AMD Radeon HD 8730M vs AMD Radeon HD 8750M Comparison

The AMD Radeon HD 8750M and AMD Radeon HD 8730M are nearly identical products, sharing the same Mars chip, GCN 1.0 architecture, 28 nm process node, and a 950 million transistor count on a 77 mm² die. Both are part of the Solar System (HD 8700M) generation, and both are end-of-life mobile graphics solutions. The benchmark data shows a razor-thin margin between them, with the HD 8750M scoring 5970 and the HD 8730M scoring 5955 in the Geekbench OpenCL test, a delta of just 0.3%. Both cards occupy the 34th percentile among all GPUs, placing them in the entry-level segment of the market.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single available head-to-head comparison, Geekbench OpenCL, shows the AMD Radeon HD 8750M taking a narrow win. It scored 5970 points against the HD 8730M’s 5955 points, a delta of 0.3%. This margin is statistically negligible, effectively placing the two cards on par in raw compute performance. The HD 8750M’s win is consistent across the entire benchmark suite, with winsA equal to 1 and winsB equal to 0.

Looking at the nearest rivals for the HD 8750M, the data shows just how tightly grouped this segment is. The HD 8750M is 0.2% behind the NVIDIA Quadro K4000 (5982 points) and 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro K4000M (5986 points) — interestingly, it is actually 0.3% behind the K4000M despite the K4000M scoring higher, because the deltaPct is computed relative to the HD 8750M’s score. It sits 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro K620M (5957 points). The HD 8730M’s rival list mirrors this clustering, with a 0% delta against the Quadro K620M and a 0.4% lead over the Intel UHD Graphics 730 (5929 points).

The practical interpretation is that all five GPUs — the two AMD parts, two Quadro K4000 variants, and the Quadro K620M — are within a 0.5% performance band of each other. The HD 8750M’s 5970 score represents the top of this cluster, while the HD 8730M’s 5955 nearly ties it. For any real-world workload, the 15-point difference out of roughly 6000 is imperceptible.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon HD 8750M wins the only benchmark category present in the data, Geekbench OpenCL, with a score of 5970. This makes it the stronger choice for GPU compute tasks that leverage OpenCL, such as video encoding, image processing, or scientific calculations that offload to the GPU. Its advantage is small — 0.3% — but it does hold the top spot in this comparison.

The AMD Radeon HD 8730M does not win any benchmark category in the available data. However, the data reveals a compensating factor: the HD 8730M comes with 2 GB of DDR3 memory, whereas the HD 8750M ships with only 1024 MB. Both cards use a 128-bit memory bus and have identical 28.80 GB/s bandwidth, so the extra memory capacity does not improve throughput. The advantage of the 2 GB frame buffer is purely capacity-driven: workloads that require large textures or datasets that exceed 1 GB will fit within the HD 8730M’s memory, while the HD 8750M would be forced to spill over to system memory, causing a performance penalty. For gaming at higher resolutions or with high-resolution texture packs, the HD 8730M’s larger memory pool is a tangible benefit, even if its raw compute is slightly slower.

Conversely, the HD 8750M compensates for its smaller memory with higher clocks. Its base clock runs at 775 MHz, boosting to 825 MHz, while the HD 8730M operates at 650 MHz base and 700 MHz boost. This 125 MHz difference in both base and boost clocks translates into higher fill rates: the HD 8750M achieves 6.600 GPixel/s pixel rate and 19.80 GTexel/s texture rate, versus the HD 8730M’s 5.600 GPixel/s and 16.80 GTexel/s. Similarly, FP32 compute is 633.6 GFLOPS for the HD 8750M against 537.6 GFLOPS for the HD 8730M. So the HD 8750M wins on speed, while the HD 8730M wins on memory capacity.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs are built on the same Mars chip, using AMD’s GCN 1.0 architecture fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The transistor count is identical at 950 million, and the die size is 77 mm², yielding a transistor density of 12.3 million transistors per square millimeter. Core configuration is also identical: 384 shading units, 24 texture mapping units, and 8 raster operation units. Neither card features ray tracing cores or tensor cores.

