AMD Radeon R9 370X vs AMD Radeon RX 7600S Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 7600S and the AMD Radeon R9 370X sit at opposite ends of AMD’s hardware timeline, and the benchmark data reflects a generational chasm. In the two directly comparable head-to-head tests, the RX 7600S wins both outright, with its largest margin coming in Vulkan workloads. The R9 370X, while still functional in legacy titles, is decisively outpaced by a modern mobile chip that draws a fraction of the power. The data shows a clear hierarchy, but the practical choice depends heavily on the specific workload and platform constraints.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result in the head-to-head comparison is the Geekbench Vulkan score. The RX 7600S posts a score of 73,868, while the R9 370X manages only 9,018. This represents a 719.1% advantage for the newer card. That is not a marginal improvement; it is a complete overhaul of graphics throughput. The RX 7600S’s RDNA 3.0 architecture is fundamentally better suited to modern low-level APIs, and the data confirms that the R9 370X’s GCN 1.0 design struggles to keep pace. For any user running Vulkan-based games or applications, this single metric makes the RX 7600S the only rational choice.

The second head-to-head test, Geekbench OpenCL, shows a similar but less extreme pattern. Here, the RX 7600S scores 68,012 versus the R9 370X’s 25,893, a 162.7% lead. OpenCL is a more mature API, and the R9 370X’s older compute units still function, but the raw throughput difference is overwhelming. The RX 7600S’s 15.77 TFLOPS FP32 performance dwarfs the R9 370X’s 2.637 TFLOPS, which translates directly into this benchmark result. While the R9 370X does not have additional benchmark entries in the shared set, its overall average benchmark score of 15,862 places it just below the RX 7600S’s average of 16,696.

When looking at broader performance percentiles, the RX 7600S sits in the 60th percentile of all GPUs, while the R9 370X is in the 58th. That is a slim overall gap, but it is misleading. The RX 7600S’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA T400 4 GB (average score 16,792, delta -0.6%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D V2 (average score 16,504, delta 1.2%), which shows it is competing in a modern, efficient tier. The R9 370X’s rivals are much different: the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (average score 15,852, delta 0.1%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (average score 16,129, delta -1.7%). The old card is barely keeping pace with those newer parts, while the RX 7600S is trading blows with entry-level professional cards.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7600S wins every benchmark where both cards have data, but it is worth examining the nature of those wins. In Geekbench Vulkan, the advantage is so large (719.1%) that it suggests the R9 370X is not merely slower but severely bottlenecked by its lack of modern feature support. The R9 370X only supports Vulkan 1.2.170, while the RX 7600S supports Vulkan 1.4. That API version difference alone can explain a significant portion of the performance gap in Vulkan-specific workloads. The newer card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), whereas the R9 370X is limited to DirectX 12 (11_1). For any modern DX12 title that leverages ray tracing or mesh shaders, the R9 370X is not just slower; it is incompatible at the feature level.

The R9 370X does have a niche where its specifications are not entirely obsolete. It features a 256-bit memory bus, which is double the width of the RX 7600S’s 128-bit bus. However, this does not translate into a win. The RX 7600S compensates with GDDR6 memory running at 16 Gbps effective, yielding a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s, while the R9 370X uses GDDR5 at 5.6 Gbps effective for 179.2 GB/s. The modern card wins on bandwidth despite the narrower bus. The R9 370X’s only advantage in the data is its launch MSRP of 199 USD, which is a historical figure, not a current one.

For raw compute tasks, the RX 7600S’s 31.54 TFLOPS FP16 performance (2:1 ratio) is a massive asset, while the R9 370X has no listed FP16 capability. The RX 7600S also has 28 ray tracing cores, while the R9 370X has none. In any workload that uses RT cores, the R9 370X is not a participant. The RX 7600S is the clear winner for gaming at 1080p and 1440p with modern settings, and for any GPU-accelerated compute task. The R9 370X might still be acceptable for very old DirectX 9 or DirectX 10 titles, where its 2 GB frame buffer is less of a constraint, but the data shows it is outclassed everywhere else.

