AMD Radeon HD 8690M vs NVIDIA Quadro M4000 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Radeon HD 8690M compare to the NVIDIA Quadro M4000 in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro M4000 scores 19,118, while the AMD Radeon HD 8690M scores 6,137. The Quadro M4000 leads by 67.9%, which is the only directly comparable benchmark in the database.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8690M has an average benchmark score of 6,137, while the NVIDIA Quadro M4000 has an average score of 5,467. Despite the Quadro winning the head-to-head test, its average is pulled down by its additional benchmark results.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro M4000 has 1,664 shading units, compared to 320 on the AMD Radeon HD 8690M. That is a 5.2x difference in raw shader count.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8690M has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 64-bit bus with 32.00 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 192.3 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: How do the two cards rank among all GPUs in the database?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8690M sits at the 36th percentile, while the NVIDIA Quadro M4000 sits at the 32nd percentile. The HD 8690M is slightly higher in percentile despite losing the direct comparison.

Q: Which card is closer to its nearest rival in average score?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8690M is 0.3% ahead of the Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 (6,117) and 1% ahead of both the NVIDIA RTX A400 (6,078) and NVIDIA GeForce MX230 (6,077). The NVIDIA Quadro M4000 is 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon 610M (5,444) and 0.3% behind the AMD Radeon R7 M440 (5,483).

The Verdict

The benchmark data points to a clear winner for raw compute performance. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000 dominates the AMD Radeon HD 8690M in the only shared test, delivering a 67.9% higher Geekbench OpenCL score. The Quadro also brings substantially more shading units, texture units, render output units, and memory bandwidth.

However, the choice depends on the workload and platform constraints. The AMD Radeon HD 8690M is a mobile-oriented chip with a 64-bit memory bus and 2 GB of VRAM, while the Quadro M4000 is a single-slot workstation card with 8 GB of VRAM and a 256-bit bus. For tasks that are constrained by memory capacity or bandwidth, the Quadro M4000 is the obvious pick. For lightweight compute tasks where power draw and physical footprint matter, the HD 8690M may be sufficient, but it will not match the Quadro in throughput.

The percentile rankings complicate the picture. The HD 8690M ranks at the 36th percentile among all GPUs, while the Quadro M4000 ranks at the 32nd. This means the HD 8690M sits above more competing GPUs in the overall distribution, even though it loses decisively to the Quadro in direct comparison. The Quadro's average score of 5,467 is dragged down by its broader benchmark suite, which includes PassMark tests where it scores as low as 26 in DirectX 12 and 33 in DirectX 10. Those low scores likely reflect driver or workload characteristics, not raw capability.

The verdict: if the task is OpenCL compute, the NVIDIA Quadro M4000 is the stronger card by a wide margin. If the task is general GPU ranking or specific mobile workloads, the AMD Radeon HD 8690M holds its own relative to the broader field. The data does not support choosing the HD 8690M for performance-critical work where the Quadro M4000 fits.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains exactly one head-to-head benchmark between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. The NVIDIA Quadro M4000 scores 19,118, and the AMD Radeon HD 8690M scores 6,137. The delta is 67.9% in favor of the Quadro, which is a decisive margin.

To put that in context, the HD 8690M's score of 6,137 places it near the NVIDIA RTX A400 (6,078) and NVIDIA GeForce MX230 (6,077), both within 1%. The Quadro M4000's score of 19,118 is roughly three times the HD 8690M's result, and it sits in a performance class well above the HD 8690M's nearest rivals.

The Quadro M4000 also has a broader benchmark profile in the database. Its PassMark G3D score is 6,680, and its PassMark GPU Compute score is 2,660. Its Geekbench Vulkan score is 24,640, which is higher than its OpenCL score. The HD 8690M has no Vulkan score recorded, so cross-API comparison is limited to OpenCL.

The Quadro's PassMark DirectX results show a wide spread: 113 in DirectX 9, 49 in DirectX 11, 33 in DirectX 10, and 26 in DirectX 12. The DirectX 12 result is notably low, which suggests the Quadro M4000 is not optimized for modern DX12 workloads. The HD 8690M has no PassMark scores in the database, so no direct comparison is possible on those tests.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score for the Quadro is 680. The HD 8690M has no 3DMark score recorded. This further limits the head-to-head analysis to the single OpenCL test, where the Quadro is clearly superior.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ on nearly every measurable specification. The AMD Radeon HD 8690M uses the Sun chip with GCN 1.0 architecture, while the NVIDIA Quadro M4000 uses the GM204 chip with Maxwell 2.0 architecture. Both are built on a 28 nm process at TSMC, but the transistor counts diverge sharply: the HD 8690M has 690 million transistors on a 56 mm² die, while the Quadro M4000 has 5,200 million transistors on a 398 mm² die. Transistor density is similar, at 12.3M per mm² for the HD 8690M and 13.1M per mm² for the Quadro.

