AMD Radeon R7 Graphics vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded data presents a clear hierarchy between these two parts. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti wins both head-to-head tests with significant deltas. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA part scores 18129 against 4015 for the AMD Radeon R7 Graphics, a delta of -77.9% from the AMD side. In Geekbench Vulkan, the NVIDIA scores 10001 versus 5980, a delta of -40.2%. The AMD part holds zero wins in the head-to-head set.

The AMD Radeon R7 Graphics sits in the 29th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 4998. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro 4000 (avg 4979, delta 0.4%) and the AMD Radeon R5 M430 (avg 5018, delta -0.4%). This places it in a tight cluster of low-end parts. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, by contrast, sits in the 25th percentile with an average score of 4193, yet its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Vega 3 (avg 4268, delta -1.8%) and the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M (avg 4241, delta -1.1%). The percentile values are counterintuitive: the AMD part ranks higher in percentile despite losing all head-to-head tests. This occurs because the GTX 1050 Ti's average is dragged down by its many Passmark tests, which score low (e.g., Passmark DirectX 9 at 104, Passmark G2D at 651), while the AMD part has only two high-scoring Geekbench tests.

For whom is each part suitable? The data shows the AMD Radeon R7 Graphics is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 25 W TDP, designed for systems where discrete graphics are absent. Its benchmark profile is narrow, with only OpenCL and Vulkan scores recorded. The GTX 1050 Ti, a dual-slot discrete card with a 75 W TDP and no power connectors, offers a much broader benchmark footprint, including DirectX 9 through 12, Metal, and compute tests. Users needing a dedicated card for legacy DirectX workloads or Metal compatibility on Apple platforms would favor the NVIDIA part. Users constrained to an IGP with no expansion slot would have no choice but the AMD part, but the performance gap is stark.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon R7 Graphics uses the Spectre Lite chip on GCN 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It integrates 2,410 million transistors on a 245 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 9.8M per mm². The part is an IGP, meaning it shares system memory, with a memory bus width and type listed as "System Shared." Its memory bandwidth is "System Dependent," which means performance scales with the host system's RAM. The shading units number 384, with 24 texture mapping units and 8 render output units. Pixel rate is 5.760 GPixel/s, texture rate is 17.28 GTexel/s, and FP32 compute is 553.0 GFLOPS. It supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The part was released in early 2014, with a predecessor of TeraScale 3 IGP and a successor of GCN 3.0 IGP.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti uses the GP107 chip on Pascal architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at Samsung. It packs 3,300 million transistors on a 132 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 25.0M per mm², more than double the AMD part's density. The NVIDIA part has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, each exactly double the AMD counts. Its base clock is 1291 MHz with a boost of 1392 MHz, and the memory runs at 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective). Memory is 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, providing 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. Pixel rate is 44.54 GPixel/s, texture rate is 66.82 GTexel/s, and FP32 compute is 2.138 TFLOPS. FP16 is a token 33.41 GFLOPS at a 1:64 ratio. It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The card is 145 mm long (5.7 inches) and 111 mm tall (4.4 inches), dual-slot, with outputs of 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. It requires a 250 W suggested PSU but no power connectors. It was released in late 2016, succeeding the GeForce 900 series and preceding GeForce 20.

The architectural gulf is vast. The AMD part is an older, denser, power-limited IGP with shared memory. The NVIDIA part is a newer, more efficient discrete card with dedicated GDDR5. The process node difference (28 nm versus 14 nm) explains the transistor density gap. The AMD part's FP32 output (553 GFLOPS) is less than a third of the NVIDIA's 2.138 TFLOPS. The ROP and TMU counts scale similarly. The NVIDIA part also supports a higher DirectX feature level (12_1 versus 12_0), though both support Vulkan, with the NVIDIA part on a newer specification (1.4 versus 1.2.170).

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data is limited to two Geekbench tests, both won by the NVIDIA part. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti scores 18129, while the AMD Radeon R7 Graphics scores 4015. The delta is -77.9% from the AMD perspective, meaning the NVIDIA part is roughly 4.5 times faster. This is the largest single gap in the comparison. In Geekbench Vulkan, the NVIDIA part scores 10001 against the AMD's 5980, a delta of -40.2%. The Vulkan gap is smaller than OpenCL, but still decisive.

