AMD Radeon HD 7970M vs NVIDIA Quadro M2000 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the two cards compare in overall OpenCL benchmark performance?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7970M scores 17,019 points in Geekbench OpenCL, while the NVIDIA Quadro M2000 scores 14,588 points. The AMD card leads by 16.7 percent in this test.

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

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7970M has an average benchmark score of 17,019 points, placing it in the 60th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA Quadro M2000 averages 14,532 points, putting it in the 56th percentile.

Q: Which card offers more memory and bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro M2000 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 105.8 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD Radeon HD 7970M has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 153.6 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the core counts for each GPU?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7970M has 1,280 shading units, 80 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA Quadro M2000 has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro M2000 achieves 37.22 GPixel/s, while the AMD Radeon HD 7970M achieves 27.20 GPixel/s. The Quadro M2000 is ahead by roughly 37 percent in this metric.

Q: What is the power consumption of each card?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7970M has a 100 W TDP and uses an MXM module form factor. The NVIDIA Quadro M2000 has a 75 W TDP, is single-slot, and comes with a suggested PSU of 250 W.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon HD 7970M is built on the GCN 1.0 architecture with the Wimbledon chip, part of the London (HD 7900M) generation. The NVIDIA Quadro M2000 uses the Maxwell 2.0 architecture with the GM206 chip, belonging to the Quadro Maxwell (Mx000) generation. Both are manufactured by TSMC on a 28 nm process node, but the transistor counts differ slightly: the AMD chip packs 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die, while the NVIDIA chip houses 2,940 million transistors on a 228 mm² die. The result is a slightly higher transistor density for AMD at 13.2M per mm² versus 12.9M per mm² for NVIDIA.

The shading architecture is fundamentally different. AMD allocates 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, while NVIDIA uses 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Despite having fewer shading units, the Quadro M2000 achieves a higher pixel rate (37.22 GPixel/s vs 27.20 GPixel/s), which suggests more efficient pixel processing per ROP. Conversely, the AMD card posts a higher texture rate at 68.00 GTexel/s compared to 55.82 GTexel/s, reflecting its larger TMU count.

Clock behavior also differs. The Quadro M2000 has explicit base and boost clocks of 796 MHz and 1163 MHz respectively, whereas the HD 7970M lists no base or boost clock in the database, only a memory clock of 1200 MHz (4.8 Gbps effective). The NVIDIA card's memory runs at 1653 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective), but the AMD card compensates with a wider 256-bit bus versus 128-bit, yielding higher total bandwidth.

API support shows a notable divergence. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Quadro M2000 also offers four DisplayPort 1.2 outputs, while the HD 7970M's display outputs are listed as portable device dependent, reflecting its MXM-B (3.0) bus interface versus the Quadro's PCIe 3.0 x16.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records a single head-to-head benchmark between these two cards: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon HD 7970M scores 17,019, while the NVIDIA Quadro M2000 scores 14,588. The delta is 16.7 percent in favor of AMD, and this is the only benchmark where a winner is recorded, giving AMD one win and NVIDIA zero.

Context from the nearest rivals clarifies the significance of this margin. The HD 7970M's OpenCL score sits within 0.1 percent of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17,037) and 0.4 percent below the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17,083). It also edges out the NVIDIA Tesla M4 (16,932) by 0.5 percent and trails the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (17,208) by 1.1 percent. The Quadro M2000's OpenCL score of 14,588 is 0.9 percent above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M (14,404) and 1 percent above the AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 (14,385). It also leads the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN (14,373) by 1.1 percent but trails the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14,692) by 1.1 percent.

The raw numbers place the HD 7970M in a higher performance tier overall. A 16.7 percent lead in OpenCL is substantial, and the percentile ranks confirm this: AMD sits at the 60th percentile of all GPUs, NVIDIA at the 56th. The Quadro M2000's Vulkan score of 14,475 is close to its OpenCL score, but no head-to-head Vulkan comparison exists in the database, so the OpenCL result stands as the primary differentiator.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category. The table below summarizes the key differences from the database.

