AMD Radeon HD 8750M vs NVIDIA GeForce 840M Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available in the database for these two mobile graphics processors is the Geekbench OpenCL test. In that workload, the AMD Radeon HD 8750M scores 5,970 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce 840M scores 5,764 points. That gives AMD a 3.6% advantage, a modest but measurable lead in raw compute throughput as measured by OpenCL. The win is narrow, yet it is consistent with the architectural differences between the two chips: the AMD part runs a GCN 1.0 design with 384 shading units and 24 texture mapping units, while NVIDIA's Maxwell chip also has 384 shading units but only 16 texture mapping units. The AMD card's higher texture rate of 19.80 GTexel/s versus 17.98 GTexel/s for the GeForce suggests the extra TMUs contribute to its edge in this particular test.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the AMD Radeon HD 8750M sits at the 34th percentile among all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 5,970. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro K4000 at 5,982 (a 0.2% gap), the NVIDIA Quadro K620M at 5,957 (0.2% behind), and the AMD Radeon HD 8730M at 5,955 (0.3% behind). This clustering shows that the HD 8750M is essentially tied with a group of mid-range mobile and workstation parts, with no single competitor more than 0.3% away. The GeForce 840M, by contrast, sits at the 31st percentile, with an average score of 5,322. Its closest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce 930A at 5,317 (0.1% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M at 5,308 (0.3% behind), and the AMD Radeon R7 M445 at 5,358 (0.7% ahead). Notably, the GeForce 840M's average is dragged down by its second benchmark result, a Geekbench Vulkan score of 4,880, which is significantly lower than its OpenCL score.

The data implies that in pure OpenCL compute, the AMD part is the stronger of the two, but the margin is small enough that real-world differences would be hard to notice outside of synthetic workloads. The GeForce 840M, however, shows a larger variance between its OpenCL and Vulkan results, which suggests its Maxwell architecture handles different API workloads with less consistency. The AMD card does not have a recorded Vulkan benchmark in the database, so its cross-API behavior cannot be directly compared. What is clear is that the head-to-head result favors AMD by 3.6%, and that the overall percentile ranking places the AMD part three points higher than the NVIDIA part.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the head-to-head OpenCL benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8750M wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 5,970 against the NVIDIA GeForce 840M's 5,764, a difference of 3.6%.

Q: How do their overall percentile rankings compare?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8750M ranks at the 34th percentile among all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce 840M ranks at the 31st percentile.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each card according to the database?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8750M's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Quadro K4000 with an average score of 5,982 (0.2% higher), followed closely by the NVIDIA Quadro K4000M at 5,986 (0.3% higher). The GeForce 840M's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon R7 M445 at 5,358 (0.7% higher), with the NVIDIA GeForce 930A just 0.1% behind at 5,317.

Q: Does the GeForce 840M have any benchmark where it beats the Radeon HD 8750M?

A: No. The only direct head-to-head test recorded is the Geekbench OpenCL result, which the AMD card wins. The GeForce 840M does have an additional Geekbench Vulkan score of 4,880, but there is no corresponding Vulkan result for the AMD card to compare.

Q: What explains the GeForce 840M's lower average benchmark score?

A: Its average of 5,322 is pulled down by the Vulkan result of 4,880, which is far below its OpenCL score of 5,764. The AMD card's average equals its OpenCL score of 5,970 since that is its only recorded benchmark.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8750M has a 128-bit memory bus with 28.80 GB/s bandwidth, while the GeForce 840M has a 64-bit bus with 16.02 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD card offers 12.78 GB/s more bandwidth despite both using DDR3 memory.

