AMD Radeon 860M vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile Comparison

AMD Radeon 860M and NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile occupy opposite ends of the mobile GPU spectrum, yet benchmark data places them in a surprisingly close overall percentile ranking. The Radeon 860M, a 15 W integrated processor from AMD’s Krackan Point, achieves an average benchmark score of 26,401, while the RTX A5000 Mobile, a 150 W discrete workstation part from NVIDIA’s Ampere generation, averages 24,763. Despite the RTX A5000 Mobile winning both head-to-head tests decisively, the Radeon 860M holds a higher percentileVsAllGpus rating of 72 compared to 70 for the NVIDIA part. This paradox stems from the limited overlap in benchmark suites, as the Radeon’s scores come exclusively from Geekbench tests, while the RTX A5000 Mobile includes additional Passmark results that drag its average down. The data suggests these GPUs serve fundamentally different markets, with the integrated part targeting efficiency and the discrete part targeting raw throughput.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon 860M averages 26,401 points, which is 1,638 points higher than the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile’s 24,763 average. This is notable because the Radeon achieves this with only two Geekbench results, while the RTX A5000 Mobile’s average includes nine tests, several of which score very low (e.g., Passmark DirectX 12 at 72 points).

Q: How does the RTX A5000 Mobile compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile scores 110,877 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 88,118 points higher than the Radeon 860M’s 22,759. This represents a -79.5% delta for the AMD part, meaning the RTX A5000 Mobile is roughly 4.87 times faster in this specific compute workload.

Q: What is the difference in Vulkan performance between the two?

A: In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX A5000 Mobile scores 88,144 versus the Radeon 860M’s 30,043, a -65.9% delta. The NVIDIA GPU delivers 58,101 more points, indicating a substantial lead in graphics API performance that favors the discrete solution.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile has a pixel rate of 151.2 GPixel/s, while the AMD Radeon 860M achieves 48.00 GPixel/s. This means the RTX A5000 Mobile can process over three times as many pixels per second, which is critical for high-resolution rendering.

Q: Are both GPUs based on the same manufacturing process?

A: No. The AMD Radeon 860M uses a 4 nm process from TSMC, while the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile uses an 8 nm process from Samsung. The AMD chip also has a significantly smaller die, though the exact size is listed as “unknown,” whereas the RTX A5000 Mobile’s die measures 392 mm².

Q: Which GPU has more RT cores?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile features 48 RT cores, compared to just 8 RT cores on the AMD Radeon 860M. This sixfold difference in ray tracing hardware suggests the NVIDIA part is far better equipped for hardware-accelerated ray tracing workloads.

The Verdict

From the data, the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile is the clear performance winner in every head-to-head benchmark, with substantial leads in both OpenCL (-79.5% delta) and Vulkan (-65.9% delta). Its raw specifications dwarf the AMD part: 6,144 shading units versus 512, 19.35 TFLOPS FP32 versus 3.072 TFLOPS, and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth versus system-shared memory. For users who need maximum compute throughput, rendering capability, or ray tracing performance in a laptop, the RTX A5000 Mobile is the only choice based on these numbers.

However, the AMD Radeon 860M presents a compelling counterpoint in efficiency-focused scenarios. Its 15 W TDP is one-tenth of the RTX A5000 Mobile’s 150 W, making it suitable for thin-and-light notebooks where battery life and thermals are paramount. The Radeon’s higher percentile ranking (72 vs 70) and higher average benchmark score (26,401 vs 24,763) suggest that for general graphics tasks, it punches above its weight class. The verdict depends on the use case: pick the RTX A5000 Mobile for uncompromising performance, or the Radeon 860M for integrated efficiency with surprisingly competitive average scores.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two available head-to-head tests show a consistent pattern of NVIDIA dominance, but with different margins. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A5000 Mobile achieves 110,877 points against the Radeon 860M’s 22,759, a delta of -79.5%. This is a massive gap, reflecting the RTX A5000 Mobile’s 6,144 shading units and 19.35 TFLOPS FP32 compute capability, which is 6.3 times higher than the Radeon’s 3.072 TFLOPS. The OpenCL test is heavily compute-bound, so the NVIDIA GPU’s superior raw arithmetic throughput translates directly into a near-fivefold score advantage.

