AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT vs NVIDIA N1X 40SM Comparison

FAQ

Q: What are the core architectural differences between the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT and the NVIDIA N1X 40SM?

A: The RX 7800 XT uses the Navi 32 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture with a 5 nm TSMC process, while the N1X 40SM uses the GB20B chip built on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, also on a 5 nm TSMC process. The RX 7800 XT is a discrete, dual-slot card with 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die, whereas the N1X 40SM is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 382 mm² die and an unknown transistor count.

Q: How do the memory subsystems compare between the two?

A: The RX 7800 XT offers 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 624.1 GB/s bandwidth. The N1X 40SM provides 128 GB of LPDDR5X memory on the same 256-bit bus but with lower bandwidth at 273.2 GB/s. The RX 7800 XT has a memory clock of 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective), while the N1X 40SM runs at 1067 MHz (8.5 Gbps effective).

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute throughput?

A: The RX 7800 XT delivers 37.32 TFLOPS of FP32 and FP16 performance (1:1 ratio), while the N1X 40SM delivers 24.02 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (also 1:1). The RX 7800 XT has a clear advantage in shading throughput, with 3840 shading units versus 5120 on the N1X 40SM, though the latter has more units at lower clock speeds.

Q: What are the benchmark score differences between the two GPUs?

A: The RX 7800 XT has recorded benchmark scores, including 4157 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 18290 in Geekbench OpenCL, 54228 in Geekbench Vulkan, and 24176 in Passmark G3D. The N1X 40SM has no recorded benchmark scores in the database, with an average benchmark score of 0 and a percentile ranking of 50 versus 51 for the RX 7800 XT.

Q: How do the power and cooling requirements differ?

A: The RX 7800 XT has a TDP of 263 W, requires a 600 W suggested PSU, uses 2x 8-pin power connectors, and is a dual-slot card. The N1X 40SM has an unknown TDP, no power connectors, and is an IGP, meaning it integrates into the system without a separate power interface or slot width.

Q: What API support does each GPU provide?

A: The RX 7800 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The N1X 40SM lists DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan support as N/A, indicating it lacks these traditional graphics API capabilities in the recorded data.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different design philosophies. The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is a discrete graphics card from the Radeon RX 7000 series, built on the Navi 32 chip with RDNA 3.0 architecture and the codename "Wheat Nas." It belongs to the Navi III (RX 7000) generation and serves as the successor to the Navi II line, with Navi IV as its successor. The NVIDIA N1X 40SM, by contrast, is an integrated graphics processor from the Blackwell IGP (N1x) generation, built on the GB20B chip with Blackwell 2.0 architecture.

The process technology is identical: both use a 5 nm node from TSMC. However, the transistor counts differ sharply. The RX 7800 XT packs 28,100 million transistors into a 346 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 81.2M per mm². The N1X 40SM has a larger die at 382 mm² but its transistor count is listed as unknown, so density cannot be calculated.

The shading architectures diverge significantly. The RX 7800 XT uses 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The N1X 40SM has 5120 shading units, 320 TMUs, but only 40 ROPs. This means the N1X 40SM has 33% more shading units and 33% more TMUs, but less than half the ROPs of the RX 7800 XT. The pixel rate reflects this: the RX 7800 XT achieves 233.3 GPixel/s versus 93.84 GPixel/s for the N1X 40SM.

Ray tracing and tensor hardware also differ. The RX 7800 XT includes 60 ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, while the N1X 40SM has 40 RT cores and 160 tensor cores. The tensor cores give the N1X 40SM a dedicated AI acceleration path that the RX 7800 XT lacks entirely.

Clock behavior shows a notable contrast. The RX 7800 XT has a base clock of 1295 MHz, a game clock of 2124 MHz, and a boost clock of 2430 MHz. The N1X 40SM has a much lower base clock of 741 MHz but a boost clock of 2346 MHz, close to the RX 7800 XT's boost. The memory clocks also differ: 2438 MHz (19.5 Gbps effective) for the RX 7800 XT versus 1067 MHz (8.5 Gbps effective) for the N1X 40SM.

The bus interface distinguishes them further. The RX 7800 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the N1X 40SM uses PCIe 5.0 x16. Display outputs show the RX 7800 XT with 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1, while the N1X 40SM has only 1x HDMI.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7800 XT wins decisively in raw graphics throughput. Its FP32 compute of 37.32 TFLOPS is 55% higher than the N1X 40SM's 24.02 TFLOPS. The pixel rate advantage is even more pronounced: 233.3 GPixel/s versus 93.84 GPixel/s, a 149% lead. This makes the RX 7800 XT substantially stronger for traditional rasterization workloads, where fill rate dominates.

The N1X 40SM wins in memory capacity and texture throughput. Its 128 GB of LPDDR5X memory dwarfs the 16 GB available on the RX 7800 XT, making it suitable for workloads that require massive datasets resident in GPU memory. Its texture rate of 750.7 GTexel/s exceeds the RX 7800 XT's 583.2 GTexel/s by 29%, which could benefit texture-heavy compute tasks.

The N1X 40SM also holds advantages in shading unit count (5120 versus 3840) and TMU count (320 versus 240). The 160 tensor cores on the N1X 40SM provide AI capabilities absent from the RX 7800 XT. However, these advantages come with a much lower pixel rate, suggesting the N1X 40SM is optimized for compute and memory capacity rather than display output.

The benchmark data shows a clear split. The RX 7800 XT has measurable scores across all recorded tests, including 4157 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 18290 in Geekbench OpenCL, and 54228 in Geekbench Vulkan. The N1X 40SM has no benchmark scores recorded, indicating either a lack of testing or a profile that does not fit standard GPU benchmarks. Its percentile rank of 50 versus 51 for the RX 7800 XT places them nearly equal in the overall distribution, but the RX 7800 XT's average benchmark score of 11627 contrasts with the N1X 40SM's 0.

