AMD Radeon RX 7900M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data leaves little ambiguity about the performance hierarchy between these two GPUs. Across all three head-to-head benchmark tests, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D takes a decisive victory, though the margin varies significantly by workload type. The largest gap appears in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the RTX 4090 D scores 278,621 against the RX 7900M's 129,499, a delta of 115.2%. That is more than double the AMD part's raw compute throughput in this particular API, suggesting a substantial advantage in general-purpose compute tasks that leverage OpenCL.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test shows a similar but slightly narrower story. Here the RTX 4090 D records 8,587 points while the RX 7900M manages 4,201, for a 104.4% advantage. This benchmark, which stresses modern DirectX 12 rendering pipelines, indicates that the NVIDIA card delivers roughly twice the rasterization and shader performance in this specific workload. The fact that the delta is so close to the OpenCL margin hints that the two architectures scale similarly across these very different test types, with the NVIDIA part simply starting from a much higher baseline.

The smallest, yet still commanding, win for the RTX 4090 D comes in the Geekbench Vulkan test. The NVIDIA card posts 246,941 against the AMD card's 158,760, a 55.5% lead. This narrower gap is notable because Vulkan tends to expose raw GPU capabilities with lower driver overhead, and it is often considered a more "balanced" API for measuring compute and graphics simultaneously. A 55.5% delta is still enormous in absolute terms, but it suggests that the RX 7900M's architecture is comparatively more efficient in Vulkan than in OpenCL or DX12, perhaps due to how its compute units are scheduled.

Looking at the average benchmark scores across all recorded tests, the RTX 4090 D sits at 178,050, while the RX 7900M averages 97,487. This 82.5% difference in aggregate score aligns closely with the individual test results. The NVIDIA GPU also ranks in the 98th percentile of all GPUs in the database, whereas the AMD part ranks in the 94th percentile. Both are exceptionally high-end parts, but the percentile gap of four points indicates that the RTX 4090 D is not merely faster, it occupies a tier that only a tiny fraction of GPUs reach, while the RX 7900M, despite being a top-tier mobile part, sits slightly below that exclusive club.

It is worth asking whether the RX 7900M's lower scores in these tests reflect a fundamental architectural ceiling or a power envelope constraint. The data cannot fully answer that question, but the consistent 55% to 115% deltas across three different APIs suggest the NVIDIA part is not just winning due to higher clocks, it appears to have a structural advantage in raw throughput that the AMD part cannot overcome regardless of workload.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs share a few foundational traits but diverge sharply in almost every other architectural detail. Both are built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, which is where the similarity ends. The RTX 4090 D uses the AD102 chip, part of NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace architecture, while the RX 7900M uses the Navi 31 chip in AMD's RDNA 3.0 architecture, with the codename Plum Bonito. The NVIDIA chip is physically larger at 609 mm² compared to 529 mm² for AMD, and it packs far more transistors: 76,300 million versus 57,700 million. This translates to a higher transistor density for NVIDIA at 125.3 million per mm² versus 109.1 million per mm² for AMD, meaning the RTX 4090 D not only has a bigger die but also uses that space more densely.

The most dramatic internal difference is in the compute pipeline organization. The RTX 4090 D contains 14,592 shading units, 456 texture mapping units, 176 ROPs, 114 ray tracing cores, and 456 tensor cores. The RX 790M, by contrast, has 4,608 shading units, 288 TMUs, 192 ROPs, and 72 ray tracing cores, with no tensor cores listed at all. This explains the massive FP32 throughput gap: the NVIDIA card delivers 73.54 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the AMD card offers 38.52 TFLOPS. Interestingly, the RX 7900M flips the usual ratio for FP16, delivering 77.05 TFLOPS at a 2:1 rate, which is actually higher than its own FP32. The RTX 4090 D, however, runs FP16 at the same 73.54 TFLOPS as FP32, a 1:1 ratio, meaning its FP16 and FP32 performance are identical.

Memory architecture also differs substantially. The RTX 4090 D has 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, yielding 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7900M has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, producing 576.0 GB/s. This is a 75% bandwidth advantage for NVIDIA, which is directly relevant to how well each card feeds its compute units in memory-bound scenarios. The NVIDIA card also runs its memory at a higher effective speed: 21 Gbps versus 18 Gbps for the AMD part. Both use PCIe 4.0 x16, so interface bandwidth is identical.

The feature sets in terms of API support are the same: both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. But the RTX 4090 D's tensor cores, absent from the RX 7900M's specification, give it a distinct capability in AI-accelerated workloads that the AMD part cannot match through dedicated hardware. The power situation is likewise lopsided: the RTX 4090 D has a TDP of 425 W and requires a 16-pin connector with an 800 W suggested PSU, while the RX 7900M sips at 180 W with no power connectors required, as it is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) designed for portable devices. The NVIDIA card is a triple-slot 304 mm long behemoth, while the AMD part has no listed dimensions, reflecting its mobile, board-integrated nature.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D has an average score of 178,050 across all recorded tests, versus 97,487 for the AMD Radeon RX 7900M. The NVIDIA card is 82.5% higher on average.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4090 D in the Vulkan test?

A: In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the RTX 4090 D scores 246,941 against the RX 7900M's 158,760, a 55.5% advantage. This is the smallest margin across the three head-to-head tests.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The RTX 4090 D provides 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth from 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus. The RX 7900M offers 576.0 GB/s from 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, making the NVIDIA card's bandwidth 75% higher.