Clock speeds are only partially recorded. The HD 8690M has a base clock of 925 MHz and a boost clock of 975 MHz, with memory clocked at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The Quadro M4000 has no base or boost clock listed, but its memory runs at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective).

Memory configuration is a major differentiator. The HD 8690M has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 64-bit bus with 32.00 GB/s bandwidth. The Quadro M4000 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 192.3 GB/s bandwidth, which is 6x the bandwidth of the HD 8690M.

Compute unit counts all favor the Quadro: 1,664 shading units versus 320, 104 texture mapping units versus 20, and 64 render output units versus 8. The pixel rate is 49.47 GPixel/s for the Quadro versus 7.800 GPixel/s for the HD 8690M. Texture rate is 80.39 GTexel/s versus 19.50 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 2.573 TFLOPS versus 624.0 GFLOPS.

The bus interface differs: the HD 8690M uses PCIe 3.0 x8, while the Quadro M4000 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The Quadro is a single-slot card, 241 mm long and 111 mm tall, with a 1x 6-pin power connector and a suggested PSU of 300 W. Its TDP is listed at 120 W. The HD 8690M has no TDP, slot width, power connector, or dimension data recorded.

Display outputs also differ: the Quadro M4000 has 4x DisplayPort 1.2, while the HD 8690M has no display output data. The Quadro supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The HD 8690M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon HD 8690M is built on GCN 1.0, AMD's first-generation Graphics Core Next architecture, using the Sun chip. It belongs to the Solar System generation (HD 8600M series). The NVIDIA Quadro M4000 is built on Maxwell 2.0, the second iteration of NVIDIA's Maxwell architecture, using the GM204 chip. It belongs to the Quadro Maxwell generation (Mx000 series).

Both are manufactured by TSMC on a 28 nm process. The transistor density is nearly identical, but the die size difference is substantial: the Quadro's 398 mm² die is 7.1x larger than the HD 8690M's 56 mm² die. This reflects the Quadro's much higher shader count and memory interface width.

The HD 8690M has no ray tracing cores or tensor cores, and neither does the Quadro M4000. Both cards rely on traditional rasterization and compute pipelines. The HD 8690M's API support tops out at DirectX 11_1, while the Quadro M4000 supports DirectX 12_1, which enables more advanced DX12 features. Vulkan support is also newer on the Quadro (1.4) versus the HD 8690M (1.2.170).

The production status for both cards is end-of-life. The HD 8690M was released in February 2013, with its predecessor listed as London and successor as Gem System. The Quadro M4000 was released in June 2015, with its predecessor as Quadro Kepler and successor as Quadro Pascal.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Quadro M4000 wins in every directly measured performance category. Its OpenCL score is 67.9% higher than the HD 8690M. Its shading unit count is 5.2x higher, its texture units are 5.2x higher, and its ROPs are 8x higher. Memory bandwidth is 6x higher, and FP32 throughput is 4.1x higher. The Quadro also has 4x the VRAM capacity, which matters for large datasets or high-resolution textures.

The AMD Radeon HD 8690M wins in the overall percentile ranking. It sits at the 36th percentile among all GPUs, while the Quadro M4000 sits at the 32nd. This means the HD 8690M outperforms a larger fraction of the GPU population in the database, despite losing the direct comparison. Its average benchmark score of 6,137 is also higher than the Quadro's average of 5,467, though this is due to the Quadro's additional low PassMark scores.

The HD 8690M also has a lower transistor count, smaller die, and no power connector requirements, which suggests it is designed for lower-power mobile or compact systems. The Quadro M4000 requires a 6-pin power connector and a 300 W PSU, making it a desktop workstation component.

Use-case split: for OpenCL compute, workstation rendering, or any workload that leverages the Quadro's 8 GB VRAM and 192.3 GB/s bandwidth, the Quadro M4000 is the only sensible choice. For lightweight compute on a mobile platform, or for tasks that fit within 2 GB of VRAM and a 32.00 GB/s bus, the HD 8690M can suffice, but the data shows it will deliver roughly one-third the OpenCL performance of the Quadro. The HD 8690M's higher percentile ranking suggests it is better positioned relative to its peers, but that is a statistical artifact of the benchmark pool, not a performance advantage.