AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded data presents a generational mismatch with a clear overall winner. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT leads the head-to-head comparison with 2 wins against 0 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780. The RX 7700 XT holds a substantial average benchmark score of 22549, while the GTX 780 sits at 19164. This places the AMD card in the 67th percentile of all GPUs, whereas the NVIDIA card is in the 64th percentile. The RX 7700 XT should be the choice for any workload involving modern compute APIs, particularly OpenCL or Vulkan, where its advantage is overwhelming. The GTX 780, being an end-of-life product from the GeForce 700 generation, remains relevant only for legacy system builds or basic compatibility needs. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA TITAN Xp with an average score of 19177, a delta of -0.1%, and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 with an average score of 19036, a delta of 0.7%. These figures show the GTX 780 is effectively competitive with those older or lower-tier cards, but it cannot match the RX 7700 XT. The data indicates that any user prioritizing raw compute performance, modern API support, or future-proofing should select the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT without hesitation.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different design eras. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT uses the Navi 32 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, with a 5 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 uses the GK110 chip based on Kepler architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference is significant: the RX 7700 XT packs 28,100 million transistors into a 346 mm² die, while the GTX 780 contains 7,080 million transistors on a larger 561 mm² die. This results in a transistor density of 81.2M / mm² for the AMD card versus 12.6M / mm² for the NVIDIA card. The RX 7700 XT achieves this density with a smaller physical footprint, a shorter length of 267 mm, and a lower height of 135 mm compared to the GTX 780's height of 111 mm.

The RX 7700 XT features 54 ray tracing cores, a capability entirely absent from the GTX 780, which lists no RT cores. The AMD card also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2 Ultimate (12_2)) and Vulkan 1.4 (1.4), whereas the GTX 780 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175 (1.2.175). Memory technology also diverges: the RX 7700 XT uses 12 GB of GDDR6 with a 192 bit bus, while the GTX 780 uses 3 GB of GDDR5 with a 384 bit bus. The AMD card's memory operates at 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective speed, while the NVIDIA card's memory runs at 1502 MHz with 6 Gbps effective speed. The RX 7700 XT also supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the GTX 780 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. The RX 7700 XT is actively in production, whereas the GTX 780 is end-of-life, with its successor being the GeForce 900 series.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results highlight the RX 7700 XT's dominance in modern compute workloads. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD card scores 138383, while the GTX 780 scores 22863. This is a delta of 505.3% in favor of the RX 7700 XT, meaning the AMD card is over five times faster in this OpenCL scenario. The gap is so large that the GTX 780's score barely registers as a fraction of the AMD card's output. This result aligns with the architectural differences: the RX 7700 XT's 35.17 TFLOPS of FP32 performance versus the GTX 780's 4.156 TFLOPS represents an enormous raw compute advantage.

In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the RX 7700 XT scores 46443, and the GTX 780 scores 24514, a delta of 89.5% in favor of the AMD card. While not as extreme as the OpenCL result, this still represents nearly double the performance. The Vulkan advantage likely benefits from the RX 7700 XT's newer Vulkan 1.4 support and its higher shading unit count of 3456 versus 2304. The GTX 780's Vulkan 1.2.175 support is functional but older, and its lower pixel rate of 43.29 GPixel/s and texture rate of 173.2 GTexel/s cannot compete with the RX 7700 XT's 244.2 GPixel/s and 549.5 GTexel/s. The data shows no test where the GTX 780 wins in the head-to-head comparison, confirming its position as a legacy product.

Beyond the head-to-head tests, the broader benchmark set reinforces the same story. The RX 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3316, Passmark G3D of 22547 (22,547), Passmark GPU Compute of 12912 (12,912), Passmark G2D of 1161, and Passmark DirectX 9 score of 294 (294 (Passmark DirectX 9)) all indicate a well-rounded GPU capable of handling diverse workloads. The GTX 780 lacks equivalents for several of these tests, with only Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan results recorded, showing its limited modern testing footprint.

Specification Differences

The specification table reveals stark contrasts across nearly every field. The RX 7700 XT has a base clock of 1435 MHz and a boost clock of 2544 MHz, while the GTX 780 has a base clock of 863 MHz and a boost clock of 902 MHz. The RX 7700 XT also has a game clock of 2171 MHz, a feature the GTX 780 does not report. Memory bandwidth is 432.0 GB/s for the AMD card versus 288.4 GB/s for the NVIDIA card. The RX 7700 XT has 3456 shading units, 216 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, while the GTX 780 has 2304 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The RX 7700 XT's pixel rate is 244.2 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 549.5 GTexel/s. The GTX 780's pixel rate is 43.30 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 173.2 GTexel/s. The RX 7700 XT achieves 35.17 TFLOPS of FP32 and 35.17 TFLOPS of FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, whereas the GTX 780 achieves 4.156 TFLOPS of FP32 and lists no FP16 data.

Power and connectivity also differ. The RX 7700 XT has a TDP of 245 W and uses 2x 8-pin power connectors, while the GTX 780 has a TDP of 250 W and uses 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin connectors. The suggested PSU is 550 W for the RX 7700 XT and 600 W for the GTX 780. Display outputs are modern on the AMD card: 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C. The GTX 780 offers 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2. The RX 7700 XT is 267 mm long, 135 mm high, and 50 mm wide, while the GTX 780 is 267 mm long, 111 mm high, and 38 mm wide. Both cards are dual-slot, but the RX 7700 XT is thicker. The release dates show a decade of separation: the RX 7700 XT launched on 2023-09-05T17:00:00.000Z, and the GTX 780 launched on 2013-05-22T17:00:00.000Z.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT has an average benchmark score of 22549, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 has an average score of 19164. The RX 7700 XT is also in the 67th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the GTX 780's 64th percentile.

Q: How does the RX 7700 XT compare to the GTX 780 in OpenCL performance?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 7700 XT scores 138383 versus the GTX 780's 22863, a delta of 505.3% in favor of the AMD card.

Q: Does the GTX 780 have ray tracing capabilities?

A: No, the GTX 780 lists no RT cores. The RX 7700 XT features 54 ray tracing cores, which is a key architectural difference.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two cards?

A: The RX 7700 XT has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192 bit bus and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 780 has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory with a 384 bit bus and 288.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card is more modern in terms of production status?

A: The RX 7700 XT is marked as active in production, while the GTX 780 is end-of-life. The RX 7700 XT is part of the Radeon RX 7000 series, and the GTX 780 is from the GeForce 700 generation.

Q: How do their closest rivals compare for the GTX 780?

A: The GTX 780's nearest rival is the NVIDIA TITAN Xp with an average score of 19177 and a delta of -0.1%, followed by the NVIDIA Tesla K20m at 19089 with a delta of 0.4%, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile at 19049 with a delta of 0.6%, and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 at 19036 with a delta of 0.7%.