AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A occupy entirely different tiers of the GPU landscape, and the recorded data reflects that gap in every metric that matters. The RX 7800 XT is an active, desktop-class RDNA 3.0 graphics card built on TSMC's 5 nm process, while the GTX 950A is an end-of-life Maxwell-based MXM module produced on a 28 nm node and aimed at portable systems. In the single head-to-head benchmark recorded in the database, Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 7800 XT scores 18290 against 10273, a 78 percent advantage. That one number frames the entire comparison: this is a mismatch of generations, form factors, and design intent rather than a contest between peers.

Where Each One Wins

The data shows a clean sweep for the RX 7800 XT. It wins the only shared benchmark in the database, Geekbench OpenCL, by 78 percent, and it holds a higher average benchmark score overall at 11627 versus 10273. The RX 7800 XT also posts results across a far broader set of tests: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 4157, Geekbench Vulkan at 54228, Passmark G3D at 24176, Passmark GPU Compute at 13473, Passmark G2D at 1177, and Passmark DirectX results spanning DirectX 9, 10, 11 and 12 with scores of 304, 121, 249 and 93 respectively. The GTX 950A has a single recorded benchmark, the Geekbench OpenCL result, which limits any claim about where it might excel.

Where the GTX 950A does win is in physical and electrical footprint. Its TDP is 75 W, compared with 263 W for the RX 7800 XT, and it requires no external power connectors of any kind, whereas the Radeon needs two 8-pin connectors and a suggested 600 W power supply. Its form factor is an MXM Module with an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface, designed for portable devices with display outputs that are device dependent, in contrast to the dual-slot desktop card with its fixed 267 mm length, 111 mm height and 50 mm width. For constrained mobile systems where a discrete MXM part is the only option, the GTX 950A fills a role the RX 7800 XT simply cannot, since the Radeon uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface and assumes a full desktop chassis. In raw performance, however, the GTX 950A records no wins.

Context from the percentile data reinforces the split. The RX 7800 XT sits at the 51st percentile against all GPUs in the database, while the GTX 950A sits at the 48th. The two cards' average scores also land them in adjacent rival clusters: the RX 7800 XT's average of 11627 places it within touching distance of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 at 11680, the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M at 11528, the NVIDIA Tesla K20c at 11479 and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT at 11842, while the GTX 950A's 10273 average puts it near the AMD Radeon RX 6500M at 10362, the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 at 10400, the AMD Radeon R9 M375 at 10070 and the AMD Radeon RX 550X at 10481.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gulf between these two parts spans roughly four GPU generations and two process eras. The RX 7800 XT uses the Navi 32 chip on AMD's RDNA 3.0 architecture, codenamed "Wheat Nas," part of the Radeon RX 7000 series and the Navi III generation. It is fabricated by TSMC on a 5 nm process, packs 28,100 million transistors into a 346 mm² die, and achieves a transistor density of 81.2M per mm². The GTX 950A uses the GM107 chip on NVIDIA's Maxwell architecture, from the GeForce 900A generation, built by the same foundry on a 28 nm process with 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die and a density of just 12.6M per mm². The density difference alone tells the story of how far silicon design advanced between the two parts.

The compute and rendering resources scale accordingly. The RX 7800 XT carries 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, 96 ROPs and 60 RT cores for hardware ray tracing, delivering a pixel rate of 233.3 GPixel/s, a texture rate of 583.2 GTexel/s and FP32 throughput of 37.32 TFLOPS, with FP16 running at the same 1:1 rate. The GTX 950A has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs and 16 ROPs, no RT cores, a pixel rate of 17.98 GPixel/s, a texture rate of 44.96 GTexel/s and FP32 output of 1438.7 GFLOPS, with no FP16 figure recorded.

Memory subsystems diverge just as sharply. The Radeon pairs 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus running at 2438 MHz with 19.5 Gbps effective speed, producing 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 950A ships with 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus at 1001 MHz and 2 Gbps effective, yielding 32.03 GB/s. Clock behavior also differs: the RX 7800 XT lists a base clock of 1295 MHz, a game clock of 2124 MHz and a boost clock of 2430 MHz, while the GTX 950A lists only a base of 993 MHz and a boost of 1124 MHz, with no game clock recorded.

