AMD Radeon HD 8950M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the average benchmark scores of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 and AMD Radeon HD 8950M compare?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 records an average benchmark score of 14,747, which places it 1,371 points ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 8950M's average of 13,376. This corresponds to a roughly 10.3% advantage for the NVIDIA part in overall compute performance.

Q: Which GPU wins in the OpenCL benchmark, and by how much?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 15,707 against the AMD Radeon HD 8950M's 13,772. The recorded delta is 14.1% in favor of the NVIDIA card.

Q: What is the margin of victory for the NVIDIA card in the Vulkan benchmark?

A: The GeForce GTX 770 scores 19,166 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the Radeon HD 8950M scores 12,979. That is a substantial 47.7% difference, making Vulkan the largest single performance gap between the two.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the AMD Radeon HD 8950M supports DirectX 12 (12_0). The AMD part has a higher feature level in this API category.

Q: How does the memory bandwidth differ between the two cards?

A: The GeForce GTX 770 delivers 224.4 GB/s of bandwidth over a 256-bit bus, while the Radeon HD 8950M provides 88.00 GB/s over a 128-bit bus. The NVIDIA card has roughly 2.5 times the memory bandwidth of the AMD mobile part.

Q: What are the percentile rankings for each GPU in the database?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 sits at the 57th percentile among all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon HD 8950M sits at the 54th percentile. Both are near the middle of the overall distribution, but the NVIDIA card ranks slightly higher.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies and target different market segments. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 is built on the GK104 chip using the Kepler architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 28 nm process. The AMD Radeon HD 8950M uses the Saturn chip with the GCN 2.0 architecture, also on a 28 nm TSMC process. Both use the same manufacturing node, but the similarities end there.

The transistor counts reveal a major scale difference. The GK104 packs 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, while the Saturn chip contains 2,080 million transistors on a 160 mm² die. Despite the smaller die, the AMD part actually has a higher transistor density at 13.0M per mm² compared to the NVIDIA chip's 12.0M per mm². The NVIDIA chip is physically larger and more complex overall.

Compute resource allocation differs sharply. The GeForce GTX 770 fields 1,536 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The Radeon HD 8950M counters with 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. In every category, the NVIDIA card has exactly double or more than double the execution resources of the AMD part.

Clock behavior also sets them apart. The GeForce GTX 770 has defined base and boost clocks of 1046 MHz and 1085 MHz respectively, whereas the Radeon HD 8950M has no recorded base or boost clock in the database. The memory clocks differ too: the NVIDIA card runs at 1753 MHz with 7 Gbps effective, while the AMD part runs at 1375 MHz with 5.5 Gbps effective.

The API support shows a notable split. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both share OpenGL 4.6, but the AMD part has a higher DirectX feature level while the NVIDIA part has a slightly newer Vulkan version.

Physical and power characteristics diverge considerably. The GeForce GTX 770 is a dual-slot desktop card measuring 267 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 38 mm in width, with a 230 W TDP and power connectors requiring 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin. It carries a suggested PSU rating of 550 W. The Radeon HD 8950M is an MXM module with a 100 W TDP, no listed power connectors, no suggested PSU, and no recorded physical dimensions. Display outputs also differ: the NVIDIA card offers 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2, while the AMD card is listed as "Portable Device Dependent."

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clean sweep for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 across the two shared benchmark tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA card scores 15,707 against the AMD Radeon HD 8950M's 13,772, a 14.1% advantage. This margin is substantial but not overwhelming, suggesting the AMD part remains competitive in general-purpose compute workloads.

The Vulkan test tells a different story. The GeForce GTX 770 scores 19,166, while the Radeon HD 8950M scores 12,979. The 47.7% delta is nearly 3.4 times larger than the OpenCL gap. This suggests the NVIDIA architecture has a particular strength in modern graphics API workloads, or the AMD mobile part struggles under Vulkan's lower-level abstraction.

Context from the nearest rivals helps frame these results. The GeForce GTX 770's average score of 14,747 places it just 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14,692) and 1.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro M2000 (14,532). It trails the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti by 2.1% (15,063) and the AMD Radeon Pro 560X by 2.2% (15,082). The GTX 770 sits in a tight cluster of mid-range desktop and workstation cards.

