AMD FirePro M4150 vs NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M Comparison

NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M and AMD FirePro M4150 are two end-of-life mobile graphics solutions from the same 28 nm TSMC manufacturing generation, yet the benchmark data reveals a clear performance hierarchy. The AMD FirePro M4150 achieves a Geekbench OpenCL score of 4013, which is 9.9% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M’s 3616. This places the FirePro M4150 at the 24th percentile of all GPUs, while the GT 735M sits at the 21st percentile. The data suggests that despite both cards targeting mobile computing, the AMD part holds a consistent compute advantage that defines its positioning.

The Verdict

The AMD FirePro M4150 is the outright performance winner in this comparison, as the sole head-to-head benchmark result shows it leading the NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M by 9.9% in Geekbench OpenCL (4013 vs 3616). For users prioritizing raw compute throughput, the FirePro M4150 is the clear choice from the data. Its nearest rival cluster also supports this: the FirePro M4150 sits within 1.4% of the NVIDIA GeForce 830M, 1.2% of the NVIDIA Quadro K2000, and 0.9% of the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2, while the GT 735M trails the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 by only 0.3% but falls behind the AMD Radeon HD 6770 by 0.9%. The FirePro M4150’s percentile rank of 24 versus the GT 735M’s 21 reinforces this margin.

However, the GT 735M is not without merit. It offers a higher texture rate (20.10 GTexel/s vs 17.16 GTexel/s) and a larger memory capacity of 2 GB versus 1024 MB, which could matter for workloads that are less compute-bound and more texture- or capacity-sensitive. The GT 735M also has a defined 33 W TDP, whereas the FirePro M4150 lacks a TDP figure in the data, making power behavior indeterminate for the AMD part. The choice should be driven by workload: compute-heavy tasks favor the FirePro M4150, while texture-heavy or larger-memory-footprint tasks could lean toward the GT 735M. Neither card is a modern gaming solution; both are end-of-life parts with DirectX 12 support (11_0 for NVIDIA, 11_1 for AMD), making them legacy options.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different architectures from their respective vendors. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M uses the GK208 chip based on Kepler 2.0 architecture, while the AMD FirePro M4150 employs the Opal chip with GCN 1.0 architecture. Both are fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, but the transistor counts differ slightly: the GT 735M packs 1,020 million transistors on an 87 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 11.7M per mm². The FirePro M4150 contains 950 million transistors on a smaller 77 mm² die, achieving a higher density of 12.3M per mm². This density advantage suggests the AMD design is more compact per transistor, though the NVIDIA chip has 70 million more transistors overall.

Both GPUs feature 384 shading units, but the similarity ends there. The GT 735M has 32 texture mapping units (TMUs) and 8 raster operation pipelines (ROPs), while the FirePro M4150 has fewer TMUs (24) but the same 8 ROPs. The memory subsystems diverge sharply: the GT 735M uses 2 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus, delivering 14.40 GB/s of bandwidth, whereas the FirePro M4150 uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 64.00 GB/s — a 4.4x bandwidth advantage for AMD. The memory clock rates reflect this: the GT 735M runs at 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective), while the FirePro M4150 runs at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The FirePro M4150 also has a higher pixel rate (5.720 GPixel/s vs 5.024 GPixel/s) and higher FP32 compute (549.1 GFLOPS vs 482.3 GFLOPS), despite the GT 735M’s higher texture rate.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher benchmark score?

A: The AMD FirePro M4150 scores 4013 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 9.9% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M’s 3616.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The GT 735M has 2 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus with 14.40 GB/s bandwidth, while the FirePro M4150 has 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 64.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: How do their shading unit counts compare?

A: Both GPUs have exactly 384 shading units, but the GT 735M has 32 TMUs versus the FirePro M4150’s 24 TMUs; both have 8 ROPs.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The FirePro M4150 has a denser design at 12.3M transistors per mm² (950 million on 77 mm²), while the GT 735M has 11.7M per mm² (1,020 million on 87 mm²).

Q: Which card supports newer DirectX?

A: The AMD FirePro M4150 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), while the NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M supports DirectX 12 (11_0).

Q: What is the form factor difference?

