AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A and the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT represent two vastly different eras of graphics hardware. The GTX 960A is an end-of-life mobile module from 2015 built on the 28 nm Maxwell architecture, while the RX 7800 XT is an active desktop card from 2023 using the 5 nm RDNA 3.0 architecture. Benchmark data shows a significant performance gap, with the RX 7800 XT leading in the single shared test, but the GTX 960A holds a slight edge in aggregate benchmark scores due to its specific workload results.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A has an average benchmark score of 11998, while the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT has an average of 11627. This places the GTX 960A 3.2% ahead of the RX 7800 XT in this metric.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT scores 18290, which is 34.4% higher than the GTX 960A's score of 11998. This is the only direct head-to-head benchmark result available for both cards.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The GTX 960A has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 80.19 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the thermal design power (TDP) ratings?

A: The GTX 960A has a TDP of 75 W and requires no power connectors, making it suitable for an MXM module. The RX 7800 XT has a TDP of 263 W and requires 2x 8-pin power connectors with a suggested 600 W power supply.

Q: Which card supports hardware ray tracing?

A: Only the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT supports ray tracing, featuring 60 RT cores. The GTX 960A has no RT cores listed in its specifications.

Q: What is the DirectX support level for each card?

A: The RX 7800 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 960A supports DirectX 12 (11_0). This reflects the newer feature set of the RDNA 3.0 architecture.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT wins decisively in raw compute performance. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, it scores 18290 versus the GTX 960A's 11998, a 34.4% advantage. This indicates a substantial lead in general-purpose GPU compute workloads. The RX 7800 XT also has a much larger memory pool at 16 GB versus 2 GB, which gives it a clear edge in memory-intensive applications like modern game textures or large datasets.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A wins in the average benchmark score comparison, posting 11998 versus the RX 7800 XT's 11627. This 3.2% lead suggests that in the specific mix of tests aggregated into the average, the older Maxwell card performs competitively. However, this is a single benchmark (Geekbench OpenCL) being compared against a broader suite for the RX 7800 XT, which includes PassMark and 3DMark tests. The GTX 960A's percentile rank of 51 matches the RX 7800 XT's percentile rank of 51, indicating they sit at a similar position relative to all other GPUs in the database.

For connectivity, the RX 7800 XT offers modern display outputs with 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1, while the GTX 960A's outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent" due to its MXM form factor. The RX 7800 XT also supports PCIe 4.0 x16, whereas the GTX 960A uses MXM-B (3.0), which is a portable device interface.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is generational. The GTX 960A uses the GM107 chip on NVIDIA's Maxwell architecture, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.6M per mm². The RX 7800 XT uses the Navi 32 chip on AMD's RDNA 3.0 architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die, achieving a density of 81.2M per mm². This represents a significant jump in both raw transistor count and density, reflecting the newer manufacturing process.

The compute units differ substantially. The GTX 960A has 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The RX 7800 XT has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RDNA 3.0 card also includes 60 RT cores for hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a feature entirely absent from the Maxwell-based GTX 960A. The RX 7800 XT supports FP16 compute at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the GTX 960A has no listed FP16 support.

Clock speeds tell a story of efficiency versus brute force. The GTX 960A has a base clock of 1097 MHz and a boost clock of 1176 MHz. The RX 7800 XT has a lower base clock of 1295 MHz but a much higher boost clock of 2430 MHz, with a game clock of 2124 MHz. The memory clocks also differ: the GTX 960A runs at 1253 MHz with 5 Gbps effective, while the RX 7800 XT runs at 2438 MHz with 19.5 Gbps effective.

Specification Differences

The specifications diverge on nearly every measurable parameter. The GTX 960A is a 2 GB GDDR5 card with a 128-bit bus and 80.19 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7800 XT is a 16 GB GDDR6 card with a 256-bit bus and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth. The pixel rate for the GTX 960A is 18.82 GPixel/s, while the RX 7800 XT achieves 233.3 GPixel/s. Texture rates are 47.04 GTexel/s versus 583.2 GTexel/s, respectively. FP32 performance shows the largest gap: 1.505 TFLOPS for the GTX 960A versus 37.32 TFLOPS for the RX 7800 XT.

The power profiles are also starkly different. The GTX 960A has a TDP of 75 W and requires no power connectors, fitting into an MXM Module slot width. The RX 7800 XT has a TDP of 263 W, requires 2x 8-pin power connectors, and suggests a 600 W power supply. It is a dual-slot card with dimensions of 267 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 50 mm in width. The GTX 960A has no listed physical dimensions due to its portable device nature.

The RX 7800 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 960A only supports DirectX 12 (11_0). Both cards support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 960A was released on 2015-03-12 and is end-of-life, while the RX 7800 XT was released on 2023-09-05 and is still active. The RX 7800 XT has a listed launch MSRP of 499 USD. The GTX 960A has no launch MSRP listed.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test. The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT scores 18290, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A scores 11998. This gives the RX 7800 XT a 34.4% lead in this specific workload. This is a substantial margin, indicating that the RX 7800 XT handles OpenCL compute tasks significantly better than the older Maxwell card.

Looking at the broader benchmark suite for the RX 7800 XT, its PassMark G3D score is 24176, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 4157. The GTX 960A has no comparable scores in these tests. In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the RX 7800 XT scores 54228, while the GTX 960A has no Vulkan benchmark result. The RX 7800 XT also has PassMark scores for DirectX 9 (304), DirectX 10 (121), DirectX 11 (249), and DirectX 12 (93), along with a GPU compute score of 13473 and a G2D score of 1177.

The nearest rival data provides context for both cards. The GTX 960A is 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT, and 2.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 in average score. The RX 7800 XT is 0.5% behind the GTX 1660, 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro 5500M, and 1.3% ahead of the NVIDIA Tesla K20c. Both cards sit at the 51st percentile relative to all GPUs, which is a notable coincidence given their different architectures and ages.

The Verdict

The data shows a clear performance hierarchy, but with an interesting twist in the aggregate scores. For users prioritizing compute performance in OpenCL workloads, the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the definitive choice, delivering 34.4% higher scores than the GTX 960A. Its 16 GB memory capacity and 624.1 GB/s bandwidth also make it far more capable for modern, memory-hungry applications. The RX 7800 XT's support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and hardware ray tracing further cements its position for contemporary gaming and rendering tasks.

However, the GTX 960A's average benchmark score of 11998 edges out the RX 7800 XT's 11627 by 3.2%. This suggests that in the specific aggregate metric, the older card holds its own. This could be attributed to the different benchmark compositions: the GTX 960A's score is derived solely from Geekbench OpenCL, while the RX 7800 XT's average includes PassMark and 3DMark tests, which may weight differently. The GTX 960A's 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors make it a low-power option, though its 2 GB memory is severely limited by modern standards.

For a portable or embedded system where power draw is critical and workloads are compute-focused, the GTX 960A offers a viable option. For desktop users needing high-end gaming, ray tracing, or compute throughput, the RX 7800 XT is the only sensible choice among these two. The RX 7800 XT's active production status and modern feature set make it future-proof, while the GTX 960A is end-of-life. Ultimately, the choice depends on whether the user values the slight aggregate score edge of the GTX 960A or the overwhelming compute and feature advantages of the RX 7800 XT. The benchmark data strongly favors the RX 7800 XT for nearly all real-world applications.