AMD Radeon Pro 450 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M Comparison

The AMD Radeon Pro 450 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M are both end-of-life mobile graphics solutions, but they represent very different design philosophies and performance profiles. The data shows a split decision: the AMD card dominates in one major API benchmark while the NVIDIA card takes a decisive lead in another. Their average benchmark scores differ by only 8.5%, yet the underlying architectural choices create distinct strengths that matter for specific workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head comparison reveals a stark contrast across two synthetic workloads. In Geekbench Metal, the AMD Radeon Pro 450 scores 12,893, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M manages only 7,288. That is a 76.9% advantage for the AMD part — a massive margin that indicates the Radeon Pro 450 is far better optimized for Apple's Metal API. This is not a small edge; it is a near-doubling of performance in this specific test, suggesting the GCN 4.0 architecture's compute-heavy design translates exceptionally well to Metal's low-level access.

However, the picture flips completely in Geekbench OpenCL. Here, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M scores 12,630, while the AMD Radeon Pro 450 trails at 9,002. The delta is -28.7% for the AMD card, meaning the GTX 870M outperforms it by roughly 40% in OpenCL. This is a substantial reversal, and it highlights how API choice can dramatically alter relative performance between these two GPUs.

Looking at overall average scores, the AMD Radeon Pro 450 achieves 10,804, placing it at the 49th percentile among all GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M averages 9,959, sitting at the 48th percentile. The 8.5% gap in averages is much narrower than either individual benchmark suggests, because each card's strengths and weaknesses partially cancel out in the aggregate. The AMD card's nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K2200, scores 10,761 (0.4% behind), while the GTX 870M's closest competitor, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M, scores 10,013 (0.5% ahead). Both cards are firmly in the mid-range tier of mobile GPUs, but they get there through very different routes.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro 450 is the clear winner in Metal-based workloads. Its Geekbench Metal score of 12,893 is not just ahead of the GTX 870M — it is 76.9% higher, which is an enormous advantage for any application that leverages Metal. This includes macOS-native creative software, video encoding tools, and any modern game that uses Metal as its primary graphics API. The Radeon Pro 450 also posts a respectable Geekbench Vulkan score of 10,518, though no Vulkan data exists for the GTX 870M, so a direct comparison in that API is not possible from the available facts.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M wins decisively in OpenCL. Its 12,630 score is 40% higher than the Radeon Pro 450's 9,002. OpenCL is still widely used in scientific computing, financial modeling, and cross-platform GPU compute tasks. The GTX 870M's advantage here is substantial enough that any OpenCL-heavy workflow would clearly favor the NVIDIA card. Additionally, the GTX 870M has a higher raw FP32 throughput at 2.599 TFLOPS versus 1,024.0 GFLOPS for the AMD card, and it offers more memory bandwidth at 120.0 GB/s compared to 81.28 GB/s. These hardware specs align with its OpenCL dominance.

In terms of API support, the AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The AMD card has a slight edge in Vulkan version (1.3 vs 1.2.175) and a higher DirectX feature level (12_0 vs 11_0), which could matter for newer titles. However, the GTX 870M's larger memory pool of 3 GB versus 2 GB gives it more headroom for texture-heavy workloads at higher resolutions.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear split: choose the AMD Radeon Pro 450 if your primary workload runs on Metal, and choose the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M if OpenCL is your dominant API. The 76.9% Metal advantage for the AMD card is the single largest performance gap in the entire comparison, making it the obvious pick for macOS users or developers targeting Apple platforms. Conversely, the 40% OpenCL lead for the NVIDIA card makes it the stronger choice for cross-platform compute tasks where OpenCL is the standard.

For general-purpose use without a specific API focus, the AMD card's higher average score (10,804 vs 9,959) and better percentile ranking (49th vs 48th) give it a slight edge. The Radeon Pro 450 also uses significantly less power at 35 W TDP versus 100 W for the GTX 870M, which is a critical factor for mobile devices where battery life and thermals matter. The AMD card's more modern 14 nm process node (versus 28 nm) and higher transistor density (24.4M / mm² vs 12.0M / mm²) suggest better efficiency per transistor.

