Radeon HD 7990 vs VII

Place in the ranking	86	361
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	25.19	1.52
Power efficiency	10.07	2.66
Architecture	GCN 5.1 (2018−2022)	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code name	Vega 20	Malta
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	7 February 2019 (5 years ago)	24 April 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$699	$999

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Radeon VII has 1557% better value for money than HD 7990.

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 cores	3840	2048
Core clock speed	1400 MHz	950 MHz
Boost clock speed	1750 MHz	1000 MHz
Number of transistors	13,230 million	4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology	7 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	295 Watt	375 Watt
Texture fill rate	420.0	128.0
Floating-point processing power	13.44 TFLOPS	4.096 TFLOPS
ROPs	64	32
TMUs	240	128

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).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	280 mm	307 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 8-pin	2x 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 type	HBM2	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	16 GB	3 GB
Memory bus width	4096 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	1000 MHz	1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth	1024 GB/s	288.0 GB/s

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 Connectors	1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a	1x DVI, 4x mini-DisplayPort
HDMI	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 (11_1)
Shader Model	6.7	5.1
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.1	1.2
Vulkan	1.3	1.2.131

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.

Radeon VII 43.06
+198%

HD 7990 14.47

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.

Radeon VII 16556
+198%

HD 7990 5565

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.

Radeon VII 27449
+76.6%

HD 7990 15540

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 HD	123 +208%	40−45 −208%
1440p	79 +229%	24−27 −229%
4K	58 +222%	18−20 −222%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	5.68 +339%	24.98 −339%
1440p	8.85 +370%	41.63 −370%
4K	12.05 +361%	55.50 −361%

Radeon VII has 339% lower cost per frame in 1080p
Radeon VII has 370% lower cost per frame in 1440p
Radeon VII has 361% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	90−95 +207%	30−33 −207%
Cyberpunk 2077	90−95 +210%	30−33 −210%
Elden Ring	150−160 +206%	50−55 −206%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	92 +207%	30−33 −207%
Counter-Strike 2	90−95 +207%	30−33 −207%
Cyberpunk 2077	40 +233%	12−14 −233%
Forza Horizon 4	118 +237%	35−40 −237%
Metro Exodus	95 +217%	30−33 −217%
Red Dead Redemption 2	126 +215%	40−45 −215%
Valorant	238 +217%	75−80 −217%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	153 +206%	50−55 −206%
Counter-Strike 2	90−95 +207%	30−33 −207%
Cyberpunk 2077	33 +230%	10−11 −230%
Dota 2	128 +220%	40−45 −220%
Elden Ring	150−160 +206%	50−55 −206%
Far Cry 5	103 +243%	30−33 −243%
Fortnite	180−190 +205%	60−65 −205%
Forza Horizon 4	97 +223%	30−33 −223%
Grand Theft Auto V	111 +217%	35−40 −217%
Metro Exodus	80 +233%	24−27 −233%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	200−210 +218%	65−70 −218%
Red Dead Redemption 2	70 +233%	21−24 −233%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	150−160 +212%	50−55 −212%
Valorant	143 +218%	45−50 −218%
World of Tanks	270−280 +210%	90−95 −210%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	82 +204%	27−30 −204%
Counter-Strike 2	90−95 +207%	30−33 −207%
Cyberpunk 2077	28 +211%	9−10 −211%
Dota 2	147 +227%	45−50 −227%
Far Cry 5	100−110 +237%	30−33 −237%
Forza Horizon 4	84 +211%	27−30 −211%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	150 +200%	50−55 −200%
Valorant	197 +203%	65−70 −203%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	43 +207%	14−16 −207%
Elden Ring	90−95 +203%	30−33 −203%
Grand Theft Auto V	43 +207%	14−16 −207%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	170−180 +218%	55−60 −218%
Red Dead Redemption 2	46 +229%	14−16 −229%
World of Tanks	270−280 +202%	90−95 −202%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	75−80 +221%	24−27 −221%
Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +221%	14−16 −221%
Cyberpunk 2077	19 +217%	6−7 −217%
Far Cry 5	130−140 +209%	45−50 −209%
Forza Horizon 4	61 +239%	18−20 −239%
Metro Exodus	83 +207%	27−30 −207%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	75−80 +225%	24−27 −225%
Valorant	156 +212%	50−55 −212%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +229%	14−16 −229%
Dota 2	62 +244%	18−20 −244%
Elden Ring	40−45 +214%	14−16 −214%
Grand Theft Auto V	62 +244%	18−20 −244%
Metro Exodus	37 +208%	12−14 −208%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	140−150 +216%	45−50 −216%
Red Dead Redemption 2	30 +200%	10−11 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	62 +244%	18−20 −244%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	53 +231%	16−18 −231%
Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +229%	14−16 −229%
Cyberpunk 2077	9 +200%	3−4 −200%
Dota 2	78 +225%	24−27 −225%
Far Cry 5	65−70 +214%	21−24 −214%
Fortnite	60−65 +200%	21−24 −200%
Forza Horizon 4	33 +230%	10−11 −230%
Valorant	89 +230%	27−30 −230%

This is how Radeon VII and HD 7990 compete in popular games:

Radeon VII is 208% faster in 1080p
Radeon VII is 229% faster in 1440p
Radeon VII is 222% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	43.06	14.47
Recency	7 February 2019	24 April 2013
Maximum RAM amount	16 GB	3 GB
Chip lithography	7 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	295 Watt	375 Watt

Radeon VII has a 197.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 433.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 300% more advanced lithography process, and 27.1% lower power consumption.

The Radeon VII is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7990 in performance tests.

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