AMD Radeon 860M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data presents an unambiguous split between these two GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 wins both recorded head-to-head tests, dominating in compute and graphics workloads. The AMD Radeon 860M, by contrast, has no benchmark wins in the comparison, yet its positioning in the database tells a different story about its intended role. The 860M sits in the 72nd percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 5090 occupies the 92nd percentile, a gap that reflects their fundamentally different market positions.

The 860M is an integrated graphics processor built for mobility, with a 15 W thermal design power and a system-shared memory configuration. Its performance profile places it near the NVIDIA GeForce MX550, which scores 26,421 on average, a 0.1% difference from the 860M's 26,401 average. It also sits close to the RTX 5060 (26,331, 0.3% higher) and the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (26,553, 0.6% higher). These are modest deltas, indicating the 860M competes in the entry-level discrete GPU space despite being an IGP.

The RTX 5090, on the other hand, is a flagship add-in board with a 575 W TDP, 32 GB of GDDR7 memory, and a 512-bit bus. Its nearest rivals include the Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB (79,605, 0.3% lower), the Tesla P100 PCIe 12 GB (79,396, 0.6% lower), and the RX 6850M XT (78,940, 1.1% lower). The RTX 5090's average benchmark score of 79,842 is roughly three times that of the 860M's 26,401, a scale of difference that overshadows any use-case overlap.

For workloads like OpenCL compute, the RTX 5090 is the clear choice. For Vulkan graphics, it also leads decisively. The 860M, however, consumes a fraction of the power and requires no external power connectors, making it suitable for thin-and-light portable devices where battery life and thermal constraints take priority over raw throughput. The data does not record a single scenario where the 860M outperforms the RTX 5090, but the comparison itself is skewed by the enormous architectural and power gulf between the two.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5090 in OpenCL performance?

A: The RTX 5090 scores 334,370 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the 860M scores 22,759. This represents a 93.2% delta in favor of the RTX 5090, meaning the RTX 5090 delivers roughly 13.7 times the score.

Q: Does the 860M have any benchmark where it wins?

A: No. In the recorded head-to-head benchmarks, the RTX 5090 wins both tests: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. The database shows 0 wins for the 860M and 2 wins for the RTX 5090.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The 860M uses system-shared memory with a system-dependent bandwidth, meaning it borrows from the host's RAM. The RTX 5090 has 32 GB of dedicated GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, delivering 1.79 TB/s of bandwidth.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The 860M has a 15 W TDP and requires no power connectors. The RTX 5090 has a 575 W TDP, uses a single 16-pin power connector, and the database lists a suggested power supply of 950 W.

Q: Which GPU has higher pixel and texture throughput?

A: The RTX 5090 delivers 423.6 GPixel/s and 1,636.8 GTexel/s. The 860M delivers 48.00 GPixel/s and 96.00 GTexel/s. The RTX 5090 is roughly 8.8 times faster in pixel rate and 17 times faster in texture rate.

Q: What are the release dates for these products?

A: The 860M was released on 2025-02-28, while the RTX 5090 was released earlier on 2025-01-29.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data contains two tests, both dominated by the RTX 5090. In Geekbench OpenCL, the 860M scores 22,759 against the RTX 5090's 334,370, a delta of 93.2% in favor of NVIDIA's card. This is the largest relative gap in the comparison. The RTX 5090's score is 14.7 times higher, a margin that reflects the difference in shading units: 21,760 versus 512, and the resulting FP32 throughput of 104.8 TFLOPS versus 3.072 TFLOPS.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the 860M manages 30,043, which is actually higher than its OpenCL result, indicating better driver optimization or API utilization for this integrated part. The RTX 5090 scores 376,728, a 92% delta in its favor. The absolute gap is 346,685 points, slightly larger than the OpenCL gap of 311,611 points. The RTX 5090's Vulkan score is 12.5 times the 860M's, a slightly smaller multiplier than in OpenCL, but still a commanding lead.

