AMD Radeon Pro 5300M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded database contains a single common benchmark between these two mobile graphics processors: Geekbench OpenCL. In that test, the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M scores 29,252, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A scores 11,998. This translates to a 59% deficit for the NVIDIA part relative to the AMD part. The Radeon Pro 5300M is more than twice as fast in raw compute throughput as measured by this workload, a massive margin that defines the competitive relationship.

The GTX 960A's score of 11,998 places it at the 51st percentile among all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals in the aggregate ranking include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 at 11,960 (0.3% ahead of the 960A), the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT at 11,842 (1.3% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 at 11,680 (2.7% behind). This cluster of scores indicates that the GTX 960A sits in a tightly packed performance band where a 3% swing separates several well-known desktop parts. The 960A essentially matches the GTX 1080 in this OpenCL test, which is notable given the generational and segment differences.

The Radeon Pro 5300M's 29,252 OpenCL score places it at the 48th percentile overall. Its nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA Quadro K5100M at 10,043 (0.3% below the 5300M, meaning the 5300M is actually 0.3% behind that Quadro), the AMD Radeon R9 M375 at 10,070 (0.6% below), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M at 9,959 (0.5% ahead). The Pro 5300M's nearest rivals are all substantially weaker, sitting around the 10,000 mark, which is roughly one-third of the 5300M's own score. This suggests the 5300M is an outlier in its immediate competitive neighborhood, performing far above the group it is statistically clustered with.

When comparing the two directly, the AMD part wins the sole head-to-head benchmark decisively. The delta of 59% is not a marginal edge; it is a performance gap that would be visible in any compute-oriented task. The GTX 960A has zero wins in the head-to-head comparison, while the Radeon Pro 5300M has one win. The benchmark data does not include any gaming or graphics-specific tests for the NVIDIA part, so the comparison is limited to this single OpenCL result.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and fundamentally different design philosophies. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A uses the GM107 chip built on the Maxwell architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 28 nm process. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M uses the Navi 14 chip based on RDNA 1.0, also from TSMC but on a 7 nm process. The process node difference is substantial: 28 nm versus 7 nm. This explains the transistor density gap, the GTX 960A packs 1,870 million transistors into a 148 mm² die for a density of 12.6 million transistors per square millimeter, while the Radeon Pro 5300M integrates 6,400 million transistors into a 158 mm² die, yielding 40.5 million per square millimeter. The 5300M fits more than three times the transistors into a similar physical footprint.

The shader configuration differs significantly. The GTX 960A has 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 render output units. The Radeon Pro 5300M doubles those counts: 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This explains the peak throughput figures. The GTX 960A delivers 1.505 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, 18.82 GPixel/s pixel rate, and 47.04 GTexel/s texture rate. The Radeon Pro 5300M delivers 3.200 TFLOPS FP32, 40.00 GPixel/s, and 100.0 GTexel/s. Every throughput metric on the AMD part is roughly double the NVIDIA part, consistent with the doubled resource counts. The Radeon Pro 5300M also supports FP16 at 6.400 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the GTX 960A has no listed FP16 capability.

Memory configuration also differs sharply. The GTX 960A has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, with 80.19 GB/s bandwidth and memory clocked at 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The Radeon Pro 5300M has 4 GB of GDDR6 on the same 128-bit bus width, but bandwidth jumps to 192.0 GB/s thanks to a 1500 MHz memory clock (12 Gbps effective). The 5300M has twice the capacity and 2.4 times the bandwidth. Clock speeds differ as well: the GTX 960A runs at 1097 MHz base and 1176 MHz boost, while the Radeon Pro 5300M runs at 1000 MHz base and 1250 MHz boost. The AMD part has a lower base clock but a higher boost clock, and its higher shader count more than compensates for the clock disadvantage.

Power and interface details differ. The GTX 960A has a 75 W TDP and uses an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface, fitting an MXM module form factor with no power connectors. The Radeon Pro 5300M has an 85 W TDP and uses PCIe 4.0 x8, also with no power connectors. Both are designed for portable devices with display outputs marked as "Portable Device Dependent." API support overlaps on OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but DirectX support differs: the GTX 960A supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the Radeon Pro 5300M supports DirectX 12 (12_1). The 5300M also has a later release date, coming out in November 2019 versus March 2015 for the GTX 960A.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M scores 29,252 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A scores 11,998. The AMD part leads by 59% in this test.

Q: How does the memory bandwidth compare between the two?

A: The Radeon Pro 5300M has 192.0 GB/s bandwidth across a 128-bit bus using 4 GB of GDDR6 memory. The GTX 960A has 80.19 GB/s across the same 128-bit bus using 2 GB of GDDR5. The AMD part has 2.4 times the bandwidth.

Q: What are the transistor counts and process nodes?

