AMD Radeon HD 8790M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison recorded in the database is the Geekbench OpenCL test. The AMD Radeon HD 8790M takes the win here, scoring 5017 against the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450’s 4893. That is a delta of 2.5% in favor of the AMD part, a modest but measurable lead. In practical terms, this means the HD 8790M completes OpenCL workloads slightly faster, though the gap is small enough that real-world application differences would likely be minor.

The bigger picture comes from the average benchmark scores. The GTS 450 sits at an average of 4893, while the HD 8790M averages 5691. That is a substantial 16.3% difference in aggregate performance, driven largely by the HD 8790M’s additional Vulkan benchmark score of 6365, a test the GTS 450 does not have recorded. The GTS 450’s percentile ranking is 28, placing it below the HD 8790M’s 33rd percentile. Both are firmly in the lower half of all GPUs tracked, but the AMD part occupies a meaningfully higher tier.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database clarifies the competitive positioning. The GTS 450’s closest neighbor is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, which scores 4901, a mere 0.2% above the GTS 450. That is a striking result: a modern enthusiast card and a 2010-era entry-level GPU land within 8 points of each other in OpenCL. The AMD FirePro W5130M scores 4904, also 0.2% ahead, while the AMD Radeon R6 M255DX trails by 0.5% at 4867. The AMD Radeon R7 M265 leads the pack at 4929, 0.7% above the GTS 450. These deltas are all within a single percentage point, indicating the GTS 450 is clustered tightly with a group of mid-range mobile and workstation parts from a much later era.

The HD 8790M’s nearest rivals show a different story. The Intel Iris Pro Graphics P6300 scores 5712, just 0.4% above the HD 8790M. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670MX is 0.5% ahead at 5721, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti leads by 0.7% at 5731. The NVIDIA Quadro M500M trails by 1.6% at 5604. The HD 8790M sits comfortably in the middle of this group, meaning it trades blows with desktop GPUs from the GTX 500 series and higher-end mobile parts, a stronger peer group than the GTS 450’s.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is wide, reflecting their very different design eras. The NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 uses the GF106 chip built on Fermi architecture, fabricated on a 40 nm process at TSMC. The die measures 238 mm² and packs 1,170 million transistors, yielding a transistor density of 4.9 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon HD 8790M uses the Mars chip with GCN 1.0 architecture, also on a TSMC process but at 28 nm. Its die is dramatically smaller at 77 mm², with 950 million transistors and a density of 12.3 million per square millimeter. The HD 8790M crams nearly as many transistors into a third of the silicon area, a direct result of the more advanced node.

The compute configuration tells a more nuanced story. The GTS 450 has 192 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The HD 8790M has 384 shading units, which is exactly double, but only 24 TMUs and 8 ROPs. The shading unit advantage does not translate into a clean win for AMD across the board. The GTS 450’s texture rate is 25.06 GTexel/s versus the HD 8790M’s 21.60 GTexel/s, a 16% lead for NVIDIA. However, the HD 8790M wins on pixel rate at 7.200 GPixel/s against 6.264 GPixel/s, an advantage of roughly 15%. In raw FP32 compute, the HD 8790M delivers 691.2 GFLOPS versus 601.3 GFLOPS, putting AMD about 15% ahead.

Memory configurations differ in capacity but not bus width. Both cards use a 128-bit memory bus with GDDR5, but the GTS 450 has 1024 MB while the HD 8790M has 2 GB, a doubling of capacity. The HD 8790M also runs its memory at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective) versus the GTS 450’s 902 MHz (3.6 Gbps effective), giving the AMD part 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth compared to 57.73 GB/s. That is a 10.9% bandwidth advantage for AMD.

API support shows the age difference clearly. The GTS 450 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support recorded. The HD 8790M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. This means the HD 8790M can run modern Vulkan titles and workloads, while the GTS 450 is locked out of that API entirely. The GTS 450 also has a dual-slot cooler with a 1x 6-pin power connector and a 300 W suggested PSU, while the HD 8790M is an MXM module with no power connectors, designed for portable devices.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8790M averages 5691 across all recorded benchmarks, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 averages 4893. That is a 16.3% difference in favor of the AMD part.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The HD 8790M scores 5017, beating the GTS 450’s 4893 by 2.5%. It is a single recorded head-to-head win for AMD.

Q: Does the GTS 450 support Vulkan?

A: No. The GTS 450 has no Vulkan version recorded in the database. The HD 8790M supports Vulkan 1.2.170.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The HD 8790M has 64.00 GB/s, while the GTS 450 has 57.73 GB/s. The AMD card leads by 10.9%.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each card?

A: The GTS 450’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, which is only 0.2% faster. The HD 8790M’s nearest rival is the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P6300, which is 0.4% faster.

