AMD Radeon HD 8850M vs NVIDIA Quadro M5000M Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains a single direct benchmark comparison between the AMD Radeon HD 8850M and the NVIDIA Quadro M5000M, recorded under Geekbench OpenCL. The results are decisive: the Quadro M5000M scores 22,920 points against 7,447 points for the Radeon HD 8850M. This translates to a 67.5% deficit for the AMD part, meaning the NVIDIA solution delivers roughly three times the raw compute throughput in this workload. The Quadro M5000M wins the only head-to-head test recorded, giving it a clean 1-0 record in direct comparisons.

Context from the nearest rivals list reinforces the gap. The Radeon HD 8850M sits at the 40th percentile of all GPUs in the database, with an average benchmark score of 7,447. Its closest competitors are tightly clustered: the Intel UHD Graphics 750 scores 7,441 (a 0.1% difference), the AMD Radeon R7 350 scores 7,425 (0.3% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 scores 7,472 (0.3% behind). The Intel Arc A310 is slightly further out at 7,550, putting it 1.4% ahead of the AMD part. These deltas are all within a few percentage points, indicating that the HD 8850M performs at parity with a broad group of entry-level and integrated-class graphics solutions.

The Quadro M5000M, by contrast, shows a much wider spread among its nearest rivals. Its average benchmark score across all tests is 6,481, which places it at the 37th percentile. That average is pulled down by several DirectX and compute tests that score far below the OpenCL result. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile at 6,476 (0.1% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M at 6,493 (0.2% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M at 6,513 (0.5% behind), and the Intel UHD Graphics P750 at 6,554 (1.1% behind). The clustering here is similarly tight, but the absolute level is lower than the OpenCL score might suggest, because the average includes older DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 results where the M5000M scores only 119 and 35 points respectively.

The single head-to-head result is the only place where both parts appear in the same test, and it shows a massive performance disparity in favor of the NVIDIA part. No other shared benchmarks exist in the database, so the broader comparison must rely on each card's individual test suite and architectural characteristics.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the only direct benchmark comparison recorded in the database?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro M5000M wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 22,920 versus 7,447 for the AMD Radeon HD 8850M, a 67.5% margin.

Q: How does the Radeon HD 8850M compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The HD 8850M is statistically tied with the Intel UHD Graphics 750 (7,441, 0.1% difference), the AMD Radeon R7 350 (7,425, 0.3% ahead), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (7,472, 0.3% behind). The Intel Arc A310 is 1.4% ahead at 7,550.

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

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8850M has an average score of 7,447 across its single benchmark. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000M has an average score of 6,481 across nine benchmarks, which includes several low DirectX scores that drag the average down.

Q: Why is the Quadro M5000M's average score lower than its OpenCL score?

A: The average includes results from PassMark DirectX 9 (119), DirectX 10 (35), DirectX 11 (54), and DirectX 12 (29) tests, all of which are far below the OpenCL score of 22,920. The PassMark G3D score of 7,062 and GPU compute score of 2,756 also pull the average down.

Q: What percentile does each GPU occupy in the global database?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 8850M is at the 40th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000M is at the 37th percentile, despite having a much higher OpenCL score, because its average across all tests is lower.

Q: Are there any other benchmark categories where the two GPUs overlap?

A: No. The only shared test in the database is Geekbench OpenCL. The Quadro M5000M has additional Vulkan and PassMark results, but the Radeon HD 8850M has no corresponding entries for those tests.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural lineages. The AMD Radeon HD 8850M uses the Venus chip, built on the Graphics Core Next 1.0 architecture (GCN 1.0). This is a first-generation GCN design from the Solar System generation, specifically the HD 8800M series. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000M is based on the GM204 chip, using the Maxwell 2.0 architecture, part of the Quadro Maxwell-M generation (Mx000M series).

Both are manufactured on the same 28 nm process at TSMC, but the die sizes differ substantially. The AMD chip measures 123 mm² with 1,500 million transistors, giving a transistor density of 12.2 million transistors per square millimeter. The NVIDIA chip is much larger at 398 mm² with 5,200 million transistors, resulting in a density of 13.1 million per square millimeter. The larger die and higher transistor count reflect the Maxwell 2.0 design's greater emphasis on compute throughput.

The memory systems diverge sharply. The AMD part uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA part uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, reaching 160.4 GB/s. This gives the Quadro M5000M more than double the memory capacity and about 2.5 times the bandwidth.

The compute resources also differ significantly. The Radeon HD 8850M has 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operation units. The Quadro M5000M has 1,536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The NVIDIA part has 2.4 times the shading units, 2.4 times the TMUs, and exactly 4 times the ROPs. Pixel rate for the AMD part is 10.00 GPixel/s, while the NVIDIA part reaches 67.26 GPixel/s. Texture rates are 25.00 GTexel/s versus 100.9 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance (FP32) stands at 800.0 GFLOPS for the AMD card and 3.229 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card, a 4x gap.