A: The GTX 960A has 1,870 million transistors on a 28 nm TSMC process with a 148 mm² die. The Radeon Pro 5300M has 6,400 million transistors on a 7 nm TSMC process with a 158 mm² die. The transistor density is 12.6M per mm² for the NVIDIA part and 40.5M per mm² for the AMD part.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The GTX 960A supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the Radeon Pro 5300M supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the FP32 compute throughput for each?

A: The GTX 960A delivers 1.505 TFLOPS FP32, while the Radeon Pro 5300M delivers 3.200 TFLOPS. The AMD part also offers 6.400 TFLOPS FP16 with a 2:1 ratio, a feature the NVIDIA part does not list.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units and ROPs?

A: The Radeon Pro 5300M has 1,280 shading units and 32 ROPs. The GTX 960A has 640 shading units and 16 ROPs. The AMD part doubles both counts.

Specification Differences

The following fields differ between the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A and the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M:

• Manufacturer: NVIDIA versus AMD
• Chip: GM107 versus Navi 14
• Architecture: Maxwell versus RDNA 1.0
• Generation: GeForce 900A versus Radeon Pro Mac (Navi Mobile)
• Process Node: 28 nm versus 7 nm
• Transistors: 1,870 million versus 6,400 million
• Die Size: 148 mm² versus 158 mm²
• Transistor Density: 12.6M / mm² versus 40.5M / mm²
• Base Clock: 1097 MHz versus 1000 MHz
• Boost Clock: 1176 MHz versus 1250 MHz
• Memory Clock: 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective) versus 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective)
• Memory Size: 2 GB versus 4 GB
• Memory Type: GDDR5 versus GDDR6
• Memory Bandwidth: 80.19 GB/s versus 192.0 GB/s
• Shading Units: 640 versus 1,280
• TMUs: 40 versus 80
• ROPs: 16 versus 32
• Pixel Rate: 18.82 GPixel/s versus 40.00 GPixel/s
• Texture Rate: 47.04 GTexel/s versus 100.0 GTexel/s
• FP32: 1.505 TFLOPS versus 3.200 TFLOPS
• FP16: Not listed versus 6.400 TFLOPS (2:1)
• TDP: 75 W versus 85 W
• Bus Interface: MXM-B (3.0) versus PCIe 4.0 x8
• DirectX Support: 12 (11_0) versus 12 (12_1)
• Release Date: 2015-03-12 versus 2019-11-12

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M wins the only direct benchmark available, the Geekbench OpenCL test, by a 59% margin. This is a compute-focused workload, and the 5300M's doubled shader count, doubled TMUs, doubled ROPs, and more than doubled memory bandwidth all contribute to this result. The 5300M also has 4 GB of memory versus 2 GB, which matters for larger datasets in compute tasks. Its FP32 throughput of 3.200 TFLOPS is more than double the GTX 960A's 1.505 TFLOPS, and it adds FP16 support at 6.400 TFLOPS. For any workload that stresses raw compute, memory bandwidth, or memory capacity, the Radeon Pro 5300M is clearly superior.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A does not win any benchmark in the head-to-head comparison. However, it does have a lower TDP of 75 W versus 85 W for the AMD part, which could be a consideration in tightly constrained portable chassis. It also uses an MXM module form factor with an MXM-B (3.0) interface, which may be relevant for systems designed around that standard rather than PCIe. The GTX 960A sits at the 51st percentile among all GPUs, slightly higher than the Radeon Pro 5300M's 48th percentile, but this is based on different benchmark suites and does not reflect the direct comparison, where the AMD part dominates.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the AMD Radeon Pro 5300M is the faster GPU by a wide margin. In the sole recorded head-to-head test, it beats the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A by 59%, and its architectural advantages are consistent across every specification that affects compute performance. The 5300M has double the shading units, double the texture units, double the ROPs, double the memory capacity, and 2.4 times the memory bandwidth. It also uses a much more advanced 7 nm process versus 28 nm, allowing for over three times the transistor count in a similar die area. Any user prioritizing compute performance, memory bandwidth, or memory capacity should choose the Radeon Pro 5300M.

The GTX 960A's case rests on its lower power draw and its MXM form factor. At 75 W versus 85 W, it draws 10 W less, which could matter in thermally or power-limited designs. Its MXM-B (3.0) interface may be required for certain legacy or specialized systems. But in terms of measured performance, the GTX 960A does not win a single benchmark against the 5300M. Its OpenCL score of 11,998 is comparable to desktop parts like the GTX 1080 and GTX 1660, but that comparison does not help against the 5300M's 29,252.

The verdict from the data is straightforward. The AMD Radeon Pro 5300M is the choice for anyone who needs compute throughput, larger memory buffers, or faster memory. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960A is only preferable where its lower TDP or MXM interface is a hard requirement. For general-purpose mobile graphics acceleration, the Radeon Pro 5300M is the superior part by every measured metric in the database.