970’s average score across all tests is actually 4% higher.

Who should pick which? Data-driven choices favor the RTX 3050 Mobile for anyone running modern software, compute-heavy workloads, or ray-traced content, and who values portability and low power draw. The HD 7970 is the logical pick for systems constrained by legacy driver requirements, or for scenarios where memory bandwidth is the bottleneck and power consumption is not a concern. The HD 7970 is end-of-life, as is the RTX 3050 Mobile, so neither offers future platform upgrades. The RTX 3050 Mobile’s launch MSRP is not listed; the HD 7970’s launch MSRP was 549 USD.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 50,038 versus the AMD Radeon HD 7970’s 34,541, giving NVIDIA a 31% advantage.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7970 has 264.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 384-bit bus, while the RTX 3050 Mobile provides 192.0 GB/s on a 128-bit bus. The HD 7970 leads by 37.5%.

Q: What are the transistor counts and process nodes?

A: The HD 7970 has 4,313 million transistors on a 28 nm TSMC process. The RTX 3050 Mobile has 8,700 million transistors on an 8 nm Samsung process.

Q: Does the RTX 3050 Mobile support ray tracing?

A: Yes, it includes 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores. The HD 7970 has no ray tracing or tensor core support.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The HD 7970 has a 250 W TDP and requires a 600 W PSU with 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin connectors. The RTX 3050 Mobile is rated at 45 W with no power connectors.

Q: Which GPU has the higher FP32 compute throughput?

A: The RTX 3050 Mobile delivers 5.501 TFLOPS of FP32, while the HD 7970 provides 3.789 TFLOPS. NVIDIA leads by 45.2%.