Radeon RX 7800 XT vs HD 8790M

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 8790M with Radeon RX 7800 XT, including specs and performance data.

HD 8790M
2013
2 GB GDDR5
3.39

RX 7800 XT outperforms HD 8790M by a whopping 1763% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking73330
Place by popularitynot in top-10040
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data68.04
Power efficiencyno data16.46
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)RDNA 3.0 (2022−2024)
GPU code nameMarsNavi 32
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date1 April 2013 (11 years ago)25 August 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores3843840
Core clock speed850 MHz1295 MHz
Boost clock speed900 MHz2430 MHz
Number of transistors950 million28,100 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)unknown263 Watt
Texture fill rate21.60583.2
Floating-point processing power0.6912 TFLOPS37.32 TFLOPS
ROPs896
TMUs24240
Ray Tracing Coresno data60

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop sizemedium sizedno data
InterfaceMXM-A (3.0)PCIe 4.0 x16
Lengthno data267 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsNone2x 8-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount2 GB16 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1000 MHz2438 MHz
Memory bandwidth64 GB/s624.1 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsNo outputs1x HDMI 2.1a, 3x DisplayPort 2.1
HDMI-+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (11_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.7
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.22.2
Vulkan1.2.1311.3

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

HD 8790M 3.39
RX 7800 XT 63.15
+1763%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

HD 8790M 1305
RX 7800 XT 24333
+1765%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

HD 8790M 2187
RX 7800 XT 65611
+2901%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

HD 8790M 9835
RX 7800 XT 134322
+1266%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

HD 8790M 1727
RX 7800 XT 49707
+2778%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

HD 8790M 12049
RX 7800 XT 202773
+1583%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD27
−700%
216
+700%
1440p6−7
−1933%
122
+1933%
4K3−4
−2233%
70
+2233%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data2.31
1440pno data4.09
4Kno data7.13

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−4200%
258
+4200%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−11
−1680%
178
+1680%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−11000%
222
+11000%
Battlefield 5 7−8
−2743%
190−200
+2743%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
−1325%
110−120
+1325%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−3117%
193
+3117%
Far Cry 5 7−8
−1514%
110−120
+1514%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
−1578%
150−160
+1578%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
−1111%
230−240
+1111%
Hitman 3 8−9
−1450%
120−130
+1450%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−871%
230−240
+871%
Metro Exodus 5−6
−3000%
150−160
+3000%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
−1375%
110−120
+1375%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
−1869%
250−260
+1869%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−275%
150−160
+275%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−11
−2510%
261
+2510%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−8950%
181
+8950%
Battlefield 5 7−8
−2743%
190−200
+2743%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
−1325%
110−120
+1325%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−2583%
161
+2583%
Far Cry 5 7−8
−1514%
110−120
+1514%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
−1578%
150−160
+1578%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
−1111%
230−240
+1111%
Hitman 3 8−9
−1450%
120−130
+1450%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−871%
230−240
+871%
Metro Exodus 5−6
−3000%
150−160
+3000%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
−1375%
110−120
+1375%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
−2962%
398
+2962%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−780%
130−140
+780%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−275%
150−160
+275%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−11
−1200%
130
+1200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−7800%
158
+7800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
−1325%
110−120
+1325%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−2367%
148
+2367%
Far Cry 5 7−8
−1514%
110−120
+1514%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
−1068%
222
+1068%
Hitman 3 8−9
−1450%
120−130
+1450%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−1042%
274
+1042%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
−2515%
340
+2515%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−1233%
200
+1233%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−263%
145
+263%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
−1375%
110−120
+1375%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 6−7
−2233%
140−150
+2233%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−1860%
95−100
+1860%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
−3867%
119
+3867%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
−3600%
70−75
+3600%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
−4750%
97
+4750%
Far Cry 5 4−5
−1725%
70−75
+1725%
Forza Horizon 4 0−1 270−280
Hitman 3 8−9
−1025%
90−95
+1025%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
−2613%
217
+2613%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2−3
−7250%
147
+7250%
Watch Dogs: Legion 21−24
−1019%
230−240
+1019%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
−1400%
100−110
+1400%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 2−3
−3550%
70−75
+3550%
Far Cry New Dawn 2−3
−2950%
60−65
+2950%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
−4350%
89
+4350%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
−7100%
72
+7100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1−2
−4400%
45−50
+4400%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 44
Far Cry 5 2−3
−2050%
40−45
+2050%
Forza Horizon 4 1−2
−16300%
164
+16300%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
−6600%
67
+6600%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−1500%
60−65
+1500%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 124
+0%
124
+0%
Metro Exodus 148
+0%
148
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 243
+0%
243
+0%

4K
High Preset

Hitman 3 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 220−230
+0%
220−230
+0%
Metro Exodus 90−95
+0%
90−95
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 118
+0%
118
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider 130
+0%
130
+0%

This is how HD 8790M and RX 7800 XT compete in popular games:

  • RX 7800 XT is 700% faster in 1080p
  • RX 7800 XT is 1933% faster in 1440p
  • RX 7800 XT is 2233% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Forza Horizon 4, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 7800 XT is 16300% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • RX 7800 XT is ahead in 62 tests (89%)
  • there's a draw in 8 tests (11%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 3.39 63.15
Recency 1 April 2013 25 August 2023
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 16 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 5 nm

RX 7800 XT has a 1762.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 7800 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 8790M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 8790M is a notebook card while Radeon RX 7800 XT is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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AMD Radeon HD 8790M
Radeon HD 8790M
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT
Radeon RX 7800 XT

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.3 337 votes

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Questions & comments

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