The differences are confined to clock speeds and memory capacity. The HD 8750M has a base clock of 775 MHz and a boost clock of 825 MHz, while the HD 8730M runs at 650 MHz base and 700 MHz boost. Memory clocks are the same on both cards: 900 MHz, which yields 1800 Mbps effective for the DDR3 memory. Both use a 128-bit memory bus, and both achieve exactly 28.80 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

Memory capacity is the only other distinguishing feature: the HD 8750M has 1024 MB, while the HD 8730M has 2 GB. Both use DDR3 memory, so the larger capacity on the HD 8730M does not come with a bandwidth advantage. The PCIe interface is identical at PCIe 3.0 x8 for both cards. API support matches as well, with both supporting DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. Production status is end-of-life for both, and they share the same predecessor (London) and successor (Gem System) in the product line. The release dates differ slightly, with the HD 8750M launching on February 25, 2013, and the HD 8730M on March 31, 2013.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8750M scores 5970 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the AMD Radeon HD 8730M scores 5955. The HD 8750M leads by 0.3%.

Q: Do these GPUs have the same memory bandwidth?

A: Yes. Both cards use DDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus, and both achieve 28.80 GB/s bandwidth. The memory clock is 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective) on both.

Q: What is the difference in memory capacity?

A: The HD 8750M has 1024 MB of memory, while the HD 8730M has 2 GB. This is the HD 8730M’s primary advantage, as the larger frame buffer can hold more data.

Q: Are the clock speeds different?

A: Yes. The HD 8750M runs at 775 MHz base and 825 MHz boost, while the HD 8730M runs at 650 MHz base and 700 MHz boost. This gives the HD 8750M higher pixel rate (6.600 GPixel/s vs 5.600 GPixel/s) and texture rate (19.80 GTexel/s vs 16.80 GTexel/s).

Q: How do these cards compare to NVIDIA Quadro parts?

A: The HD 8750M is 0.2% behind the Quadro K4000 (5982) and 0.2% ahead of the Quadro K620M (5957). The HD 8730M is exactly tied with the Quadro K620M (5957) at 0% delta. Both AMD cards are within a 0.5% band of the Quadro K4000M (5986).

Q: What is the transistor count and die size?

A: Both GPUs have 950 million transistors on a 77 mm² die, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, giving a transistor density of 12.3 million per mm².

The Verdict

The data presents a clear but narrow choice. The AMD Radeon HD 8750M is the faster card in raw compute, winning the Geekbench OpenCL test with 5970 points against the HD 8730M’s 5955. It also has higher clocks across the board — 775 MHz base and 825 MHz boost versus 650 MHz and 700 MHz — resulting in better pixel fill rate (6.600 GPixel/s vs 5.600 GPixel/s) and texture throughput (19.80 GTexel/s vs 16.80 GTexel/s). For users whose workloads are compute-bound and fit within 1 GB of memory, the HD 8750M is the superior part.

The AMD Radeon HD 8730M, however, counters with 2 GB of memory versus the HD 8750M’s 1024 MB, while maintaining the same 28.80 GB/s bandwidth on a 128-bit bus. This capacity advantage is decisive for texture-heavy applications, large computational datasets, or gaming with high-resolution assets that exceed 1 GB. The HD 8730M’s 0.3% deficit in compute score is negligible, but the extra memory capacity can be a hard requirement for certain workloads.

Both cards share identical architecture (GCN 1.0, Mars chip), the same 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, 8 ROPs, and the same API support (DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.2.170). The choice between them should be dictated by memory requirements. If the workload needs more than 1 GB of VRAM, the HD 8730M is the only option. If memory fits within 1 GB, the HD 8750M’s higher clocks and slightly better compute performance make it the preferable pick, though the difference is marginal. For users comparing against the wider market, both cards sit at the 34th percentile among all GPUs, placing them firmly in entry-level territory, with performance nearly identical to the NVIDIA Quadro K4000, K4000M, and K620M. In this tightly packed segment, the HD 8730M’s memory capacity is the only meaningful differentiator.