Feature support separates them further. The RX 7800 XT reports DirectX 12 Ultimate with feature level 12_2, OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, plus modern display outputs in the form of one HDMI 2.1a port and three DisplayPort 2.1 ports. The GTX 950A reports DirectX 12 at feature level 11_0, OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, with display outputs that depend on the host portable device. Neither card has tensor cores in the recorded data. Lineage also differs: the RX 7800 XT descends from Navi II and has a successor in Navi IV, released on September 5, 2023 with a launch MSRP of 499 USD, while the GTX 950A follows the GeForce 800A, has no listed successor, and carries no launch MSRP in the database.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the shared benchmark?

A: The RX 7800 XT wins Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 18290 versus 10273 for the GTX 950A, a 78 percent delta in the Radeon's favor.

Q: How much more power does the RX 7800 XT consume?

A: The RX 7800 XT has a TDP of 263 W and requires two 8-pin power connectors with a suggested 600 W power supply. The GTX 950A has a TDP of 75 W and needs no power connectors at all.

Q: Which card supports hardware ray tracing?

A: The RX 7800 XT, with 60 RT cores. The GTX 950A has no RT cores in its recorded specifications.

Q: How do their memory configurations compare?

A: The RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 950A has 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus with 32.03 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Are both cards still in production?

A: No. The RX 7800 XT is listed as Active, while the GTX 950A is listed as End-of-life.

Q: Which GPUs are the closest rivals to each card?

A: The RX 7800 XT's average score of 11627 sits nearest to the GTX 1660, Radeon Pro 5500M, Tesla K20c and RX 6500 XT. The GTX 950A's average of 10273 sits nearest to the RX 6500M, Tesla C2075, R9 M375 and RX 550X.

Specification Differences

• Manufacturer and chip: AMD Navi 32 versus NVIDIA GM107.
• Architecture: RDNA 3.0 versus Maxwell.
• Process node: 5 nm versus 28 nm, both from TSMC.
• Transistors and die: 28,100 million on 346 mm² at 81.2M per mm² versus 1,870 million on 148 mm² at 12.6M per mm².
• Clocks: 1295 MHz base, 2124 MHz game, 2430 MHz boost versus 993 MHz base and 1124 MHz boost, no game clock listed.
• Memory: 16 GB GDDR6, 256-bit, 624.1 GB/s versus 2 GB DDR3, 128-bit, 32.03 GB/s.
• Shading resources: 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 60 RT cores versus 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, 16 ROPs, no RT cores.
• Throughput: 233.3 GPixel/s, 583.2 GTexel/s and 37.32 TFLOPS FP32 versus 17.98 GPixel/s, 44.96 GTexel/s and 1438.7 GFLOPS FP32.
• Power: 263 W TDP, 2x 8-pin connectors, 600 W suggested PSU versus 75 W TDP, no connectors, no suggested PSU.
• Interface and form factor: PCIe 4.0 x16, dual-slot desktop card versus MXM-B (3.0) MXM module.
• Outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1 versus portable device dependent.
• DirectX support: 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (11_0).
• Status and dates: Active, released September 5, 2023, versus End-of-life, released March 12, 2015.
• Launch MSRP: 499 USD for the RX 7800 XT; none recorded for the GTX 950A.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Only one test appears in both cards' result sets, and it is decisive. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 7800 XT scores 18290 while the GTX 950A scores 10273, a 78 percent victory for the Radeon. The scale of that margin is consistent with the specification gap: the RX 7800 XT delivers roughly 26 times the FP32 compute of the GTX 950A, roughly 13 times the memory bandwidth, six times the shading units and six times the ROPs.

The benchmark context each card keeps adds nuance. The RX 7800 XT's broader result set includes a Geekbench Vulkan score of 54228, a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4157, a Passmark G3D score of 24176, a Passmark GPU Compute score of 13473 and a Passmark G2D score of 1177. Its average benchmark score of 11627 places it within half a percent of the GTX 1660's 11680, under one percent ahead of the Radeon Pro 5500M's 11528 and 1.3 percent ahead of the Tesla K20c's 11479, while trailing the RX 6500 XT's 11842 by 1.8 percent. The GTX 950A's average of 10273 puts it 0.9 percent behind the RX 6500M, 1.2 percent behind the Tesla C2075, 2 percent ahead of the R9 M375 and 2 percent behind the RX 550X.

The verdict is straightforward. The RX 7800 XT wins every recorded contest between them, dominates the shared benchmark by 78 percent, and belongs to a performance tier two quartile-points higher in the database-wide percentile ranking. The GTX 950A's case rests entirely on its 75 W envelope, connector-free MXM design and suitability for portable systems, none of which translate into competitive benchmark results against a modern RDNA 3.0 desktop card.