A: The GT 735M is an IGP (integrated graphics processor), while the FirePro M4150 is an MXM module; both use a PCIe 3.0 x8 bus interface.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification field except shading units (both 384) and ROPs (both 8). The GT 735M has a base clock of 575 MHz with a boost clock of 628 MHz, while the FirePro M4150 has no base or boost clock listed — only a memory clock of 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The GT 735M’s memory runs at 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective). Die size differs: 87 mm² for NVIDIA versus 77 mm² for AMD, with transistor counts of 1,020 million and 950 million respectively. Transistor density is 11.7M/mm² for the GT 735M and 12.3M/mm² for the FirePro M4150.

Memory capacity, type, bus width, and bandwidth all differ: 2 GB DDR3 on 64-bit with 14.40 GB/s for NVIDIA versus 1024 MB GDDR5 on 128-bit with 64.00 GB/s for AMD. The GT 735M has more TMUs (32 vs 24) and a higher texture rate (20.10 GTexel/s vs 17.16 GTexel/s), but the FirePro M4150 has a higher pixel rate (5.720 GPixel/s vs 5.024 GPixel/s) and higher FP32 performance (549.1 GFLOPS vs 482.3 GFLOPS). The GT 735M has a TDP of 33 W and an IGP slot width, while the FirePro M4150 has no TDP and uses an MXM Module. API support also differs: DirectX 12 (11_0) versus 12 (11_1), and Vulkan 1.2.175 versus 1.2.170. Release dates are seven months apart (2013-03-31 vs 2013-10-15).

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison in the data is Geekbench OpenCL, where the AMD FirePro M4150 wins decisively. The FirePro M4150 scores 4013 against the GT 735M’s 3616, a delta of -9.9% from the NVIDIA card’s perspective. This is the largest single margin in the dataset, and it aligns with the relative positioning of their nearest rivals. The FirePro M4150’s score of 4013 places it within 0.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M (4033) and 0.9% above the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 (3977). By contrast, the GT 735M’s 3616 is only 0.3% below the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (3629) and 0.6% above both the NVIDIA RTX 5000 Mobile Ada Generation (3596) and NVIDIA GeForce GT 545 (3594).

The performance gap in OpenCL is substantial enough to be meaningful, but the data also shows that both cards are clustered with mid-range legacy GPUs. The FirePro M4150’s higher FP32 throughput (549.1 GFLOPS vs 482.3 GFLOPS) and 4.4x higher memory bandwidth (64.00 GB/s vs 14.40 GB/s) likely explain its OpenCL advantage, while the GT 735M’s superior texture rate (20.10 GTexel/s vs 17.16 GTexel/s) does not translate into a benchmark win in this test. The pixel rate also favors AMD (5.720 GPixel/s vs 5.024 GPixel/s), reinforcing the compute-centric win. There are no other benchmark entries, so the OpenCL result stands as the definitive head-to-head measure.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD FirePro M4150 wins the only benchmark available, but its advantages extend beyond that single score. The FirePro M4150’s GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus delivers 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth — a 4.4x advantage over the GT 735M’s DDR3 on 64-bit. This makes the FirePro M4150 the better choice for memory-bandwidth-intensive workloads such as large data transfers or high-resolution texture streaming, assuming the workload fits within 1024 MB. Its higher FP32 compute (549.1 GFLOPS) and pixel rate (5.720 GPixel/s) also favor compute-heavy tasks like OpenCL general-purpose processing. The higher transistor density (12.3M/mm²) suggests a more efficient design per area, though both share the same 28 nm process.

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M wins on texture-related specifications. Its 32 TMUs and 20.10 GTexel/s texture rate exceed the FirePro M4150’s 24 TMUs and 17.16 GTexel/s, indicating an advantage in texture-heavy rendering scenarios. The GT 735M also has double the memory capacity (2 GB vs 1024 MB), which benefits workloads that require larger working sets, such as complex scenes with many textures or multi-application multitasking. Its defined 33 W TDP provides a clear power envelope, whereas the FirePro M4150’s power draw is unspecified in the data — a factor for thermal-constrained mobile designs. The GT 735M’s OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.2.175 support also slightly edge out the FirePro M4150’s Vulkan 1.2.170 in API version, though both support OpenGL 4.6. In summary, the FirePro M4150 is the compute and bandwidth king, while the GT 735M fights back with texture throughput and memory capacity — but the benchmark data clearly favors AMD overall.