AMD Radeon 680M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents a clear, two-test head-to-head comparison between the AMD Radeon 680M and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680. In both recorded tests, the AMD Radeon 680M emerges victorious, with the margin of victory being substantial in each case. The GeForce GTX 680 fails to secure a single win in this dataset, giving the AMD part a clean 2-0 record.

The first test, Geekbench OpenCL, shows the AMD Radeon 680M scoring 23,468 points against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680's 16,906 points. This translates to a delta of 38.8% in favor of the AMD integrated graphics processor. The magnitude of this lead is considerable; it is not a marginal difference but rather a decisive performance gap. For context, the AMD part's average benchmark score across all tests is 15,270, which is already higher than the GTX 680's average of 14,150. The OpenCL result, however, far exceeds both averages, indicating that the 680M is particularly strong in this compute workload.

In the second test, Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD Radeon 680M again takes the lead, scoring 21,965 points compared to 17,646 for the GTX 680. The delta here is 24.5%, a smaller but still significant margin. The Vulkan API represents a modern graphics and compute interface, and the data suggests the AMD architecture handles it more efficiently than the older NVIDIA Kepler design. The AMD part's Vulkan score is notably higher than its own OpenCL score, while the NVIDIA part's Vulkan score is only slightly above its OpenCL result.

When examining the broader competitive landscape, the AMD Radeon 680M sits at the 57th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 sits at the 55th percentile. The AMD part's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with an average score of 15,290 (a delta of -0.1%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM at 15,199 (0.5% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 at 15,171 (0.7% delta). The GTX 680's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Tesla K10 at 14,029 (0.9% delta), the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti at 14,277 (-0.9% delta), and the Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics at 14,315 (-1.2% delta). The AMD 680M's average score of 15,270 places it in a competitive bracket with discrete GPUs from later generations, while the GTX 680's average of 14,150 aligns it with more modest hardware like the Vega 11 integrated graphics.

The performance data tells a story of generational and architectural progression. The AMD Radeon 680M, despite being an integrated graphics processor, outperforms a dedicated discrete GPU from a previous era by a wide margin in compute benchmarks. The 38.8% delta in OpenCL and 24.5% delta in Vulkan are not trivial; they represent a fundamental shift in what integrated graphics can achieve.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the head-to-head benchmarks in this data?

A: The AMD Radeon 680M wins both recorded head-to-head tests. It achieves a 38.8% higher score in Geekbench OpenCL and a 24.5% higher score in Geekbench Vulkan compared to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680.

Q: What are the specific Geekbench OpenCL scores for each GPU?

A: The AMD Radeon 680M scores 23,468 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 scores 16,906 points in Geekbench OpenCL.

Q: How does the average benchmark score of the AMD 680M compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD 680M has an average benchmark score of 15,270. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 at 15,290 (a delta of -0.1%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM at 15,199 (0.5% delta), and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 at 15,171 (0.7% delta). This places it within a close performance band of these discrete GPUs.

Q: What is the percentile ranking for each GPU relative to all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon 680M is at the 57th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 is at the 55th percentile.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 have any benchmark win over the AMD 680M?

A: No. The data shows 0 wins for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 and 2 wins for the AMD Radeon 680M in the head-to-head benchmark tests.

Q: What is the launch MSRP for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680?

A: The launch MSRP for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 is 499 USD. The AMD Radeon 680M has no launch MSRP listed in the data.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear choice for compute and modern API workloads: the AMD Radeon 680M. In both Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests, it outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 by significant margins of 38.8% and 24.5% respectively. The AMD part also carries a higher average benchmark score of 15,270 versus 14,150 for the NVIDIA part, and it sits at a higher percentile rank (57th versus 55th). For users prioritizing raw compute performance, particularly in OpenCL and Vulkan environments, the AMD Radeon 680M is the superior option based strictly on this data.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 does not win any benchmark in this comparison. Its only distinguishing factor is its dedicated memory configuration of 2 GB GDDR5 with a 256-bit bus and 192.3 GB/s bandwidth, which is a hardware specification rather than a performance result. The GTX 680's average score of 14,150 places it in a bracket with competitors like the NVIDIA Tesla K10 (14,029) and Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics (14,315), all of which are within a 1.4% delta of each other. This suggests the GTX 680 is tightly clustered with that performance tier, while the AMD 680M sits in a higher tier alongside the RTX 2060 and RX 7600.

