AMD Radeon Pro 5300M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A compare to the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M in OpenCL performance?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M scores 29,252 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A scores 10,273. This gives AMD a 64.9% lead, making it the clear winner in this workload.

Q: What is the process node difference between these two GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A is built on TSMC's 28 nm process, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M uses TSMC's 7 nm node. This translates to a transistor density of 12.6M / mm² for NVIDIA versus 40.5M / mm² for AMD.

Q: Which GPU has more memory, and does it matter?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M comes with 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A has 2 GB of DDR3 on the same 128-bit bus, yielding only 32.03 GB/s. The AMD's memory advantage is substantial.

Q: What is the TDP of each card?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A has a TDP of 75 W, while the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M is rated at 85 W. Both are portable-device dependent and use no external power connectors.

Q: Are these GPUs still in production?

A: No, both are end-of-life products. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A was released on 2015-03-12, and the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M on 2019-11-12.

Q: Do they support the same API levels?

A: Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. However, the NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_1), giving AMD a higher feature level in DirectX.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M is the faster GPU in every measured category. In the only head-to-head benchmark available, Geekbench OpenCL, AMD wins with a score of 29,252 versus NVIDIA's 10,273, a 64.9% margin. The AMD card also has more shading units (1,280 vs 640), more TMUs (80 vs 40), and double the ROPs (32 vs 16), all of which contribute to its dominance. Its pixel rate of 40.00 GPixel/s and texture rate of 100.0 GTexel/s dwarf NVIDIA's 17.98 GPixel/s and 44.96 GTexel/s.

If you are choosing between these two for any modern workload, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M is the only sensible pick. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A, with its smaller memory pool, slower memory type, and older architecture, is outclassed. The only scenario where the GTX 950A might be considered is if power draw is an absolute constraint, as it draws 75 W versus AMD's 85 W — but the performance gap is so large that this becomes a weak justification.

For legacy DX9 and DX10 workloads, the AMD card still wins decisively in PassMark tests, scoring 80 and 36 respectively. In G2D and G3D tests, AMD leads with 582 and 5,918. There is no benchmark in the FACT PACK where NVIDIA comes out ahead. The verdict is simple: pick the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison in the FACT PACK is Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M scores 29,252, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A scores 10,273. The deltaPct is -64.9%, meaning the AMD card is nearly three times faster in this compute test. This is not a marginal win; it is a generational leap.

Beyond that single head-to-head, the FACT PACK provides additional benchmarks for AMD only, but they still paint a picture of overall capability. In PassMark DirectX 9, AMD scores 80, which is strong for a legacy API. In DirectX 10 and 11, it scores 36 and 37 respectively. DirectX 12 drops to 25, but that is still a functional score. The PassMark G3D score of 5,918 and GPU Compute score of 2,658 reinforce that the AMD card handles both rasterization and compute tasks effectively.

When looking at the nearest rivals for each card, the NVIDIA GTX 950A sits between the AMD Radeon RX 6500M (10,362, -0.9% delta) and the AMD Radeon R9 M375 (10,070, +2% delta). It is also close to the NVIDIA Tesla C2075 (10,400, -1.2%) and AMD Radeon RX 550X (10,481, -2%). This places the GTX 950A in a tight cluster of mid-range GPUs from 2015-2020, none of which approach the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M's raw OpenCL performance.

The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M's nearest rivals, on average score, include the NVIDIA Quadro K5100M (10,043, -0.3%), GeForce GTX 870M (9,959, +0.5%), AMD Radeon R9 M375 (10,070, -0.6%), and NVIDIA Quadro 6000 (9,846, +1.7%). Interestingly, the average benchmark score for AMD is 10,013, which is lower than the GTX 950A's 10,273 — but this average includes all the PassMark scores, which are on a different scale. The OpenCL score of 29,252 is the relevant compute metric, and it is decisive.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every core specification. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M doubles those numbers: 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This alone explains the performance gap.