Specification Differences

The recorded specifications reveal several direct contrasts. The RX 7800 XT uses GDDR6 memory at 16 GB, while the N1X 40SM uses LPDDR5X at 128 GB. Memory bandwidth favors the RX 7800 XT at 624.1 GB/s versus 273.2 GB/s. Both use a 256-bit bus.

Shading units differ: 3840 on the RX 7800 XT versus 5120 on the N1X 40SM. TMUs are 240 versus 320. ROPs are 96 versus 40. RT cores are 60 versus 40. Tensor cores are absent on the RX 7800 XT and present at 160 on the N1X 40SM.

Pixel rates are 233.3 GPixel/s for the RX 7800 XT and 93.84 GPixel/s for the N1X 40SM. Texture rates are 583.2 GTexel/s and 750.7 GTexel/s respectively. FP32 and FP16 performance are both 37.32 TFLOPS for the RX 7800 XT and 24.02 TFLOPS for the N1X 40SM.

Power delivery differs completely. The RX 7800 XT has a TDP of 263 W, uses 2x 8-pin connectors, requires a 600 W suggested PSU, and is dual-slot. The N1X 40SM has no TDP listed, no power connectors, and is an IGP. The RX 7800 XT measures 267 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 50 mm in width. The N1X 40SM has no recorded dimensions.

API support diverges entirely. The RX 7800 XT supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The N1X 40SM lists all three as N/A. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RX 7800 XT and PCIe 5.0 x16 for the N1X 40SM.

Release dates differ by several years. The RX 7800 XT launched on 2023-09-05, while the N1X 40SM is dated 2026-05-31. The RX 7800 XT has a launch MSRP of 499 USD, while the N1X 40SM has no launch MSRP recorded. Production status for both is Active.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark comparison presents a peculiar situation. The database records zero head-to-head benchmark entries for this pairing, with zero wins for either GPU. This absence stems from the N1X 40SM having an empty benchmark list, while the RX 7800 XT has ten recorded scores.

The RX 7800 XT's benchmark results stand alone. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 4157. Geekbench OpenCL yields 18290, and Geekbench Vulkan reaches 54228. Passmark results include 121 for DirectX 10, 249 for DirectX 11, 93 for DirectX 12, 304 for DirectX 9, 1177 for G2D, 24176 for G3D, and 13473 for GPU compute. Its average benchmark score is 11627.

The nearest rivals for the RX 7800 XT provide context. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 has an average score of 11680, a delta of -0.5% relative to the RX 7800 XT. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M scores 11528, a delta of 0.9%. The NVIDIA Tesla K20c scores 11479, a delta of 1.3%. The AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT scores 11842, a delta of -1.8%. These deltas place the RX 7800 XT in a tight cluster, within roughly 2% of its nearest competitors.

The N1X 40SM has no nearest rivals recorded and an average benchmark score of zero. This means no direct numerical comparison can be made between the two GPUs using recorded measurements. The percentile ranks, however, show near parity: 51st percentile for the RX 7800 XT versus 50th for the N1X 40SM, despite the latter's lack of scores.

Without head-to-head measurements, the biggest wins must be inferred from specification deltas. The RX 7800 XT leads by 55% in FP32 throughput (37.32 versus 24.02 TFLOPS), by 149% in pixel rate (233.3 versus 93.84 GPixel/s), and by 128% in memory bandwidth (624.1 versus 273.2 GB/s). The N1X 40SM leads by 700% in memory capacity (128 versus 16 GB) and by 29% in texture rate (750.7 versus 583.2 GTexel/s).

The Verdict

The data indicates that these two GPUs serve entirely different roles. The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is a conventional discrete graphics card aimed at rendering and gaming workloads, with a full API stack, high pixel throughput, and substantial memory bandwidth. Its benchmark scores are real and measurable, placing it in the 51st percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 11627.

The NVIDIA N1X 40SM is an integrated processor with a massive 128 GB memory pool and 160 tensor cores, but it lacks traditional graphics API support and has no recorded benchmark scores. Its 50th percentile rank is nominal, given zero measurements. The 40 ROPs and 93.84 GPixel/s pixel rate suggest it is not designed for conventional display rendering.

For users selecting a GPU for standard graphics workloads, the RX 7800 XT is the clear choice from the recorded data. It offers higher compute, higher pixel rate, higher memory bandwidth, and full DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL, and Vulkan support. The N1X 40SM cannot be evaluated on benchmark performance because none exists in the database.

For workloads requiring massive memory capacity, the N1X 40SM presents an alternative. Its 128 GB of LPDDR5X memory exceeds the RX 7800 XT's 16 GB by a factor of eight. The 160 tensor cores provide AI acceleration that the RX 7800 XT lacks entirely. The higher texture rate of 750.7 GTexel/s and larger shading unit count of 5120 also favor compute-heavy tasks.

The RX 7800 XT's launch MSRP of 499 USD, a dual-slot form factor, and active production status make it a conventional, deployable component. The N1X 40SM, with no launch MSRP, no dimensions, and IGP form factor, is a different class of product. The release dates confirm this: the RX 7800 XT arrived in 2023, the N1X 40SM is dated 2026.

The recorded data supports a straightforward conclusion. The RX 7800 XT wins on graphics performance metrics and has the benchmarks to prove it. The N1X 40SM wins on memory capacity and tensor core availability, but without recorded performance data, its practical capabilities remain unverified. Users should choose based on whether they need a proven graphics solution or a large-memory compute device with AI features.