AMD’s Radeon RX 7900M offers first indications of possible performance advantage over NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4080

The first tests on the performance of the AMD Radeon RX 7900M “Navi 31” GPU are now available and it beats the GeForce RTX 4080 laptop GPU, at least in 3DMark Time Spy. However, the AMD Radeon RX 7900M, the flagship of the RDNA 3 laptop GPUs, is only slightly faster than the RTX 4080 in the first 3DMark tests. The AMD Radeon RX 7900M was first leaked at the beginning of October and then officially unveiled last month as part of the Alienware m18. This laptop is the only design with a high-quality Radeon GPU and Ryzen CPU hardware and is one of the AMD Advantage and All-AMD laptops. Previously, AMD’s RDNA 3 lineup was still incomplete, as there were only Navi 33 GPUs for the entry-level and mainstream segments.

In the past, both AMD and NVIDIA have typically introduced GPUs that were a step below their desktop flagships and were considered the best model for laptops. However, even these were specified in terms of core configuration or performance. With the introduction of the Radeon RX 7900M, AMD not only developed the world’s first chiplet GPU for laptops, but also offered its top-of-the-line Navi 31 chip in the laptop segment. This is something that NVIDIA has not been able to do so far due to performance and thermal limitations.

Technical data of the AMD Radeon RX 7900M “Navi 31” GPU

The AMD Radeon RX 7900M GPU is based on the RDNA 3 graphics architecture and has a total of 36 workgroup processors (WGP) or 72 compute units, which together form 4608 cores. Compared to the 7800 XT, the GPU has 20 % more cores, while it has 10 % fewer cores than the 7900 GRE. The GPU achieves peak clock rates of 2090 MHz. In terms of memory, the GPU is equipped with a total of four multi-chip modules (MCDs), which enable a bus interface of 256 bits and a memory capacity of 16 GB.

This allows AMD to keep up with NVIDIA’s top RTX 40 offerings such as the RTX 4090, which also have 16 GB of memory. In terms of performance, the AMD Radeon RX 7900M is configured with a TGP of 160W and can be increased up to 200W with SmartShift technologies.

In the first performance benchmark, provided by renowned tech and gaming YouTuber GizmoSlipTech, you can see the system being tested is an Alienware m18 laptop equipped with AMD’s Ryzen 9 7945HX and the Radeon RX 7900M GPU. This impressive system is available for a base price of the equivalent of 2608.05EURO. In comparison, the RTX 4080 with similar system specifications has a retail price of the equivalent of 3120.35EURO which is a 20% premium.

With the AMD Radeon RX 7900M RDNA 3 GPU, a score of 19,743 was achieved in the 3DMark Time Spy graphics test, while a total of 18,404 points were scored. This performance is particularly impressive for a laptop GPU and exceeds the average score of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 by around 4.3 percent. This achieved an average of 18,923 points in the same benchmark.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 continues to be the king with its AD103 GPU core, while the AD104 shows its strengths and is almost on par with the Navi 31 GPU. In terms of price, the Radeon RX 7900M seems to offer a better price-performance ratio compared to the RTX 4080, but this assessment is only based on a synthetic test.

However, it is important to note that the thermal and power ratings of laptop GPUs are just as important as synthetic or gaming performance. An efficient GPU can offer similar performance at lower temperatures and longer battery life. AMD’s own official benchmarks show a 7% performance increase over the RTX 4080, so the flagship Navi 31 GPU appears to perform well against its AD104 competitor. However, further testing, especially in games, would be required to make a more comprehensive assessment.

Source: GizmoSlipTech