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

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive performance gap between the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M. Across the two shared benchmark tests, the RX 7800 XT wins both, with no benchmark where the GTX 960M takes the lead.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 7800 XT scores 18,290 points against 11,045 for the GTX 960M. That is a 65.6% advantage for the AMD part. The OpenCL test stresses general compute workloads, and the RX 7800 XT’s much larger shader array and modern architecture clearly translate into a substantial lead.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows an even larger disparity. The RX 7800 XT scores 54,228, while the GTX 960M manages only 8,245. The delta is 557.7% in favor of AMD. Vulkan is a low-level API that exposes hardware capabilities directly, and the RX 7800 XT’s RDNA 3.0 design with its dedicated ray accelerators and newer execution units dominate the older Maxwell-based GTX 960M. This result indicates that the RX 7800 XT is not just faster, but in a completely different performance class.

The average benchmark score in the database reinforces this picture. The RX 7800 XT has an average score of 11,627 across all recorded tests, while the GTX 960M averages 9,645. The RX 7800 XT sits at the 51st percentile among all GPUs, and the GTX 960M is at the 46th percentile. While both are near the middle of the overall distribution, the raw scores show the RX 7800 XT is roughly 20% higher on average.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each card provides context. The RX 7800 XT’s closest competitor in the database is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660, which averages 11,680, a delta of -0.5% relative to the RX 7800 XT. That means the RX 7800 XT is essentially tied with the GTX 1660 in average score, despite being a newer and more feature-rich product. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M trails by 0.9%, the NVIDIA Tesla K20c trails by 1.3%, and the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT is ahead by 1.8%. These are all very small margins, indicating the RX 7800 XT’s average score sits in a tightly packed cluster.

For the GTX 960M, the nearest rivals are similarly close. The NVIDIA Quadro K5000 averages 9,637 (0.1% behind), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 averages 9,653 (0.1% ahead), the NVIDIA Quadro P4000 averages 9,665 (0.2% ahead), and the NVIDIA Tesla C2070 averages 9,716 (0.7% ahead). The GTX 960M is therefore right in the middle of its peer group, with no meaningful separation from any of these older professional or mobile parts.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7800 XT wins in every measurable category from the shared tests. Its OpenCL lead of 65.6% indicates a strong advantage in compute-heavy tasks such as rendering, physics simulations, and machine learning inference. The Vulkan lead of 557.7% points to a massive superiority in modern game engines that use Vulkan for rendering, especially those that leverage async compute and explicit GPU control.

The GTX 960M has no wins in the head-to-head data. Its only advantage is qualitative: it is a mobile part with a 75 W TDP, an MXM module form factor, and no external power connectors. That makes it suitable for thin-and-light laptops where power delivery and thermal envelopes are constrained. The RX 7800 XT, by contrast, is a dual-slot desktop card with a 263 W TDP and two 8-pin power connectors, requiring a 600 W power supply.

In terms of API support, both cards support DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. However, the RX 7800 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shaders, features the GTX 960M lacks. The GTX 960M only supports DirectX 12 (11_0), meaning it is limited to the base feature level.

Memory capacity is another clear differentiator. The RX 7800 XT has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 624.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 960M has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, with 80.19 GB/s. That 7.8x bandwidth advantage for AMD is critical for high-resolution textures, large datasets, and compute workloads that need to move data quickly.

The Verdict

The data clearly favors the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT for anyone who prioritizes raw performance. In the two benchmarks where both cards appear, the RX 7800 XT is ahead by 65.6% in OpenCL and 557.7% in Vulkan. If a user needs maximum compute throughput, modern API features, and large memory capacity, the RX 7800 XT is the only sensible choice from this comparison.

The GTX 960M is an end-of-life mobile product from 2015, and the benchmark results reflect its age. It has no wins in the head-to-head data, and its average score is 17% lower than the RX 7800 XT’s. The only scenario where the GTX 960M makes sense is in a portable system where the 75 W TDP and MXM form factor are mandatory, and where the user accepts the performance limitations.