The Radeon HD 8950M's average of 13,376 puts it in a similarly dense pack of mobile and workstation parts. It is 0.2% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5500M (13,356), 0.2% ahead of the AMD FirePro M6100 (13,354), and 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 555X (13,321). It trails the AMD Radeon Pro 555 by 0.2% (13,407). These deltas are all within a fraction of a percent, indicating the HD 8950M is right at the median of its immediate competitive set.

Looking at the individual benchmark scores, the GTX 770's Vulkan result of 19,166 is substantially higher than its OpenCL result of 15,707, a 22% internal improvement. The HD 8950M shows the opposite trend, with its OpenCL score of 13,772 exceeding its Vulkan score of 12,979 by about 6.1%. This divergence in API scaling is one of the clearest differentiators between the two architectures in the recorded data.

The overall wins tally reflects the one-sided nature of the comparison: the NVIDIA card wins 2 benchmarks, and the AMD card wins 0. No benchmark in the head-to-head set favors the Radeon part.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 | AMD Radeon HD 8950M |

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

| Architecture | Kepler | GCN 2.0 |

| Chip | GK104 | Saturn |

| Transistors | 3,540 million | 2,080 million |

| Die Size | 294 mm² | 160 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.0M / mm² | 13.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1046 MHz | Not specified |

| Boost Clock | 1085 MHz | Not specified |

| Memory Clock | 1753 MHz, 7 Gbps effective | 1375 MHz, 5.5 Gbps effective |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 224.4 GB/s | 88.00 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1536 | 768 |

| Texture Mapping Units | 128 | 48 |

| Raster Operations Units | 32 | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 34.72 GPixel/s | 17.20 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 138.9 GTexel/s | 51.60 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 3.333 TFLOPS | 1.651 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 230 W | 100 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | MXM Module |

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

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | None listed |

| Display Outputs | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DisplayPort 1.2 | Portable Device Dependent |

| DirectX Support | 12 (11_0) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.2.175 | 1.2.170 |

| Dimensions | 267 mm x 111 mm x 38 mm | Not specified |

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a clear hierarchy. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 outperforms the AMD Radeon HD 8950M in every recorded test, with an average score advantage of 1,371 points (approximately 10.3%). The margin is consistent across both workload types, though it expands dramatically in Vulkan.

For users prioritizing compute performance in OpenCL or Vulkan workloads, the GeForce GTX 770 is the stronger choice. Its 14.1% OpenCL lead and 47.7% Vulkan lead are both statistically and practically significant. The NVIDIA card also offers substantially more memory bandwidth (224.4 GB/s vs 88.00 GB/s) and more than double the FP32 throughput (3.333 TFLOPS vs 1.651 TFLOPS), which explains its dominance in raw compute tasks.

The Radeon HD 8950M is not without merits, but they are narrower in scope. It supports a higher DirectX feature level (12_0 vs 11_0), which could matter for specific DirectX 12 titles that leverage those features. Its TDP of 100 W is dramatically lower than the GTX 770's 230 W, and its MXM form factor makes it suitable for portable devices where the desktop dual-slot card cannot fit. The smaller die (160 mm² vs 294 mm²) and lower transistor count (2,080 million vs 3,540 million) reflect a more power-efficient design.

The database percentile rankings confirm the overall picture. The GTX 770 sits at the 57th percentile, three points above the HD 8950M's 54th percentile. Both are mid-pack performers, but the NVIDIA card consistently lands in a higher tier.

Users who need maximum compute throughput in a desktop workstation should select the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770. Its benchmark scores, memory bandwidth, and shading resources are all decisively higher. Users constrained by power budgets or requiring a mobile module form factor have no choice but the AMD Radeon HD 8950M, which delivers respectable OpenCL performance (13,772) despite its reduced resources. The data does not support choosing the AMD part for raw performance, but its efficiency profile and mobile orientation give it a defined niche that the NVIDIA desktop card cannot fill.