AMD Radeon HD 8970M vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile than the AMD Radeon HD 8970M in the recorded benchmark?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX A5000 Mobile scores 110,877 compared to 21,237 for the HD 8970M, a 422.1% advantage for the NVIDIA part.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two GPUs?

A: The RTX A5000 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 24,763, while the HD 8970M averages 21,237. The database places the RTX A5000 Mobile in the 70th percentile of all GPUs, versus the 66th percentile for the HD 8970M.

Q: Which GPU has a larger memory capacity?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile features 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the AMD Radeon HD 8970M is equipped with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: What are the closest rivals to the RTX A5000 Mobile in terms of average score?

A: The nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 590 (average score 24,744, 0.1% higher), Intel Arc A350M (24,647, 0.5% higher), AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT (24,442, 1.3% higher), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 (24,277, 2% higher).

Q: What are the closest rivals to the HD 8970M in terms of average score?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (average score 21,379, 0.7% lower), AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (21,153, 0.4% higher), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 (21,035, 1% higher), and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 (21,629, 1.8% lower).

Q: Does the AMD Radeon HD 8970M support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The HD 8970M has no ray tracing cores listed, whereas the RTX A5000 Mobile includes 48 RT cores.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile and AMD Radeon HD 8970M represent two fundamentally different eras of GPU design. The RTX A5000 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA104 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 44.4 million per square millimeter. In contrast, the HD 8970M uses AMD's GCN 1.0 architecture with the Neptune chip, produced on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die, with a density of 13.2 million per square millimeter.

The generational gap is stark. The RTX A5000 Mobile belongs to the "Ampere-MW (Ax000)" generation and was released in April 2021, while the HD 8970M comes from the "Solar System (HD 8900M)" generation, released in May 2013. The RTX A5000 Mobile's predecessor is Quadro Turing-M, with Ada-MW as its successor. The HD 8970M's predecessor is London, succeeded by Gem System. Both parts are listed as end-of-life production status.

Feature-wise, the RTX A5000 Mobile includes 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores, capabilities entirely absent from the HD 8970M, which lists no RT or tensor cores. The NVIDIA part also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the AMD part only reaches DirectX 12 (11_1). Vulkan support differs too: the RTX A5000 Mobile supports Vulkan 1.4 versus Vulkan 1.2.170 for the HD 8970M. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

The memory subsystems diverge completely. The RTX A5000 Mobile uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, while the HD 8970M uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on the same bus width. The NVIDIA GPU's memory clock runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective, compared to 1200 MHz with 4.8 Gbps effective for the AMD part. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RTX A5000 Mobile versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for the HD 8970M.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark in the database is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisively one-sided. The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile scores 110,877 against 21,237 for the AMD Radeon HD 8970M, a delta of 422.1%. This means the RTX A5000 Mobile is over five times faster in this compute workload. The database records one win for the RTX A5000 Mobile and zero for the HD 8970M.

This massive gap is consistent with the raw compute specifications. The RTX A5000 Mobile delivers 19.35 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the HD 8970M manages 2.304 TFLOPS. The pixel rate is 151.2 GPixel/s for the NVIDIA part versus 28.80 GPixel/s for the AMD part. Texture rate stands at 302.4 GTexel/s for the RTX A5000 Mobile, compared to 72.00 GTexel/s for the HD 8970M. Memory bandwidth is 448.0 GB/s versus 153.6 GB/s.

Looking at the broader benchmark picture, the RTX A5000 Mobile has additional recorded scores: Geekbench Vulkan at 88,144, Passmark DirectX 10 at 115, DirectX 11 at 133, DirectX 12 at 72, DirectX 9 at 169, G2D at 629, G3D at 15,779, and GPU Compute at 6,945. The HD 8970M has no such entries in the database, making the OpenCL result the sole point of comparison.

The average benchmark score for the RTX A5000 Mobile is 24,763, placing it 16.6% above the HD 8970M's average of 21,237. In percentile terms, the RTX A5000 Mobile sits at the 70th percentile of all GPUs, while the HD 8970M sits at the 66th. The RTX A5000 Mobile's nearest rivals in average score include the AMD Radeon RX 590 (24,744, 0.1% higher) and Intel Arc A350M (24,647, 0.5% higher), showing it clusters with modern mid-range parts. The HD 8970M's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (21,379, 0.7% lower) and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 (21,629, 1.8% lower), indicating it sits near professional mobile GPUs of a later era.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX A5000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, while the HD 8970M uses the Neptune chip on a 28 nm TSMC process. Transistor count is 17,400 million versus 2,800 million, and die size is 392 mm² versus 212 mm². Transistor density is 44.4M per mm² versus 13.2M per mm².

Clock speeds: the RTX A5000 Mobile has a base clock of 900 MHz and a boost clock of 1575 MHz, while the HD 8970M runs at 850 MHz base and 900 MHz boost. Memory clocks are 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the NVIDIA part versus 1200 MHz (4.8 Gbps effective) for the AMD part.

Memory capacity is 16 GB of GDDR6 versus 4 GB of GDDR5. Bandwidth is 448.0 GB/s versus 153.6 GB/s. The bus width is identical at 256-bit, but the memory technology and speed create the large bandwidth gap.

Compute resources: the RTX A5000 Mobile has 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The HD 8970M has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RTX A5000 Mobile also has 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores; the HD 8970M has none.

Pixel rate is 151.2 GPixel/s for the RTX A5000 Mobile versus 28.80 GPixel/s for the HD 8970M. Texture rate is 302.4 GTexel/s versus 72.00 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 19.35 TFLOPS versus 2.304 TFLOPS. The RTX A5000 Mobile has FP16 performance at 19.35 TFLOPS (1:1), while the HD 8970M lists no FP16 figure.

Power draw differs: the RTX A5000 Mobile has a TDP of 150 W, while the HD 8970M has a TDP of 100 W. The RTX A5000 Mobile has no power connectors listed, while the HD 8970M is an MXM Module form factor. Bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 for the NVIDIA part versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for the AMD part. Both have display outputs described as "Portable Device Dependent." The RTX A5000 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4; the HD 8970M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile is the superior GPU by every measurable metric. In the single head-to-head benchmark, it leads by 422.1% in Geekbench OpenCL. Its average benchmark score is 16.6% higher, and it sits in a higher percentile of all GPUs. The RTX A5000 Mobile offers 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, 6,144 shading units, 48 RT cores, and 19.35 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. It supports modern APIs including DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4.

The AMD Radeon HD 8970M, while a capable part for its era, is outclassed across the board. It has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, 1,280 shading units, no RT or tensor cores, and 2.304 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. Its average score of 21,237 places it near the RTX A5000 Mobile's closest rivals in the database, but it trails the newer part by a wide margin.

For users seeking maximum compute performance, modern feature support, and higher memory capacity, the RTX A5000 Mobile is the clear choice. The HD 8970M may still serve in legacy systems or applications where its lower 100 W TDP and MXM form factor are advantageous, but the benchmark results show a GPU that is over five times slower in OpenCL compute. The RTX A5000 Mobile's position in the 70th percentile versus the 66th for the HD 8970M reinforces the verdict: the NVIDIA part is the higher-performing product in this comparison.