The wins tally is 0 for the AMD part and 2 for the NVIDIA part. There is no benchmark where the AMD part leads. The average benchmark scores tell a different story, however. The AMD part's average is 4998, while the NVIDIA part's is 4193. This inversion is due to the test sets. The AMD part only has two Geekbench scores, both relatively high. The NVIDIA part has eleven scores, including several low Passmark DirectX results (e.g., 26 for DirectX 12, 31 for DirectX 10, 45 for DirectX 11, 104 for DirectX 9) and a Passmark G2D score of 651. These low scores pull its average down. The Passmark G3D score of 6340 and GPU compute score of 2652 are more respectable, but the average still lands below the AMD part's average.

When comparing to nearest rivals, the AMD part's average of 4998 is within 0.7% of the AMD FirePro W4170M (5034) and within 0.6% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB (4970). This is notable: the RTX 5060 Ti, a modern high-end card, scores nearly identically in this database's average, which reflects the metric's sensitivity to test selection. The NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti's average of 4193 is within 1.8% of the AMD Radeon Vega 3 (4268) and within 1.1% of the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M (4241). The GTX 1050 Ti sits slightly below these rivals, with a 0.6% positive delta against the R5 M330 (4170) and 1% against the Quadro K2100M (4151).

FAQ

Q: Which part has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 Graphics has an average benchmark score of 4998, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti has an average of 4193. The AMD part is 805 points higher on average, but this is due to the different test suites, as the NVIDIA part wins every head-to-head test.

Q: What is the largest performance gap in the head-to-head tests?

A: The largest gap is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti scores 18129 versus the AMD Radeon R7 Graphics at 4015, a delta of -77.9%. This is a more than fourfold difference.

Q: Does the AMD part win any benchmark against the NVIDIA part?

A: No. In the head-to-head benchmark set, the AMD Radeon R7 Graphics records 0 wins, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti records 2 wins.

Q: What memory configurations do the two parts use?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 Graphics uses system shared memory, with bandwidth listed as "System Dependent." The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, providing 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What are the power requirements for each part?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 Graphics has a TDP of 25 W and is an IGP with no power connectors. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti has a TDP of 75 W, also with no power connectors, but it requires a suggested PSU of 250 W.

Q: Which part has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 Graphics ranks in the 29th percentile, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti ranks in the 25th percentile. Despite the AMD part's higher percentile, the NVIDIA part wins all head-to-head tests.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R7 Graphics wins in the context of integrated systems. As an IGP with a 25 W TDP, it requires no dedicated power connectors, no PCIe slot, and its display outputs are motherboard dependent. It is suited for compact or legacy systems where a discrete card cannot be installed. Its GCN 2.0 architecture supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, which covers modern API basics. Its two Geekbench scores (OpenCL 4015, Vulkan 5980) are respectable for an integrated part, and its average score of 4998 places it above several discrete mobile parts like the Radeon R5 M430 (5018, delta -0.4%) and the FirePro W4170M (5034, delta -0.7%). For users with no expansion options, this is the only choice, and the data shows it is not a complete non-starter for compute workloads.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti wins in every measurable performance category. It has double the shading units, TMUs, and ROPs of the AMD part. Its FP32 compute of 2.138 TFLOPS is nearly four times the AMD's 553.0 GFLOPS. Its pixel rate (44.54 GPixel/s) and texture rate (66.82 GTexel/s) are both far ahead. The dedicated 4 GB GDDR5 with 112.1 GB/s bandwidth eliminates the system dependency that plagues the AMD IGP. In head-to-head tests, it wins OpenCL by 77.9% and Vulkan by 40.2%. Its broader benchmark suite includes DirectX 9 through 12, Metal, and compute, with a Passmark G3D score of 6340 and a GPU compute score of 2652. The GTX 1050 Ti is the clear choice for any workload that can use a discrete card, from legacy DirectX 9 titles (Passmark score 104) to modern Vulkan applications (Geekbench 10001).

The use-case split is simple: the AMD part is for systems that cannot accept a discrete GPU, while the NVIDIA part is for systems that can. The data shows no scenario where the AMD part outperforms the NVIDIA part in raw performance. The AMD part's higher average score and percentile are artifacts of its limited test set, not indicators of superiority. The NVIDIA part's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Vega 3 (delta -1.8%) and the NVIDIA Quadro K3000M (delta -1.1%), placing it in a competitive mid-low tier for its generation. The AMD part's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro 4000 (delta 0.4%) and the RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB (delta 0.6%), which highlights how the average metric can mislead when test sets differ. For any user with a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, the GTX 1050 Ti is the only rational choice based on this data.