Q: Does the RX 7900M have tensor cores?

A: No. The RX 7900M specification lists no tensor cores, while the RTX 4090 D includes 456 tensor cores. This gives the NVIDIA card dedicated hardware for AI-accelerated tasks.

Q: Which GPU has a higher FP16 compute rate?

A: The RX 7900M has a higher FP16 rate at 77.05 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), compared to the RTX 4090 D's 73.54 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). This is the only raw compute metric where the AMD part exceeds the NVIDIA part.

Q: What are the percentile rankings of each GPU?

A: The RTX 4090 D ranks in the 98th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the RX 7900M ranks in the 94th percentile.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets for these two GPUs differ across nearly every measurable field. The RTX 4090 D uses the AD102 chip with 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, while the RX 7900M uses Navi 31 with 57,700 million transistors on 529 mm². Transistor density is 125.3M per mm² for NVIDIA versus 109.1M per mm² for AMD. Base clocks differ: 2280 MHz for the RTX 4090 D versus 1825 MHz for the RX 7900M, with boost clocks at 2520 MHz versus 2090 MHz. Memory speed is 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA versus 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for AMD.

The compute unit counts are heavily skewed: the RTX 4090 D has 14,592 shading units, 456 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 114 RT cores, and 456 tensor cores. The RX 7900M has 4,608 shading units, 288 TMUs, 192 ROPs, and 72 RT cores, with no tensor cores. Pixel rates are 443.5 GPixel/s for NVIDIA versus 401.3 GPixel/s for AMD, while texture rates are 1,149.1 GTexel/s versus 601.9 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 73.54 TFLOPS versus 38.52 TFLOPS. The RX 7900M leads in FP16 at 77.05 TFLOPS versus 73.54 TFLOPS.

Power and physical design diverge completely: the RTX 4090 D has a 425 W TDP, triple-slot cooling, a 16-pin connector, and an 800 W suggested PSU, while the RX 7900M has a 180 W TDP, is IGP (integrated) with no power connectors, and has no listed PSU requirement. The RTX 4090 D measures 304 mm by 137 mm by 61 mm, while the RX 7900M has no listed dimensions. Display outputs also differ: the NVIDIA card offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the AMD card's outputs are described as portable device dependent. Release dates are close, with the RTX 4090 D launching on 2023-12-27 and the RX 7900M on 2023-10-18. The RTX 4090 D is marked end-of-life with a successor (GeForce 50 series), while the RX 7900M is active with no successor listed.

Where Each One Wins

The data records three benchmark wins for the RTX 4090 D and zero for the RX 7900M, so the win-based split is one-sided. However, a closer look at the specifications reveals where the AMD part holds its own. The RX 7900M wins on power efficiency in absolute terms: it consumes 180 W versus 425 W for the NVIDIA card, a 245 W difference. For portable devices, this is decisive. The RX 7900M also wins on FP16 throughput, delivering 77.05 TFLOPS versus 73.54 TFLOPS, which could matter in workloads that specifically use FP16 math at the 2:1 rate. Its ROP count is higher at 192 versus 176, suggesting potentially better fill-rate efficiency in certain pixel-heavy scenarios, though the pixel rate data shows NVIDIA ahead at 443.5 GPixel/s versus 401.3 GPixel/s.

The RTX 4090 D wins everywhere else. It dominates in raw compute (FP32, texture rate, shading units, TMUs), memory capacity (24 GB versus 16 GB), memory bandwidth (1.01 TB/s versus 576.0 GB/s), and dedicated ray tracing and tensor hardware. It also has a higher boost clock and a larger die with more transistors. For any task that can use the extra memory or the tensor cores, the NVIDIA card is categorically superior. The RX 7900M's only practical advantage outside of power draw is its portability: as an IGP with no listed dimensions or power connectors, it fits into mobile form factors where a triple-slot, 425 W card cannot exist.

The Verdict

The benchmark data points to a clear conclusion: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 D is the superior performer by every measured metric in this comparison. Its average benchmark score is 82.5% higher, its percentile ranking is four points higher, and it wins all three head-to-head tests by margins ranging from 55.5% to 115.2%. For anyone building a desktop workstation or gaming rig where power draw and physical size are not constraints, the RTX 4090 D is the only choice that the recorded data supports. Its 24 GB of memory and 456 tensor cores give it capabilities that the RX 7900M cannot match, and its 73.54 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is nearly double the AMD part's 38.52 TFLOPS.

The AMD Radeon RX 7900M is not without merit, but its strengths are context-specific. Its 180 W TDP and IGP form factor make it viable for laptops and portable systems where the RTX 4090 D cannot physically fit. Its higher FP16 rate and greater ROP count are interesting specification advantages, but they do not translate into a single benchmark win in this dataset. The RX 7900M also holds a 94th percentile ranking, which is outstanding in absolute terms; it is simply outclassed by a GPU that sits in the 98th percentile.

For users constrained to a mobile platform, the RX 7900M appears to be a strong choice based on its high percentile and active production status. For users with no such constraints, the data unequivocally points to the RTX 4090 D, despite its end-of-life status and significantly higher power requirements. The choice is not about which GPU is better; it is about which category of system the user is targeting. The recorded benchmarks show a decisive performance winner, but the specification sheet shows two products designed for entirely different physical realities.