AMD Radeon RX 550X vs AMD Radeon HD 7970

VS
Performance
Radeon RX 550X
5,344.55% of 104,598
Radeon HD 797045% better
7,7707% of 104,598

The Radeon HD 7970 has 45% better performance than the Radeon RX 550X for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 550X
No data available
Radeon HD 7970
14.159% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7970 has 9% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: AMD Radeon RX 7600.

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Summary

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About the AMD Radeon RX 550X GPU

The AMD Radeon RX 550X is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q4 2018. It is built on the GCN 4.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Lexa) and is manufactured on a 14 nm process.

Memory

The RX 550X has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,500 MHz memory clock and a 128 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 96 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The RX 550X includes 512 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,100 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,183 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 32 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 16 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The RX 550X occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 250 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 50 W.

Benchmark Performance

The RX 550X has the 239th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 5.11% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

About the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GPU

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q1 2012 with a MSRP of $549. It is built on the GCN 1.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Tahiti) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The HD 7970 has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,375 MHz memory clock and a 384 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 264 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The HD 7970 includes 2,048 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 925 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 128 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The HD 7970 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.4a, mini-DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 600 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 250 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The HD 7970 has the 211th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 7.43% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 7,770 score and $549 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 14.15. This is the 92nd best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoRadeon RX 550XRadeon HD 7970
ManufacturerAMDAMD
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 1.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ4 2018Q1 2012
Launch Price (MSRP)--$549
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for X-Plane 11
X-Plane 11
Display FPS for Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Display FPS for Dota 2 - Reborn
Dota 2 - Reborn
Display FPS for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3
Display FPS for BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite
Display FPS for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
CS: GO
Display FPS for Far Cry 5
Far Cry 5

FPS Benchmarks

This table showcases the average frame rate (FPS) achieved both GPUs in at various resolutions. Frame rate is a crucial indicator of how smoothly the GPU can run the game. A higher FPS generally translates to a smoother gameplay experience.

  • Frames Per Second
FPS data for X-Plane 11
X-Plane 11
Radeon RX 550XRadeon HD 7970
Low - 720p
27 FPS
--
Medium - 1080p
21 FPS
--
High - 1080p
19 FPS
--
Ultra - 1080p
--
--
QHD - 1440p
--
--
4K UHD - 2160p
--
--
FPS Source: Notebookcheck

Compare Frames Per Second (FPS)

The average frame rate (FPS) in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, higher FPS results in a smoother gameplay experience.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 550X orRadeon HD 7970
GPUFrames Per Second
GeForce GTX 105056.1+195%
Radeon RX 47052.1+174%
Radeon RX 48051.3+170%
Radeon RX 46043.8+131%
Radeon RX 64030.1+58%
Radeon RX 550X19
GeForce GT 71014.8-22%

Compare Cost Per Frame

The average cost per frame in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. Generally, a lower cost per frame implies better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 550X orRadeon HD 7970
GPUCost Per Frame
Our database does not have enough data to compare the FPS per dollar with other GPUs.

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
Radeon RX 550X
5,344.55% of 104,598
Radeon HD 797045% better
7,7707% of 104,598

The Radeon HD 7970 has 45% better performance than the Radeon RX 550X for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 550X is ranked 239th with a score of 5,344.5, and the Radeon HD 7970 is ranked 211th with a score of 7,770.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 550X
No data available
Radeon HD 7970
14.159% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7970 has 22% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.

Radeon HD 7970's 14.15 performance per dollar ranks it 0th among the other benchmarked GPUs in our database.

Relative Performance

The average score in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 550X or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce GTX 660 Ti8,415+57%
GeForce GTX 9508,351+56%
GeForce GTX 7607,962+49%
Radeon HD 79707,770+45%
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)6,194+16%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti5,378+1%
Radeon RX 550X5,344.5
Radeon RX 6405,235-2%
GeForce GTX 4805,014-6%
GeForce GT 10304,727.5-12%

Relative Value For Money

The average performance per dollar in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. A higher score implies a better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 550X orRadeon HD 7970

Benchmark Scores

This table showcases the average performance scores achieved by both GPUs across industry-standard benchmark tests. These scores provide a valuable insight into overall performance. Powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

  • Popular
BenchmarkRadeon RX 550XRadeon HD 7970
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
1,050
--
3DMark Time Spy Score
1,164.5
--
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
20,039
43,795
(+118.55%)
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
3,688
6,862
(+86.06%)
3DMark 11 Performance Score
5,502.5
7,323
(+33.08%)
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
79.6
--
PassMark G3D Mark
2,288
5,248
(+129.37%)
PassMark G2D Mark
412
738
(+79.13%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
35
77.8
(+122.29%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 OpenGL
26.7
--
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

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Graphics Processor

General information about the graphics processing unit like their architecture, manufacturing process size, and transistor count. Newer GPU architectures generally bring efficiency improvements and may introduce technologies that enhance graphical capabilities.

SpecRadeon RX 550XRadeon HD 7970
CodenameLexaTahiti
ArchitectureGCN 4.0GCN 1.0
Process Size14 nm28 nm
Transistors2,200 million4,313 million

Memory Details

Memory specifications like their capacity, bandwidth, and clock speeds. GPU memory stores graphics data like frames, textures, and shadows which helps display rendered images. These specs are crucial for graphics-intense applications like gaming and 3D modeling.

SpecRadeon RX 550XRadeon HD 7970
Memory Size4 GB3 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth96 Gb/s264 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,500 MHz1,375 MHz
Memory Interface128 bit384 bit
L1 Cache16 KB16 KB
L2 Cache512 KB768 KB

Board Compatibility

Compatibility information like their slot size, bus interface, power consumption, and display support. These specs are useful for verifying compatibility with your motherboard, power supply, and monitor.

SpecRadeon RX 550XRadeon HD 7970
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x8PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)50 W250 W
Suggested PSU250 W600 W
Power Connectors--1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsDVI, HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4aDVI, HDMI 1.4a, mini-DisplayPort 1.2

Cores & Clock Speeds

Processing power information like its cores and clock speed. These specs impact how fast they can process graphics. Each type of core or component serves a specific computational purpose.

SpecRadeon RX 550XRadeon HD 7970
Stream Processors (SP)5122,048
Compute Units (CU)832
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)32128
Render Output Units (ROP)1632
Core Clock Speed1,100 MHz925 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,183 MHz--

Theoretical Performance

Theoretical performance numbers derived from the raw specifications of the different components like core count and clock speeds. While these provide a glimpse into peak processing power, they do not represent real-world performance.

SpecRadeon RX 550XRadeon HD 7970
Pixel Fill Rate18.93 GPixel/s29.6 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate37.86 GTexel/s118.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance1,211 GFLOPS3.79 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance75.71 GFLOPS947.2 GFLOPS

API Support

Graphics API versions supported by these graphics cards. APIs evolve over time, introducing new features and functionalities. Older GPUs may not support recent versions.

SpecRadeon RX 550XRadeon HD 7970
DirectX12 (12_0)12 (11_1)
OpenCL2.12.1 (1.2)
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.76.5 (5.1)

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* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.