The Vulkan test narrows the gap slightly, with the RTX A5000 Mobile scoring 88,144 versus the Radeon 860M’s 30,043, a -65.9% delta. This still represents a 2.93 times advantage for NVIDIA, but the smaller margin hints that the Radeon 860M’s RDNA 3.5 architecture handles graphics API overhead more efficiently relative to its compute resources. The RTX A5000 Mobile’s 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores likely contribute to its Vulkan lead, though the test primarily measures rasterization and general graphics performance. Notably, the Radeon 860M’s 3000 MHz boost clock is nearly double the RTX A5000 Mobile’s 1575 MHz, which helps the integrated part close some of the architectural gap in real-world graphics workloads.

Specification Differences

The specification sheet reveals stark contrasts in every major category. The AMD Radeon 860M operates at a 600 MHz base clock with a 3000 MHz boost, while the NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile runs at 900 MHz base and 1575 MHz boost. Memory configurations are fundamentally different: the Radeon uses system-shared memory with bandwidth described as “System Dependent,” whereas the RTX A5000 Mobile has 16 GB of dedicated GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s. The shading unit count is 512 for AMD versus 6,144 for NVIDIA, and TMUs are 32 versus 192. ROPs are 16 versus 96. The RTX A5000 Mobile also has 192 tensor cores, while the Radeon 860M lists none (null). Power consumption is a major differentiator: 15 W TDP for the Radeon versus 150 W for the RTX A5000 Mobile. The bus interface also differs, with PCIe 4.0 x8 on the AMD part and PCIe 4.0 x16 on the NVIDIA GPU.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon 860M is built on RDNA 3.5 architecture, codenamed Krackan Point, and belongs to the Navi III IGP (Strix Point Mobile) generation. It uses a 4 nm process from TSMC, though transistor count and die size are listed as unknown. The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile uses Ampere architecture on the GA104 chip, fabricated on Samsung’s 8 nm process with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 44.4M per mm². The Radeon features 8 RT cores, while the RTX A5000 Mobile has 48. The NVIDIA part also includes 192 tensor cores for AI acceleration, which the AMD GPU lacks entirely. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is identical. The production status differs as well: the Radeon 860M is listed as “Active” with a release date of 2025-02-28, while the RTX A5000 Mobile is “End-of-life” with a release date of 2021-04-11.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX A5000 Mobile wins decisively in any scenario demanding raw compute or graphics throughput. Its 19.35 TFLOPS FP32 performance, 151.2 GPixel/s pixel rate, and 302.4 GTexel/s texture rate make it suitable for 3D rendering, video editing, scientific simulations, and AI workloads requiring tensor cores. The 16 GB GDDR6 memory with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth allows it to handle large datasets and high-resolution textures without bottlenecking. The 48 RT cores provide hardware ray tracing capability that the Radeon 860M cannot match with only 8 RT cores. For professional mobile workstations where time is money, the RTX A5000 Mobile’s benchmark leads in OpenCL (110,877 vs 22,759) and Vulkan (88,144 vs 30,043) translate into faster project turnaround.

The AMD Radeon 860M wins in efficiency and integration. At 15 W TDP, it consumes one-tenth the power of the RTX A5000 Mobile, making it ideal for ultraportable laptops where battery life is critical. Its 3000 MHz boost clock is nearly double the NVIDIA part’s, indicating that for short bursts of light graphics work, it can be surprisingly responsive. The Radeon’s higher average benchmark score (26,401 vs 24,763) and percentile ranking (72 vs 70) suggest that for everyday tasks like video playback, web browsing, and light gaming, it performs comparably to a discrete GPU that costs significantly more in power and space. The system-shared memory design eliminates the need for dedicated VRAM, reducing system cost and complexity. For users who prioritize portability and efficiency over peak performance, the Radeon 860M’s data shows it is a capable integrated solution.