AMD Radeon 890M vs AMD Radeon R9 M360 Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a decisive outcome: the AMD Radeon 890M wins all recorded head-to-head comparisons against the AMD Radeon R9 M360. The 890M achieves a 353.7% higher score in Geekbench OpenCL and a 407.1% higher score in Geekbench Vulkan. The R9 M360, an end-of-life part from 2015, simply cannot compete with the modern integrated graphics solution.

For users choosing between these two, the data is unambiguous. The 890M is the superior choice for any workload involving OpenCL or Vulkan acceleration. The R9 M360, despite being a discrete card with dedicated memory, trails by a factor of roughly four to five in raw compute benchmarks. The 890M sits at the 45th percentile of all GPUs, while the R9 M360 sits at the 42nd percentile, a modest gap in overall standing but a massive one in the specific tests recorded.

The verdict for system builders is straightforward: select the 890M for current-generation tasks. The R9 M360 is only relevant in legacy systems where its specific form factor or driver support is required, as the recorded data offers no scenario where it outperforms the 890M.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmarks cover two compute APIs: OpenCL and Vulkan. The AMD Radeon 890M wins both tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the 890M scores 37,254 against 8,211 for the R9 M360. In Geekbench Vulkan, the 890M scores 40,808 against 8,047 for the R9 M360. There are no tests in the database where the R9 M360 emerges victorious.

The 890M's wins are not marginal. They represent a generational leap in compute capability. The Vulkan result, in particular, shows the 890M at over five times the performance of the older part. For any application leveraging these APIs, the 890M is the clear choice.

The R9 M360's only potential advantage lies in its architecture being a discrete GPU with its own 4 GB of GDDR5 memory. However, the benchmark results show that this dedicated memory configuration does not translate into compute performance wins. The 890M, using system shared memory, still dominates in every recorded metric.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from completely different eras of AMD design. The 890M uses the Strix Point chip built on RDNA 3.5 architecture, fabricated on a 4 nm process at TSMC. It integrates 34,000 million transistors on a 233 mm² die, yielding a density of 145.9M transistors per mm². The R9 M360 uses the Tropo chip based on GCN 1.0 architecture, built on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. It contains 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, with a density of just 12.2M per mm².

The compute resources differ dramatically. The 890M features 1,024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster output units. It also includes 16 ray tracing cores. The R9 M360 has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no ray tracing cores listed. This doubling of core counts, combined with the architectural improvements, explains the benchmark disparity.

Clock speeds tell a similar story. The 890M operates at a base of 400 MHz with a boost of 2900 MHz. The R9 M360 runs at a base of 900 MHz and a boost of 925 MHz. Despite the lower base clock, the 890M's boost clock is over three times higher, contributing to its massive performance advantage.

Memory configurations also differ fundamentally. The 890M uses system shared memory with a system-dependent bandwidth, while the R9 M360 has 4 GB of dedicated GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 72.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The R9 M360's memory clock is listed at 1125 MHz or 4.5 Gbps effective.

The 890M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The R9 M360 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The newer API support on the 890M aligns with its modern architecture.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL workloads?

A: The AMD Radeon 890M is significantly faster, scoring 37,254 in Geekbench OpenCL compared to 8,211 for the R9 M360, a 353.7% difference.

Q: Does the R9 M360's dedicated 4 GB GDDR5 memory help it in benchmarks?

A: No. Despite having dedicated memory with 72.00 GB/s bandwidth, the R9 M360 loses to the 890M's system shared memory configuration in both recorded benchmark tests.

Q: What is the transistor count difference between these two GPUs?

A: The 890M contains 34,000 million transistors on a 4 nm process, while the R9 M360 contains 1,500 million transistors on a 28 nm process.

Q: Which GPU has ray tracing support?

A: Only the AMD Radeon 890M lists ray tracing cores, with 16 RT cores included in its design. The R9 M360 has no ray tracing cores listed.

Q: How do their API versions compare?

A: The 890M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the R9 M360 supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Q: What is the production status of each GPU?

A: The 890M is listed as Active, while the R9 M360 is End-of-life. The 890M was released in 2024, and the R9 M360 was released in 2015.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two direct comparisons between these GPUs, and the 890M wins both by overwhelming margins.

Geekbench OpenCL is the first test. The 890M posts a score of 37,254. The R9 M360 manages 8,211. The delta is 353.7% in favor of the 890M. This test measures general-purpose compute performance across a range of workloads, and the result shows a fundamental capability gap. The 890M's modern architecture, with its higher shading unit count and much higher boost clock, delivers over four times the OpenCL throughput.

Geekbench Vulkan is the second test. The 890M scores 40,808. The R9 M360 scores 8,047. The delta is 407.1% in favor of the 890M. This is an even larger margin than the OpenCL result. The Vulkan API's lower overhead benefits the newer architecture disproportionately, allowing the 890M to stretch its lead further. The R9 M360's GCN 1.0 design, dating back to the early 2010s, cannot efficiently execute modern compute workloads.

The total wins column confirms the sweep: 2 wins for the 890M, 0 for the R9 M360. There is no benchmark in the database where the R9 M360 comes out ahead. The average benchmark scores reflect this too, with the 890M averaging 9,210 across all its recorded tests and the R9 M360 averaging 8,129.

Looking at the nearest rivals provides context. The 890M's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon Vega 8, which averages 9,221, just 0.1% higher. The R9 M360's closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M at 8,135, only 0.1% higher. Both GPUs sit in a similar performance tier relative to their peers, but the gap between the two units themselves is enormous.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every recorded specification category.

The process node is a major divergence: the 890M uses 4 nm technology, while the R9 M360 uses 28 nm. This translates directly to the transistor counts: 34,000 million for the 890M versus 1,500 million for the R9 M360. The die size also differs, with the 890M at 233 mm² and the R9 M360 at 123 mm². Transistor density follows, at 145.9M per mm² for the 890M and 12.2M per mm² for the R9 M360.

Clock speeds show a significant difference. The 890M has a base clock of 400 MHz and a boost clock of 2900 MHz. The R9 M360 has a base of 900 MHz and a boost of 925 MHz. The 890M's boost clock is substantially higher despite its lower base, indicating a design optimized for burst performance.

Memory specifications are fundamentally different. The 890M uses system shared memory with no dedicated size, type, bus width, or bandwidth of its own. The R9 M360 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 72.00 GB/s of bandwidth and a memory clock of 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective).

Compute unit counts differ. The 890M has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The R9 M360 has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The 890M also adds 16 ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the R9 M360.

Pixel and texture rates show the performance gap clearly. The 890M achieves 92.80 GPixel/s and 185.6 GTexel/s. The R9 M360 achieves 14.80 GPixel/s and 29.60 GTexel/s. Floating point performance is 5.939 TFLOPS for the 890M versus 947.2 GFLOPS for the R9 M360, a difference of over six times.

Bus interface differs as well: the 890M uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the R9 M360 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Power requirements are recorded for the 890M at 15 W TDP with no power connectors, while the R9 M360 has no TDP or power connector data recorded. The 890M is an integrated GPU (IGP), while the R9 M360 is a discrete part, though its slot width is unrecorded. Production status shows the 890M as Active and the R9 M360 as End-of-life.