AMD Radeon 880M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains a single direct head-to-head benchmark between the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A and the AMD Radeon 880M: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon 880M scores 31,285, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A scores 10,273. That is a delta of -67.2% for the NVIDIA part, meaning the AMD integrated solution delivers more than three times the raw compute throughput in this test.

This result is not close. The GTX 950A sits at the 48th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the Radeon 880M sits at the 43rd percentile. The percentile gap is small, but the raw score gap is enormous. The reason becomes clear when you look at the surrounding rivals. The GTX 950A's nearest competitors include the AMD Radeon RX 6500M (10,362, delta -0.9%), the AMD Radeon R9 M375 (10,070, delta +2%), and the AMD Radeon RX 550X (10,481, delta -2%). Those are all discrete mobile GPUs, and the GTX 950A trades blows with them within a few percent. The Radeon 880M, by contrast, lands near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX (8,427, delta +0.1%), the NVIDIA GeForce MX330 (8,458, delta -0.3%), and the AMD Radeon HD 8870M (8,462, delta -0.3%). Its average benchmark score across all tests is 8,436, which is lower than its OpenCL result alone because it also runs DirectX and Passmark tests that pull the average down.

The head-to-head result is one-sided. The AMD part wins the only shared test, and it wins by a wide margin. There is no test in the database where the GTX 950A comes out ahead. The wins count is 0 for NVIDIA and 1 for AMD.

Where Each One Wins

Looking at the full benchmark suite for the Radeon 880M, it wins across every category that matters for modern workloads. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 40,006, which is even higher than its OpenCL result. In Passmark G3D, it scores 7,615. In Passmark GPU Compute, it scores 3,719. In DirectX tests, it scores 97 for DirectX 9, 73 for DirectX 11, 32 for DirectX 12, and 31 for DirectX 10. The Passmark G2D score of 969 is the only 2D result recorded.

The GTX 950A has only one benchmark entry in the database, the Geekbench OpenCL score of 10,273. That means we have no recorded DirectX, Vulkan, or Passmark results for it. The data we have suggests it is a capable entry-level discrete GPU from the Maxwell generation, but the database does not contain evidence of it winning any workload category against the Radeon 880M.

For use-case analysis, the Radeon 880M is clearly stronger in compute-heavy tasks such as OpenCL and Vulkan workloads. Its 12 ray tracing cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support also indicate it can handle ray-traced effects and modern graphics APIs, something the GTX 950A cannot do, since it lacks ray tracing cores and only supports DirectX 12 (11_0). The GTX 950A's strengths, if any, would have to come from its discrete memory configuration, but the recorded data does not show a benchmark where that translates into a win.

The Verdict

The verdict from the recorded data is straightforward: pick the AMD Radeon 880M if you want higher compute performance, modern API support, and ray tracing capability. It wins the only direct comparison by 67.2% and has a much broader benchmark profile. Its average score across all tests is 8,436, which is lower than its OpenCL peak because of the DirectX and Passmark results, but those results still place it near the GTX 675MX and MX330, both of which are discrete GPUs. The GTX 950A, despite being a discrete card, lands near the RX 6500M and RX 550X in OpenCL, but that single data point does not overcome the Radeon 880M's lead.

Pick the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A only if you specifically need a Maxwell-era discrete GPU with its own 2 GB DDR3 memory and 128-bit bus. The data shows it is competitive with other low-end discrete GPUs from its era, but it is not competitive with the Radeon 880M in compute performance. The Radeon 880M is also an active product, while the GTX 950A is end-of-life, which matters for long-term driver support and availability.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD Radeon 880M scores 31,285, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A scores 10,273. The Radeon 880M leads by 67.2%.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A support ray tracing?

A: No. The GTX 950A lists no ray tracing cores, while the AMD Radeon 880M has 12 ray tracing cores.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each GPU?

A: The GTX 950A has 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus with 32.03 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon 880M uses system shared memory, with bus width and bandwidth listed as system dependent.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The AMD Radeon 880M has 145.9M transistors per square millimeter, compared to 12.6M / mm² for the GTX 950A.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two GPUs?

A: The GTX 950A is end-of-life, released in March 2015. The Radeon 880M is active, released in July 2024.

Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?

A: The GTX 950A has an average benchmark score of 10,273 from its single OpenCL test. The Radeon 880M has an average of 8,436 across ten tests, which includes lower DirectX scores that pull the average down.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A is built on the GM107 chip using Maxwell architecture on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 1,870 million transistors into a 148 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.6M per square millimeter. It has 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operations units. It does not have ray tracing cores or tensor cores. Its pixel rate is 17.98 GPixel/s, texture rate is 44.96 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 1,438.7 GFLOPS. It supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The AMD Radeon 880M uses the Strix Point chip with RDNA 3.5 architecture on a 4 nm process, also at TSMC. It has 34,000 million transistors on a 233 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 145.9M per square millimeter. It has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. It includes 12 ray tracing cores. Its pixel rate is 46.40 GPixel/s, texture rate is 139.2 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 4.454 TFLOPS, with FP16 also at 4.454 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The architectural gap is massive. The Radeon 880M has roughly 3.1 times the FP32 throughput, 3.1 times the texture rate, and 2.6 times the pixel rate. It also has a much smaller process node, which explains the higher transistor density. The GTX 950A is a discrete GPU with its own memory, while the Radeon 880M is an integrated graphics processor that shares system memory.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every specification category. The GTX 950A uses a 28 nm process, while the Radeon 880M uses 4 nm. Transistor counts are 1,870 million versus 34,000 million. Die sizes are 148 mm² versus 233 mm². The GTX 950A has a base clock of 993 MHz and a boost clock of 1124 MHz, while the Radeon 880M has a base clock of 400 MHz and a boost clock of 2900 MHz. The GTX 950A has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, versus 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs for the Radeon 880M. The Radeon 880M also has 12 ray tracing cores, which the GTX 950A lacks.

Memory is another major difference. The GTX 950A has 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus with 32.03 GB/s bandwidth and a memory clock of 1001 MHz (2 Gbps effective). The Radeon 880M uses system shared memory, with no dedicated VRAM, and its bandwidth is system dependent.

Power and form factor differ as well. The GTX 950A has a TDP of 75 W and uses an MXM Module slot with an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface. It has no power connectors. The Radeon 880M has a TDP of 15 W, is an IGP, uses PCIe 4.0 x8, and also has no power connectors. Both have portable device dependent display outputs.

Release dates are separated by nearly a decade: the GTX 950A launched in March 2015, and the Radeon 880M launched in July 2024. The GTX 950A is end-of-life, while the Radeon 880M is active. Neither has a successor listed in the database, and neither has a launch MSRP recorded.