AMD Radeon HD 7970 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The data in the database draws a stark and unambiguous line between these two GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is in a completely different performance class, delivering a 423.5% higher score in the only directly comparable benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL. This is not a close contest; it is a generational and architectural chasm.

For any user prioritizing raw compute performance, modern feature support, or power efficiency, the RTX 4090 Mobile is the only logical choice. Its average benchmark score of 43667 places it in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon HD 7970 sits at the 79th percentile with an average score of 34541. The RTX 4090 Mobile is also within a 0.9% delta of the NVIDIA RTX A6000, a professional-grade workstation card, and slightly ahead of the Quadro M6000 variants. The HD 7970, meanwhile, trades blows with the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB and TITAN V, sitting within a 1% delta of those older or lower-tier cards.

The Radeon HD 7970 is an end-of-life product with a 250 W TDP and a 600 W suggested PSU, making it a power-hungry relic. The RTX 4090 Mobile, despite being a mobile part, operates at a 120 W TDP. The HD 7970's only conceivable advantage in the data is its 549 USD launch MSRP, but the performance gap is so vast that this price point offers no practical reprieve. The verdict is simple: the RTX 4090 Mobile is for anyone who needs top-tier portable performance; the HD 7970 is a historical artifact with no competitive standing in modern workloads.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are separated by over a decade of engineering and manufacturing progress. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is built on the AD103 chip using the Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 45,900 million transistors into a 379 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 121.1 million per mm². In contrast, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 uses the Tahiti chip with the GCN 1.0 architecture, also from TSMC but on a much older 28 nm node. It houses 4,313 million transistors across a 352 mm² die, with a density of only 12.3 million per mm².

The RTX 4090 Mobile features 9,728 shading units, 304 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. It also includes 76 dedicated ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads such as DLSS. The HD 7970 has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor core support. The RTX 4090 Mobile also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the HD 7970 is limited to DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Memory subsystems differ dramatically as well. The RTX 4090 Mobile uses 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The HD 7970 uses 3 GB of GDDR5 on a wider 384-bit bus but achieves only 264.0 GB/s. The RTX 4090 Mobile's FP32 compute is rated at 32.98 TFLOPS, while the HD 7970 manages just 3.789 TFLOPS. The RTX 4090 Mobile also offers FP16 at 32.98 TFLOPS (1:1), a feature entirely absent from the HD 7970's specification sheet.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records only one direct head-to-head benchmark between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. The results are decisive. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile scores 180,831 points, while the AMD Radeon HD 7970 scores 34,541 points. This gives the RTX 4090 Mobile a 423.5% advantage, meaning it is more than five times faster in this compute-oriented test.

This single data point dominates the comparison. The RTX 4090 Mobile also has a broader benchmark footprint, with scores in Geekbench Vulkan (170,774), Passmark DirectX 10 (173), DirectX 11 (262), DirectX 12 (107), DirectX 9 (310), G2D (984), G3D (27,212), and GPU Compute (12,347). The HD 7970 has no recorded scores in any of these tests, so no further head-to-head deltas can be calculated. The recorded wins column confirms this: the RTX 4090 Mobile wins 1, the HD 7970 wins 0.

To contextualize the RTX 4090 Mobile's OpenCL result, it sits near the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (average 44,075, a 0.9% delta against the mobile card) and the Quadro M6000 (average 43,301, a 0.8% delta). The HD 7970's OpenCL score places it near the NVIDIA T1000 8 GB (34,561, a 0.1% delta) and the NVIDIA A2 (34,690, a 0.4% delta). The RTX 4090 Mobile is effectively competing in a different league, one populated by professional workstation GPUs, while the HD 7970 is aligned with entry-level modern cards.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in compute workloads?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile is dramatically faster. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 180,831 versus 34,541 for the AMD Radeon HD 7970, a 423.5% higher result.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon HD 7970 support ray tracing?

A: No. The HD 7970 has no ray tracing cores listed in the database. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile includes 76 RT cores.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the HD 7970 has 3 GB of GDDR5. The RTX 4090 Mobile also offers 576.0 GB/s bandwidth versus 264.0 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile has a pixel rate of 189.8 GPixel/s, compared to 29.60 GPixel/s for the HD 7970.

Q: Is the HD 7970 still in production?

A: No, the HD 7970 is marked as end-of-life in the database. The RTX 4090 Mobile is listed as active.

Q: How does the power draw compare?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile has a 120 W TDP, while the HD 7970 has a 250 W TDP and requires a 600 W suggested PSU.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile wins in every measurable category in the database. It has higher compute (32.98 TFLOPS FP32 versus 3.789 TFLOPS), higher texture rate (515.3 GTexel/s versus 118.4 GTexel/s), higher pixel rate (189.8 GPixel/s versus 29.60 GPixel/s), more memory (16 GB versus 3 GB), higher bandwidth (576.0 GB/s versus 264.0 GB/s), and more shading units (9,728 versus 2,048). It also supports modern APIs like DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, which the HD 7970 cannot fully utilize.

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 has no benchmark wins in the recorded data. Its only nominal advantages are its wider memory bus (384-bit versus 256-bit) and its dual-slot form factor with specific display outputs (1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2). These are interface characteristics, not performance strengths. The HD 7970 also has a launch MSRP of 549 USD, but the database offers no evidence of any workload where it outperforms the RTX 4090 Mobile.

For use-case planning, the RTX 4090 Mobile is suited for any modern gaming, content creation, AI inference, or professional rendering task. Its tensor cores and ray tracing hardware make it future-proof for DirectX 12 Ultimate titles. The HD 7970 is only relevant for legacy software or as a collector's item; its GCN 1.0 architecture lacks the features and raw throughput needed for contemporary applications.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile | AMD Radeon HD 7970 |

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

| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | GCN 1.0 |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 28 nm |

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

| Die Size | 379 mm² | 352 mm² |

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

| Shading Units | 9,728 | 2,048 |

| TMUs | 304 | 128 |

| ROPs | 112 | 32 |

| RT Cores | 76 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 304 | None |

| Memory Size | 16 GB | 3 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus | 256 bit | 384 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 576.0 GB/s | 264.0 GB/s |

| FP32 Compute | 32.98 TFLOPS | 3.789 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Compute | 32.98 TFLOPS (1:1) | Not listed |

| Pixel Rate | 189.8 GPixel/s | 29.60 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 515.3 GTexel/s | 118.4 GTexel/s |

| TDP | 120 W | 250 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

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

| Suggested PSU | Not listed | 600 W |

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

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

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.2.170 |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2023-01-02 | 2012-01-08 |

| Predecessor | GeForce 30 Mobile | Northern Islands |

| Successor | GeForce 50 Mobile | Sea Islands |