API support differs as well. The AMD card lists DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA card lists DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The higher DirectX feature level and newer Vulkan version favor the NVIDIA part. Neither GPU has ray tracing or tensor cores; both are raster-based designs from their respective eras.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification category. Clock speeds are one area of divergence. The AMD Radeon HD 8850M runs at a base of 575 MHz with a boost of 625 MHz, while the NVIDIA Quadro M5000M runs at 962 MHz base and 1051 MHz boost. The NVIDIA part operates at significantly higher frequencies, contributing to its compute advantage.

Memory clocks also differ. The AMD card uses a memory clock of 1,000 MHz, translating to 4 Gbps effective. The NVIDIA card runs memory at 1,253 MHz, or 5 Gbps effective. Combined with the wider 256-bit bus versus 128-bit, the NVIDIA card achieves 160.4 GB/s versus 64.00 GB/s.

Power and physical specifications only exist for the NVIDIA part in the database. The Quadro M5000M has a TDP of 100 W, uses an MXM Module slot width, has no external power connectors, and connects via an MXM-B (3.0) interface. The AMD card has no recorded TDP, slot width, power connectors, or bus interface details beyond the PCIe 3.0 x16 listed for the AMD part. The NVIDIA display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," while the AMD card has no display output data.

Release timing differs by over two years. The AMD Radeon HD 8850M was released on 2013-03-31, while the NVIDIA Quadro M5000M came out on 2015-08-17. Both are end-of-life products. The AMD card's predecessor is listed as "London" and its successor as "Gem System." The NVIDIA card's predecessor is "Quadro Kepler-M" and its successor is "Quadro Pascal-M." Neither has a recorded launch MSRP.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear performance hierarchy. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000M outperforms the AMD Radeon HD 8850M in the only direct benchmark by a massive 67.5% margin. The architecture, memory subsystem, and compute resources all favor the NVIDIA part. The Quadro M5000M has 2.4 times the shading units, 4 times the ROPs, 2.5 times the memory bandwidth, and 4 times the FP32 throughput. Its higher clock speeds and larger die reinforce this advantage.

However, the percentile rankings tell a more nuanced story. The AMD card sits at the 40th percentile globally, while the NVIDIA card sits at the 37th percentile. This is because the Quadro M5000M's average score of 6,481 is pulled down by weak DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 scores, while the Radeon HD 8850M has only one benchmark (OpenCL) contributing to its average of 7,447. In the OpenCL test specifically, the Quadro M5000M is far ahead, but its overall profile is inconsistent across different API workloads.

For a user prioritizing OpenCL compute performance, the Quadro M5000M is the clear choice based on its 22,920 score. For a user looking at the overall average benchmark position, the AMD card appears slightly better positioned relative to its peers, though this is an artifact of the limited test coverage. The Quadro M5000M's DirectX 9 score of 119 and DirectX 10 score of 35 suggest it is not optimized for legacy DirectX workloads, while its PassMark G3D score of 7,062 indicates reasonable general 3D performance.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Quadro M5000M wins in every recorded benchmark category where both have data. The Geekbench OpenCL result is the only direct comparison, and it goes to NVIDIA decisively. The M5000M also has additional Vulkan and PassMark scores that the AMD card does not have, further expanding its measurable footprint. The Vulkan score of 24,875 is actually higher than its OpenCL score, suggesting strong modern API performance. The PassMark G3D score of 7,062 and GPU compute score of 2,756 provide additional data points for users comparing across different workloads.

The AMD Radeon HD 8850M has no recorded wins in any benchmark category against the Quadro M5000M. Its only benchmark score is the OpenCL result of 7,447, which is below the NVIDIA part's equivalent score. However, the AMD card sits at a higher global percentile (40th versus 37th) and has a higher average benchmark score (7,447 versus 6,481) when considering only the tests each part actually ran. This is not a performance win, but it indicates that the AMD card is more consistent with its peer group in the database.

For use cases, the Quadro M5000M is suited to workloads that benefit from high OpenCL or Vulkan compute throughput, large memory capacity (8 GB), and wide memory bandwidth (160.4 GB/s). The Radeon HD 8850M, with its 2 GB memory and 64.00 GB/s bandwidth, is more limited in memory-heavy tasks. The NVIDIA part's higher pixel and texture rates also make it better for resolution-heavy 3D rendering. The AMD card's lower power profile (no TDP recorded, but lower clocks and smaller die) could be relevant for thermally constrained systems, though the database does not provide direct power measurements for comparison.