| Specification | AMD Radeon HD 7970M | NVIDIA Quadro M2000 |

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

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | Maxwell 2.0 |

| Chip | Wimbledon | GM206 |

| Transistors | 2,800 million | 2,940 million |

| Die size | 212 mm² | 228 mm² |

| Transistor density | 13.2M / mm² | 12.9M / mm² |

| Shading units | 1,280 | 768 |

| TMUs | 80 | 48 |

| ROPs | 32 | 32 |

| Memory size | 2 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory bus width | 256 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 153.6 GB/s | 105.8 GB/s |

| Memory clock | 1200 MHz (4.8 Gbps) | 1653 MHz (6.6 Gbps) |

| Pixel rate | 27.20 GPixel/s | 37.22 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 68.00 GTexel/s | 55.82 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 2.176 TFLOPS | 1.786 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 100 W | 75 W |

| Slot width | MXM Module | Single-slot |

| Bus interface | MXM-B (3.0) | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 4x DisplayPort 1.2 |

| DirectX support | 12 (11_1) | 12 (12_1) |

| Vulkan support | 1.2.170 | 1.4 |

| Suggested PSU | None listed | 250 W |

| Release date | 2012-04-23 | 2016-04-07 |

| Predecessor | Vancouver | Quadro Kepler |

| Successor | Solar System | Quadro Pascal |

Notable differences beyond the table: the AMD card has no base or boost clock listed, while NVIDIA provides 796 MHz base and 1163 MHz boost. The AMD card also lacks a suggested PSU, a physical length/height measurement, and a launch MSRP, all of which are absent from the database. The Quadro M2000 measures 201 mm in length and 111 mm in height.

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon HD 7970M is the stronger compute performer in OpenCL workloads. Its 17,019 score beats the Quadro M2000's 14,588 by 16.7 percent, and its average benchmark score of 17,019 ranks higher in the overall GPU distribution (60th percentile vs 56th). The AMD card also delivers higher FP32 throughput (2.176 TFLOPS vs 1.786 TFLOPS), higher texture rate (68.00 GTexel/s vs 55.82 GTexel/s), and significantly more memory bandwidth (153.6 GB/s vs 105.8 GB/s), all from a wider 256-bit bus.

The NVIDIA Quadro M2000 counters with a higher pixel rate (37.22 GPixel/s vs 27.20 GPixel/s), double the memory capacity (4 GB vs 2 GB), and lower power draw (75 W vs 100 W). It also supports a newer DirectX version (12_1 vs 11_1) and a newer Vulkan version (1.4 vs 1.2.170). For professional environments requiring multiple DisplayPort outputs, the Quadro's four DisplayPort 1.2 connections are a clear advantage over the portable-device-dependent outputs of the AMD MXM module.

For raw OpenCL compute, the data favors AMD without ambiguity. For professional display flexibility, lower power consumption, and greater memory capacity, the data favors NVIDIA. The choice depends on whether the workload prioritizes raw throughput or professional feature set.

Where Each One Wins

AMD Radeon HD 7970M wins in:

• OpenCL compute performance: 17,019 vs 14,588, a 16.7 percent lead.
• Memory bandwidth: 153.6 GB/s vs 105.8 GB/s, thanks to the 256-bit bus.
• Texture throughput: 68.00 GTexel/s vs 55.82 GTexel/s.
• FP32 compute: 2.176 TFLOPS vs 1.786 TFLOPS.
• Shader throughput: 1,280 shading units vs 768.
• Transistor density: 13.2M / mm² vs 12.9M / mm².
• Overall GPU percentile: 60th vs 56th.

NVIDIA Quadro M2000 wins in:

• Pixel fill rate: 37.22 GPixel/s vs 27.20 GPixel/s.
• Memory capacity: 4 GB vs 2 GB.
• Power efficiency: 75 W TDP vs 100 W TDP.
• API support: DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.4 vs DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170.
• Display connectivity: four DisplayPort 1.2 outputs vs portable-device-dependent outputs.
• Physical form factor: single-slot PCIe card vs MXM module.
• Boost clock: 1163 MHz vs no listed boost clock.
• Memory speed: 1653 MHz (6.6 Gbps) vs 1200 MHz (4.8 Gbps).

The benchmark data shows one clear compute winner and one clear professional-workstation winner. The HD 7970M is the better choice for compute-heavy OpenCL tasks where bandwidth and shader count matter. The Quadro M2000 is the better choice for multi-display professional setups, lower-power environments, and workloads that benefit from larger memory capacity. Both are end-of-life products, but their recorded strengths remain distinct in the database.