Clock speeds also favor AMD. The GTX 950A runs at a base of 993 MHz and boosts to 1,124 MHz. The Radeon Pro 5300M has a base of 1,000 MHz and boosts to 1,250 MHz. While the base clocks are close, the boost advantage of 126 MHz helps AMD sustain higher throughput.

Memory is another major differentiator. The GTX 950A uses 2 GB of DDR3 at 1,001 MHz (2 Gbps effective) on a 128-bit bus, giving 32.03 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon Pro 5300M uses 4 GB of GDDR6 at 1,500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) on the same 128-bit bus, yielding 192.0 GB/s. That is a 6x bandwidth advantage for AMD, which is critical for texture-heavy and compute workloads.

The FP32 performance tells the same story: NVIDIA delivers 1,438.7 GFLOPS, while AMD delivers 3.200 TFLOPS (3,200 GFLOPS). The AMD card also supports FP16 at 6.400 TFLOPS (2:1), a feature the GTX 950A lacks entirely.

Pixel and texture rates follow the trend. The GTX 950A outputs 17.98 GPixel/s and 44.96 GTexel/s. The Radeon Pro 5300M outputs 40.00 GPixel/s and 100.0 GTexel/s. Both are portable-device dependent for display outputs, but the bus interface differs: NVIDIA uses MXM-B (3.0), while AMD uses PCIe 4.0 x8.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A is built on the Maxwell architecture, using the GM107 chip. It is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die. The transistor density is 12.6M / mm². This architecture is from the GeForce 900A generation.

The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M uses the RDNA 1.0 architecture with the Navi 14 chip. It is fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC, with 6,400 million transistors on a 158 mm² die. The transistor density is 40.5M / mm². This is a Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Mobile) generation part.

The architectural leap is massive. AMD packs more than three times the transistors into a similar die size, thanks to the 7 nm node. The RDNA 1.0 architecture is designed for modern workloads, including compute and gaming, with support for DirectX 12 (12_1) and FP16 compute. Maxwell, while capable in its day, is a 2015-era design with DirectX 12 (11_0) support, meaning it lacks some of the newer feature levels.

The memory controllers differ as well. The GTX 950A uses a 128-bit DDR3 interface, which is outdated even for 2015. The Radeon Pro 5300M uses a 128-bit GDDR6 interface, which is the modern standard for high-bandwidth mobile GPUs. The bus interface also differs: NVIDIA uses MXM-B (3.0), which is a module standard, while AMD uses PCIe 4.0 x8, which is a direct connection standard.

In terms of API support, both cards support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The key difference is DirectX: NVIDIA supports 12 (11_0), while AMD supports 12 (12_1). This means the AMD card can handle more advanced DirectX 12 features, which is relevant for newer games and applications.

Where Each One Wins

Looking strictly at the benchmark data, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M wins in every category. There are no wins for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A in the FACT PACK. The single head-to-head benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, goes to AMD by 64.9%. The AMD card also has additional benchmark scores in PassMark and Geekbench Metal and Vulkan that NVIDIA does not have, all of which are positive.

The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M is the clear choice for compute-heavy tasks, modern gaming, and any workload that benefits from high memory bandwidth or FP16 support. Its 4 GB of GDDR6 memory and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth make it suitable for texture-heavy applications, while its 3.200 TFLOPS FP32 performance handles general compute.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A, with its 75 W TDP, uses less power than the AMD card's 85 W. If a system has a strict power budget, the NVIDIA card is the lower-power option. However, this is the only area where it has any advantage, and it comes at the cost of dramatically lower performance.

For legacy applications that are single-threaded or heavily dependent on old DirectX 9 paths, the AMD card still wins in PassMark DirectX 9 (80) and DirectX 10 (36). The GTX 950A has no corresponding scores in the FACT PACK, so it cannot be said to win anywhere.

In summary, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M is the superior GPU for virtually every use case. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950A is a relic of a previous generation, and the data shows no scenario where it outperforms its rival.