The choice is straightforward: the AMD Radeon 680M is the better-performing part in all measured benchmarks. Anyone selecting between these two based on the data should choose the AMD Radeon 680M, as it delivers a decisive advantage in both test scenarios. The GTX 680, being end-of-life, offers no performance advantage in this dataset.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs diverge significantly across nearly every specification category. The AMD Radeon 680M is built on a 6 nm process node, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 uses a 28 nm node. The AMD chip, named Rembrandt+, contains 13,100 million transistors on a 208 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 63.0M per mm². The NVIDIA GK104 chip contains 3,540 million transistors on a larger 294 mm² die, yielding a density of just 12.0M per mm².

Clock speeds differ markedly. The AMD Radeon 680M has a base clock of 2000 MHz and a boost clock of 2200 MHz. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 has a base clock of 1006 MHz and a boost clock of 1058 MHz. The AMD part's clocks are more than double the NVIDIA part's.

Memory configurations are fundamentally different. The AMD Radeon 680M uses system shared memory with a system-dependent bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 192.3 GB/s of bandwidth.

The compute units also vary. The AMD Radeon 680M has 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 raster operation units (ROPs). It also includes 12 ray tracing cores. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 has 1536 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, but no ray tracing cores. The NVIDIA part has double the shading units and TMUs, yet it produces lower performance in the benchmarks.

Pixel and texture rates show interesting trade-offs. The AMD Radeon 680M achieves a pixel rate of 70.40 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 105.6 GTexel/s. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 achieves a pixel rate of 33.86 GPixel/s but a higher texture rate of 135.4 GTexel/s. In floating-point performance, the AMD part delivers 3.379 TFLOPS FP32 and 6.758 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), while the NVIDIA part delivers 3.250 TFLOPS FP32 and has no FP16 data listed.

Power and physical specifications also differ. The AMD Radeon 680M has a TDP of 50 W, is an IGP with a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, and requires no power connectors. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 has a 195 W TDP, is a dual-slot card with a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, requires 2x 6-pin power connectors, and has a suggested PSU of 450 W. The GTX 680 measures 256 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 38 mm in width.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is profound. The AMD Radeon 680M is based on RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on the Rembrandt+ chip, and belongs to the Navi II IGP generation (Rembrandt Mobile). It is manufactured by TSMC on a 6 nm process. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 is based on the Kepler architecture, using the GK104 chip, and belongs to the GeForce 600 generation. It is also manufactured by TSMC, but on a 28 nm process.

The AMD Radeon 680M includes 12 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680. This is a direct reflection of the generational gap, as ray tracing was not a consumer GPU feature in 2012 when the GTX 680 was released. The AMD part's transistor density of 63.0M per mm² versus the NVIDIA part's 12.0M per mm² illustrates the manufacturing advancement; the AMD chip packs over five times more transistors per square millimeter.

API support differs notably. The AMD Radeon 680M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The higher DirectX feature level and newer Vulkan version on the AMD part align with its superior Vulkan benchmark performance of 24.5% over the NVIDIA part.

The production status also reflects their positions in the market. The AMD Radeon 680M is listed as "Active" with a release date of January 2023, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 is "End-of-life" with a release date of March 2012. The AMD part's predecessor is the Vega II IGP and its successor is the Navi III IGP. The NVIDIA part's predecessor is the GeForce 500 series and its successor is the GeForce 700 series. The GTX 680 has a launch MSRP of 499 USD, while the AMD 680M has no listed launch MSRP. The display outputs also differ, with the AMD part being portable-device-dependent and the NVIDIA part offering 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2.