AMD Radeon R5 M230 vs NVIDIA Quadro 2000D Comparison

# AMD Radeon R5 M230 vs NVIDIA Quadro 2000D

The AMD Radeon R5 M230 and the NVIDIA Quadro 2000D occupy very different corners of the GPU market, and the data shows they were never direct contemporaries in the strictest sense. The R5 M230 is a late-generation entry-level mobile part, while the Quadro 2000D is a professional workstation card from NVIDIA's Fermi era. Yet both share the same fundamental purpose: rendering frames for desktop and workstation applications. This comparison walks through the architecture, specifications, and benchmark results recorded in the database to determine which card has the edge in raw compute, and which one makes the better buy for a specific workload.

FAQ

Q: What is the benchmark score of the AMD Radeon R5 M230?

A: The recorded Geekbench OpenCL score for the AMD Radeon R5 M230 is 4577. This places it in the 27th percentile of all GPUs in the database, meaning it outperforms roughly a quarter of the installed base.

Q: How does the AMD R5 M230 compare to the NVIDIA Quadro 2000D?

A: In the database's head-to-head Geekbench OpenCL test, the R5 M230 scores 4577 against the Quadro's 3930, a 16.5% advantage for the AMD part.

Q: What is the memory configuration of the R5 M230?

A: The card ships with 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 16.00 GB/s. The memory clock is listed at 1000 MHz, with an effective data rate of 2 Gbps.

Q: What architectural features does the R5 M230 have?

A: It uses the GCN 1.0 architecture built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The die contains 690 million transistors across 56 mm², for a density of 12.3 million transistors per mm². It has 320 shading units, 20 texture mapping units, and 8 ROPs.

Q: What is the production status of this chip?

A: The production status is listed as End-of-life, with a release date of January 6, 2014. Its predecessor in the database was the Solar System, and its successor is the Polaris Mobile.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from separate architectural lineages. The AMD R5 M230 is built on the GCN 1.0 design, a 28 nm TSMC part with 690 million transistors on a 56 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.3 million per mm². It uses the PCIe 3.0 x8 bus interface. In contrast, the NVIDIA Quadro 2000D uses the Fermi architecture, fabricated on TSMC's 40 nm process. It packs 1,170 million transistors into a 238 mm² die, which yields a density of 4.9 million per mm². The AMD is the denser and more modern design, manufactured on a smaller process node.

Memory configurations also diverge. The Radeon R5 M230 uses 2 GB of DDR3 with a 64-bit bus and 16.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The Quadro 2000D uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit interface, and its bandwidth is substantially higher at 41.60 GB/s. Clock-wise, the AMD memory is rated at 1000 MHz, while the NVIDIA memory is rated at 650 MHz.

Compute capability differs. The Radeon packs 320 shaders, 20 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The Quadro has 192 shaders, 32 texture units, and 16 raster output units. That means the AMD has nearly double the shader count and the NVIDIA has more ROPs: 16 vs 8.

Both cards support DirectX 12 (with the AMD supporting 11_1) and OpenGL 4.6. The AMD also supports Vulkan 1.2.170, while the NVIDIA does not list Vulkan support. Display outputs: the R5 M230 uses portable device dependent outputs, while the Quadro 2000D has dual DVI outputs.

The Verdict

The data gives a clean split decision. For raw compute in a single benchmark, the AMD Radeon R5 M230 is the stronger product. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 4577 beats the Quadro 2000D's 3930 by 16.5%. It also has more shading units: 320 vs 192, more texture units (20 vs 32), and more ROPs? No, it has fewer ROPs: 8 vs 16. However, the AMD is a more modern, denser design. It is built on a smaller process (28nm vs 40nm) and features a newer architecture (GCN 1.0 vs Fermi). It also has double the VRAM, at 2 GB versus 1 GB.

The NVIDIA Quadro 2000D wins where it counts for a professional card: memory bandwidth. The GDDR5 memory and 128-bit bus deliver 41.60 GB/s, which is 2.6 times the bandwidth of the AMD's DDR3 on a 64-bit bus. The memory clock is lower at 650 MHz, but the wider bus and faster memory type more than compensates. It also has more ROPs and a higher texture fillrate: 20.00 GTexel/s vs the R5's 12.20 GTexel/s, and its pixel rate of 5.000 GPixel/s beats the 4.880 GPixel/s of the R5. For raw rasterization and any memory-bandwidth-bound workload, the Quadro is the pick.

Specification Differences

| Field | AMD Radeon R5 M230 | NVIDIA Quadro 2000D |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Chip | Jet (GCN 1.0) | GF106 (Fermi) |

| Process | 28 nm (TSMC) | 40 nm (TSMC) |

| Transistors | 690 million | 1,170 million |

| Die size | 56 mm² | 238 mm² |

| Transistor density | 12.3M / mm² | 4.9M / mm² |

| Memory size | 2 GB DDR3 | 1024 MB GDDR5 |

| Memory bus width | 64 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 16.00 GB/s | 41.60 GB/s |

| Shading units | 320 | 192 |

| TMUs | 20 | 32 |

| ROPs | 8 | 16 |

| Bus interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |

| APIs | DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.2.170 | DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6 |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded Geekbench OpenCL test has only one run for these parts, but it is clear. The AMD Radeon R5 M30 puts up a score of 4571. The NVIDIA Quadro 2000D counters with 3930. That is a 16.5% win for the AMD in raw compute. Every nearest rival in the database agrees with that: the R5 M230 sits between the RX 560 (4569, +0.2%) and the Intel HD P530 (4560, +0.4%), and the Quadro 2000D is near the Quadro K2000D (3919, +0.3%) and the GeForce GT 745M (3953, 0.6%). The results place the AMD at the 27th percentile of all GPUs, the NVIDIA at the 23rd.

The AMD also has the higher average score of its nearest rivals, 4577 vs 3930 for the Quadro, and it consistently wins the head-to-head comparison in both the database's records. The 1000D's only head-to-head result as the R5 M230 is listed as a 16.5% win, which is the same delta.

Where each one wins: if the workload is compute-bound, with a high math throughput and a game or application that is not limited by memory bandwidth, the AMD Radeon R5 M230 is the better choice. Its additional shading units, its higher FP32 rate, and its newer architecture will deliver more frames.

If the workload is memory-bound, such as high-resolution texture streaming, multi-display or heavy anti-aliasing, the NVIDIA Quadro 2000D is the better part. Its 2.6x greater memory bandwidth and double ROP count will maintain fill-rate in those conditions. Its 2x DVI outputs also make it a natural fit for multi-monitor setups.

The Radeon R5 M230 is the one to pick when the task is compute-bound and mobile. The Quadro 2000D is the pick when the task is memory-bound or when the task is professional: it has double the memory bandwidth, more ROPs, and a larger memory interface.