Q: Which card has the higher pixel rate?

A: The HD 8790M achieves 7.200 GPixel/s, while the GTS 450 achieves 6.264 GPixel/s. AMD leads by roughly 15%.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification category. The GTS 450 is built on a 40 nm process, while the HD 8790M uses 28 nm. The GTS 450 has a die size of 238 mm² versus 77 mm² for the HD 8790M. Transistor counts are 1,170 million for NVIDIA and 950 million for AMD. Transistor density heavily favors AMD at 12.3M / mm² against NVIDIA’s 4.9M / mm².

Clock speeds differ significantly. The GTS 450 has no base or boost clock recorded, only a memory clock of 902 MHz (3.6 Gbps effective). The HD 8790M has a base clock of 850 MHz and a boost clock of 900 MHz, with memory at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective). Memory capacity is 1024 MB for the GTS 450 and 2 GB for the HD 8790M. Both use GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, but bandwidth goes to AMD at 64.00 GB/s against 57.73 GB/s.

Compute resources differ: the GTS 450 has 192 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs; the HD 8790M has 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. Pixel rate favors AMD at 7.200 GPixel/s versus 6.264 GPixel/s. Texture rate favors NVIDIA at 25.06 GTexel/s versus 21.60 GTexel/s. FP32 performance favors AMD at 691.2 GFLOPS versus 601.3 GFLOPS.

Power and physical differences are stark. The GTS 450 has a 106 W TDP, a dual-slot cooler, a 1x 6-pin power connector, and a 300 W suggested PSU. The HD 8790M has no recorded TDP, uses an MXM Module form factor, and has no power connectors. The GTS 450 is 210 mm long and 111 mm tall; the HD 8790M has no dimensions recorded. Bus interfaces differ: PCIe 2.0 x16 for NVIDIA, MXM-A (3.0) for AMD. Display outputs are 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a for the GTS 450, while the HD 8790M is portable device dependent.

API support differs in DirectX and Vulkan. The GTS 450 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6. The HD 8790M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The GTS 450 launched on 2010-09-12 with a launch MSRP of 129 USD, while the HD 8790M launched on 2013-03-31 with no recorded MSRP. Finally, the GTS 450 has no Vulkan benchmark recorded, while the HD 8790M has both OpenCL and Vulkan scores.

The Verdict

The data points to the AMD Radeon HD 8790M as the stronger overall performer. It wins the only direct head-to-head benchmark, holds a 16.3% average score advantage, and ranks higher in the percentile distribution. The HD 8790M also brings modern API support with Vulkan 1.2.170, double the memory capacity, and higher FP32 compute. For any workload that leverages OpenCL, Vulkan, or larger framebuffers, the HD 8790M is the clear choice.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 is not without its merits. It has a higher texture rate, a wider physical footprint, and a fixed desktop form factor with standard display outputs. Its 106 W TDP is modest, and the 129 USD launch MSRP positioned it as an entry-level desktop card. However, the lack of Vulkan support and the lower average benchmark score put it behind in the aggregate.

The choice depends on the use case. For a desktop system with an available PCIe slot, the GTS 450 offers a simple plug-and-play solution with dual DVI and mini-HDMI outputs. For a portable or MXM-based system, the HD 8790M is the only option of the two. In raw performance terms, the HD 8790M is the better card by every aggregate metric in the database.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon HD 8790M wins in compute-heavy scenarios. Its FP32 output of 691.2 GFLOPS is 15% higher than the GTS 450’s 601.3 GFLOPS. It also leads in pixel rate, delivering 7.200 GPixel/s versus 6.264 GPixel/s. The memory subsystem favors AMD with 64.00 GB/s bandwidth and 2 GB of capacity, which helps in texture-heavy scenes or workloads that need larger working sets. The Vulkan 1.2.170 support gives it access to modern graphics APIs that the GTS 450 cannot use at all.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 wins in texture throughput. Its 25.06 GTexel/s beats the HD 8790M’s 21.60 GTexel/s, meaning it can process texel operations faster. The GTS 450 also has a higher ROP count at 16 versus 8, which in theory helps with certain fill-rate-bound tasks, though the measured pixel rate tells a different story in favor of AMD. The GTS 450’s desktop form factor with dual DVI and mini-HDMI outputs is a practical win for users connecting to standard monitors, while the HD 8790M depends entirely on the host laptop’s ports.

The overall win count is 1 for AMD and 0 for NVIDIA in the head-to-head benchmarks. The HD 8790M also has a higher percentile rank at 33 versus 28. For users who prioritize raw compute, modern API compatibility, and memory capacity, the HD 8790M is the pick. For users who need texture rate, a desktop card with standard outputs, and a lower power footprint, the GTS 450 has specific advantages. The database’s aggregate scores, however, consistently favor the AMD part.