However, the GTX 870M has its own merits beyond OpenCL. Its 3 GB of VRAM is 50% larger than the AMD card's 2 GB, and its 192-bit memory bus (versus 128-bit) provides 120.0 GB/s bandwidth — 47.6% more than the Radeon Pro 450. The NVIDIA card also has 1,344 shading units, 112 texture mapping units, and 24 ROPs, compared to 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs on the AMD card. For raw rasterization throughput, the GTX 870M's pixel rate of 27.08 GPixel/s and texture rate of 108.3 GTexel/s dwarf the AMD card's 12.80 GPixel/s and 32.00 GTexel/s.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in Geekbench Metal?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 450 scores 12,893 versus 7,288 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M, giving the AMD card a 76.9% advantage.

Q: Which GPU performs better in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M scores 12,630 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the AMD Radeon Pro 450 scores 9,002, resulting in a 28.7% deficit for the AMD card.

Q: What are the average benchmark scores for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 450 has an average benchmark score of 10,804, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M averages 9,959.

Q: How much memory does each GPU have?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 450 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: What are the power consumption figures?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 450 has a TDP of 35 W, whereas the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M has a TDP of 100 W.

Q: Which card has a higher FP32 compute throughput?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M achieves 2.599 TFLOPS, which is notably higher than the AMD Radeon Pro 450's 1,024.0 GFLOPS.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon Pro 450 is built on the Baffin chip using the GCN 4.0 architecture, manufactured on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. It packs 3,000 million transistors into a 123 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 24.4M / mm². The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M uses the GK104 chip with the older Kepler architecture, produced by TSMC on a 28 nm process. It contains 3,540 million transistors on a much larger 294 mm² die, resulting in a lower density of 12.0M / mm².

These architectural choices have direct performance implications. The GCN 4.0 design emphasizes compute efficiency and has native support for 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratio (both at 1,024.0 GFLOPS on the AMD card), which benefits certain machine learning and compute workloads. The Kepler architecture on the GTX 870M does not list an FP16 figure, suggesting limited or absent half-precision support. The AMD card also supports Vulkan 1.3 and DirectX 12 (12_0), while the NVIDIA card caps at Vulkan 1.2.175 and DirectX 12 (11_0), indicating newer API feature levels on the AMD side.

Memory subsystem differences are also significant. The AMD Radeon Pro 450 uses a 128-bit bus with 81.28 GB/s bandwidth, while the GTX 870M has a wider 192-bit bus delivering 120.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card's memory clock runs at 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective), and the AMD card's memory runs at 1270 MHz (5.1 Gbps effective), so the bandwidth advantage for NVIDIA comes entirely from the wider bus. Both cards use MXM modules and have device-dependent display outputs, but the GTX 870M uses an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface while the AMD card uses PCIe 3.0 x8.

Specification Differences

The most obvious specification gap is in the processing core counts. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M has 1,344 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 24 ROPs, while the AMD Radeon Pro 450 has just 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. This translates to a significant throughput advantage for NVIDIA in raw pixel and texture processing: 27.08 GPixel/s and 108.3 GTexel/s versus 12.80 GPixel/s and 32.00 GTexel/s respectively.

Clock speeds also differ, though the AMD card's base and boost clocks are not listed in the data. The GTX 870M runs at a base clock of 941 MHz and a boost clock of 967 MHz. Memory configurations diverge: 2 GB versus 3 GB, and 128-bit versus 192-bit bus widths. Power consumption is a major differentiator, with the AMD card rated at 35 W TDP and the NVIDIA card at 100 W TDP — a nearly 3x difference that has substantial implications for laptop cooling and battery life.

The AMD Radeon Pro 450 was released on 2016-10-29, while the GTX 870M launched earlier on 2014-03-11. The GTX 870M has a predecessor (GeForce 700M) and successor (GeForce 900M), whereas the Radeon Pro 450 lists neither. Both cards are end-of-life, and neither has a listed launch MSRP. The API support shows the AMD card with DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3, versus the NVIDIA card's DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175 — a small but measurable advantage for the newer AMD architecture.