These deltas are consistent with the overall average benchmark scores. The 860M's average is 26,401, and the RTX 5090's is 79,842. The percentile ranks also align: 72nd for the 860M versus 92nd for the RTX 5090. The nearest rival data for the 860M shows it trading blows with the MX550 (0.1% slower), the RTX 5060 (0.3% faster), and the RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (0.6% slower). The RTX 5090's nearest rivals are all within 1.4% of its average score, confirming it sits at the top of a very tight performance cluster.

The benchmark results indicate that the RTX 5090 is not merely faster; it operates in a different performance class. The 860M's scores are competitive with entry-level discrete GPUs from a few generations ago, while the RTX 5090's scores rival or exceed professional workstation cards. The delta percentages, 93.2% and 92%, are among the largest recorded in the database for any head-to-head pairing, underscoring the chasm between an integrated mobile solution and a flagship desktop part.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measured specification. The 860M operates at a 600 MHz base clock and boosts to 3000 MHz, while the RTX 5090 runs at 2017 MHz base and 2407 MHz boost. Despite the 860M's higher boost clock, the RTX 5090's massive shader count overwhelms any clock advantage.

Memory is a fundamental divergence. The 860M uses system-shared memory with a system-dependent bandwidth, whereas the RTX 5090 has 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The memory clock differs as well: the 860M's memory is system-shared, while the RTX 5090's memory runs at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective).

The compute resources are starkly different. The 860M has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, 16 ROPs, and 8 ray tracing cores. The RTX 5090 has 21,760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, and 170 RT cores. The RTX 5090 also has 680 tensor cores, while the 860M has none listed. FP32 throughput is 3.072 TFLOPS for the 860M versus 104.8 TFLOPS for the RTX 5090, and FP16 is identical at 1:1 ratio for both.

Physical specifications diverge sharply. The 860M is an IGP with no slot width, no power connectors, and a 15 W TDP. The RTX 5090 is a dual-slot card measuring 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, with a 575 W TDP, a single 16-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 950 W. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x8 for the 860M versus PCIe 5.0 x16 for the RTX 5090.

Display outputs are another differentiator. The 860M is portable-device dependent, meaning outputs vary by laptop or handheld design. The RTX 5090 offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b. The RTX 5090 has a launch MSRP of 1,999 USD, while the 860M has no listed launch MSRP.

Architecture Differences

The architectures stem from different design philosophies. The 860M uses RDNA 3.5, built on a 4 nm TSMC process, and is part of the Navi III IGP generation for Strix Point Mobile. Its chip is codenamed Krackan Point. The RTX 5090 uses Blackwell 2.0, built on a 5 nm TSMC process, and is part of the GeForce 50 generation. Its chip is GB202.

The transistor counts reveal the scale difference. The 860M's transistor count is listed as unknown, while the RTX 5090 has 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 122.9 million per square millimeter. The 860M's die size is also unknown, but as an integrated part, it shares a package with the CPU.

The RTX 5090's predecessor is the GeForce 40 series, and its successor is the GeForce 60 series. The 860M's predecessor is the Navi II IGP, and it has no listed successor. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is identical.

The RT cores and tensor cores differentiate the architectures. The 860M has 8 RT cores and no tensor cores, making it a lighter ray tracing implementation. The RTX 5090 has 170 RT cores and 680 tensor cores, enabling dedicated hardware for ray tracing and AI workloads. The 860M's RDNA 3.5 architecture focuses on efficiency for integrated graphics, while Blackwell 2.0 targets maximum throughput in a discrete, power-hungry package.

The manufacturing process differs: 4 nm for the 860M versus 5 nm for the RTX 5090. Despite the smaller node, the 860M's transistor budget is far smaller, and its power envelope of 15 W limits sustained performance. The RTX 5090's 575 W TDP allows it to feed 21,760 shading units, a 42.5 times increase over the 860M's 512 units. The memory subsystem also reflects architectural priorities: shared system memory for the IGP versus dedicated GDDR7 with a 512-bit interface for the flagship.