The Verdict

The verdict from the data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon RX 7600S is the superior GPU in every measurable aspect. It wins the head-to-head benchmarks by margins of 162.7% and 719.1%, has a higher average benchmark score (16,696 vs 15,862), and sits in a higher overall percentile (60th vs 58th). The RX 7600S is the correct choice for anyone building a modern system, particularly a laptop, where its 75 W TDP and IGP slot width are practical advantages. The R9 370X, with its 180 W TDP and dual-slot design, belongs to a different era.

For a user with a desktop system that already has a 450 W PSU and PCIe 3.0 slots, the R9 370X might still serve as a budget-oriented legacy card. Its 2 GB memory and 256-bit bus are adequate for older games, and it supports DirectX 12 (11_1) at a basic level. However, the data shows it is barely keeping pace with much newer hardware like the AMD Radeon RX 7700 (delta 0.1%). The RX 7600S, by contrast, is competitive with the NVIDIA T400 4 GB (delta -0.6%), which puts it in a much more modern performance class.

The RX 7600S is the pick for any user who prioritizes future-proofing, modern API support, and energy efficiency. The R9 370X is only recommendable if you have a strict need for a legacy PCIe 3.0 card with a 256-bit bus and cannot use a newer part. In a straight choice, the RX 7600S wins on every data point available.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Vulkan benchmarks?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7600S is dramatically faster, scoring 73,868 compared to the R9 370X’s 9,018, a 719.1% advantage.

Q: How much better is the RX 7600S in OpenCL performance?

A: The RX 7600S scores 68,012 versus the R9 370X’s 25,893, which is a 162.7% lead.

Q: Does the R9 370X have any advantages in memory bandwidth?

A: It has a wider 256-bit bus, but its bandwidth is lower at 179.2 GB/s compared to the RX 7600S’s 256.0 GB/s.

Q: What is the difference in power consumption?

A: The RX 7600S has a TDP of 75 W, while the R9 370X has a TDP of 180 W.

Q: Do both cards support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The RX 7600S supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the R9 370X supports DirectX 12 (11_1).

Q: Which card has a higher overall benchmark percentile?

A: The RX 7600S is in the 60th percentile, while the R9 370X is in the 58th percentile.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is the root cause of the performance disparity. The RX 7600S is built on RDNA 3.0 architecture with the Navi 33 chip and the codename Hotpink Bonefish. It is fabricated on a 6 nm process at TSMC, which allows for 13,300 million transistors on a 204 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 65.2M / mm². The R9 370X uses the much older GCN 1.0 architecture with the Trinidad chip, on a 28 nm process. It has only 2,800 million transistors on a slightly larger 212 mm² die, giving a density of just 13.2M / mm².

The RX 7600S features 1,792 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operation pipelines. It also includes 28 dedicated ray tracing cores. The R9 370X has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no ray tracing hardware. The newer card’s pixel rate is 140.8 GPixel/s versus the R9 370X’s 32.96 GPixel/s. Texture rate is similarly lopsided: 246.4 GTexel/s for the RX 7600S versus 82.40 GTexel/s for the R9 370X. The RX 7600S also supports FP16 compute at 31.54 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the R9 370X has no FP16 data listed.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every core specification. The RX 7600S has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The R9 370X has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 179.2 GB/s. Clock speeds also differ: the RX 7600S has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 2200 MHz, while the R9 370X runs at 980 MHz base and 1030 MHz boost. The memory clock is 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) on the RX 7600S versus 1400 MHz (5.6 Gbps effective) on the R9 370X.

The power and physical profile is another major split. The RX 7600S is rated at 75 W TDP, is an IGP slot width, and requires no power connectors. The R9 370X is a dual-slot card with a 180 W TDP, requires 2x 6-pin power connectors, and has a suggested PSU of 450 W. The R9 370X measures 221 mm in length and 111 mm in height, while the RX 7600S has no listed dimensions. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RX 7600S versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for the R9 370X. The production status is Active for the RX 7600S and End-of-life for the R9 370X.