For a desktop user, the RX 7800 XT is the clear pick. For a laptop user constrained by power and thermals, the GTX 960M is the only option of the two, but the data shows it will deliver far lower frame rates and compute performance.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RX 7800 XT in Vulkan compared to the GTX 960M?

A: The RX 7800 XT scores 54,228 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the GTX 960M scores 8,245. That is a 557.7% advantage for AMD.

Q: Does the GTX 960M beat the RX 7800 XT in any benchmark?

A: No. In the two shared tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the RX 7800 XT wins both. The wins count is 2 for AMD and 0 for NVIDIA.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two cards?

A: The RX 7800 XT averages 11,627 across all recorded tests, and the GTX 960M averages 9,645. The RX 7800 XT is about 20.5% higher on average.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The RX 7800 XT has 624.1 GB/s from 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus. The GTX 960M has 80.19 GB/s from 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus.

Q: Do both cards support the same API levels?

A: Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The RX 7800 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 960M only supports DirectX 12 (11_0).

Q: How do the nearest rivals compare to each card’s average score?

A: The RX 7800 XT’s closest rival is the GTX 1660 at 11,680 (-0.5%), followed by the Radeon Pro 5500M at 11,528 (+0.9%), the Tesla K20c at 11,479 (+1.3%), and the RX 6500 XT at 11,842 (-1.8%). The GTX 960M’s closest rival is the Quadro K5000 at 9,637 (+0.1%), followed by the Radeon Pro WX 2100 at 9,653 (-0.1%), the Quadro P4000 at 9,665 (-0.2%), and the Tesla C2070 at 9,716 (-0.7%).

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is built on the RDNA 3.0 architecture using the Navi 32 chip, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 81.2M per mm². The GTX 960M uses the Maxwell architecture with the GM107 chip, built on a 28 nm process also at TSMC. It has 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die, with a density of 12.6M per mm². The process node difference is substantial: 5 nm versus 28 nm, which explains the RX 7800 XT’s ability to pack far more transistors into a larger area.

The RX 7800 XT has 3,840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units. It also has 60 dedicated ray tracing cores. The GTX 960M has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no ray tracing cores. The shading unit count is 6x higher on the AMD card, and the ROP count is 6x higher as well.

Clock speeds differ significantly. The RX 7800 XT has a base clock of 1295 MHz, a boost clock of 2430 MHz, and a game clock of 2124 MHz. Its memory runs at 2438 MHz, effectively 19.5 Gbps. The GTX 960M has a base clock of 1097 MHz and a boost clock of 1176 MHz, with memory at 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The RX 7800 XT’s boost clock is more than double the GTX 960M’s boost clock.

Pixel and texture rates reflect the architectural gap. The RX 7800 XT achieves 233.3 GPixel/s and 583.2 GTexel/s, while the GTX 960M achieves 18.82 GPixel/s and 47.04 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance is 37.32 TFLOPS for the RX 7800 XT versus 1.505 TFLOPS for the GTX 960M, a 24.8x difference. The RX 7800 XT also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the GTX 960M has no recorded FP16 capability.

The RX 7800 XT is a dual-slot desktop card measuring 267 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 50 mm in width. It uses PCIe 4.0 x16 and has display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1. The GTX 960M is an MXM module with no fixed dimensions, using an MXM-B (3.0) interface and portable-device-dependent outputs. It has no external power connectors, while the RX 7800 XT requires two 8-pin connectors and a 600 W power supply.

The RX 7800 XT was released in September 2023 and remains in active production. The GTX 960M was released in March 2015 and is end-of-life. The AMD card’s predecessor is Navi II and its successor is Navi IV, while the GTX 960M’s predecessor is GeForce 800M and its successor is GeForce 10 Mobile. The RX 7800 XT has a launch MSRP of 499 USD; the GTX 960M has no recorded launch MSRP.