The Verdict

From the recorded data, the AMD Radeon HD 8750M is the better choice for anyone prioritizing OpenCL compute performance. It wins the only direct benchmark comparison by 3.6%, holds a higher overall percentile rank (34th versus 31st), and offers more than 75% higher memory bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce 840M, however, is not without merit. Its higher clock speeds, with a base of 1,029 MHz and boost of 1,124 MHz versus the AMD's 775 MHz base and 825 MHz boost, suggest it may deliver better performance in workloads that are sensitive to clock frequency rather than memory throughput. The GeForce also has double the memory capacity at 2 GB versus 1 GB, which matters for larger textures or datasets in graphics applications. The database's Vulkan result for the GeForce, even at 4,880, shows it can run modern API workloads, but without a comparable AMD Vulkan score, no direct conclusion can be drawn. For pure compute based on the available benchmarks, the AMD card is the safer pick. For users who need more memory or prefer NVIDIA's feature set, the GeForce 840M remains a viable alternative, but the data does not show it outperforming the Radeon in any recorded test.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in several key specifications. The AMD Radeon HD 8750M uses the Mars chip with GCN 1.0 architecture, while the NVIDIA GeForce 840M uses the GM108S chip with Maxwell architecture. Both are built on a 28 nm process at TSMC, but the AMD die has 950 million transistors versus 1,020 million on the NVIDIA die, with the same die size of 77 mm², resulting in a transistor density of 12.3M per mm² for AMD and 13.2M per mm² for NVIDIA. Clock speeds differ substantially: the AMD runs at 775 MHz base and 825 MHz boost, while the NVIDIA runs at 1,029 MHz base and 1,124 MHz boost. Memory configurations diverge as well: the AMD has 1,024 MB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus with 28.80 GB/s bandwidth, while the NVIDIA has 2 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus with 16.02 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD memory runs at 900 MHz (1,800 Mbps effective), while the NVIDIA memory runs at 1,001 MHz (2 Gbps effective). Texture mapping units differ: 24 for AMD versus 16 for NVIDIA, though both have 384 shading units and 8 ROPs. Pixel rate is 6.600 GPixel/s for AMD versus 8.992 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, while texture rate is 19.80 GTexel/s for AMD versus 17.98 GTexel/s for NVIDIA. Floating-point performance (FP32) is 633.6 GFLOPS for AMD and 863.2 GFLOPS for NVIDIA. The NVIDIA card is rated at a 33 W TDP and is classified as an IGP with no power connectors, while the AMD card has no TDP listed in the database. Both use a PCIe 3.0 x8 bus interface. The NVIDIA supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the AMD supports DirectX 12 (11_1); both support OpenGL 4.6, but the NVIDIA supports Vulkan 1.4 while the AMD supports Vulkan 1.2.170. The AMD was released on February 25, 2013, and the NVIDIA on March 11, 2014.

Architecture Differences

The architectural split between these two parts is generational and philosophical. The AMD Radeon HD 8750M belongs to the Solar System generation (HD 8700M series) and uses GCN 1.0, AMD's first unified shader architecture that emphasized compute throughput and balanced shader, texture, and raster work. Its 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 8 ROPs reflect a design aimed at sustaining high texture fill rates, which shows in its 19.80 GTexel/s texture rate. The NVIDIA GeForce 840M, by contrast, belongs to the GeForce 800M generation and uses Maxwell, an architecture that focused on efficiency and higher clock speeds per watt. Maxwell's design achieves its performance through fewer, faster-executing cores rather than wider parallel resources. This is evident in the clock speeds: the NVIDIA chip runs at 1,029 MHz base and 1,124 MHz boost, far above the AMD's 775 MHz and 825 MHz. The NVIDIA also has a much higher FP32 throughput at 863.2 GFLOPS, a 36% advantage over the AMD's 633.6 GFLOPS, despite having fewer TMUs. The AMD counters with a wider memory interface (128-bit versus 64-bit) and nearly double the memory bandwidth, which helps in bandwidth-bound scenarios. The transistor counts tell a similar story: NVIDIA packs 1,020 million transistors into the same 77 mm² die, achieving a density of 13.2M per mm², while AMD fits 950 million at 12.3M per mm². The NVIDIA's higher density and clock speeds come with a defined 33 W TDP, while the AMD's power draw is not recorded in the database. The NVIDIA also supports a newer Vulkan version (1.4 versus 1.2.170) and lists DirectX 12 (11_0) support, while AMD lists DirectX 12 (11_1). The NVIDIA is designated as an IGP with portable-device-dependent display outputs, reinforcing its role in thin laptops, whereas the AMD's form factor is not specified.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon HD 8750M wins in memory bandwidth, texture throughput, and the only recorded direct benchmark. Its 28.80 GB/s bandwidth, 128-bit bus, and 24 TMUs give it a clear advantage in scenarios that rely on streaming textures or large data blocks. Its 19.80 GTexel/s texture rate is 10% higher than the NVIDIA's 17.98 GTexel/s, which could translate to better performance in texture-heavy workloads. It also wins the OpenCL head-to-head by 3.6%, and its percentile rank is three points higher. The NVIDIA GeForce 840M wins in clock speed, raw compute throughput, and memory capacity. Its 1,124 MHz boost clock is 36% higher than the AMD's 825 MHz boost, and its FP32 output of 863.2 GFLOPS is 36% higher than the AMD's 633.6 GFLOPS. This suggests the NVIDIA part is better suited for compute tasks that are not memory-bound, such as certain physics simulations or post-processing effects. The 2 GB memory capacity is double the AMD's 1 GB, which is beneficial for applications with larger working sets. The NVIDIA also has a higher pixel rate at 8.992 GPixel/s versus 6.600 GPixel/s, indicating faster rasterization in fill-rate-limited scenarios. The GeForce's Vulkan support (version 1.4) is newer than the AMD's (1.2.170), and its 33 W TDP with IGP classification implies it is designed for power-constrained notebooks. Ultimately, the AMD card is the winner in the recorded benchmark and in bandwidth-sensitive tasks, while the NVIDIA card is the winner in clock-driven compute, memory capacity, and modern API version support. Users should choose based on which of these factors matters more for their specific applications, but the data currently favors AMD in direct comparison.