AMD Radeon R5 M240 vs AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile Comparison

AMD Radeon R5 M240 and AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile are two very different takes on mobile graphics, separated by nearly five years of silicon evolution. The R5 M240 is a small discrete part from 2014, while the Vega 10 Mobile is a 2019 integrated GPU living inside a Ryzen APU. In the single benchmark available, the older discrete card edges out the newer integrated solution, but the underlying architectures tell a more nuanced story about what each part is actually good for.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon R5 M240 scores 6,975 points, beating the AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile’s 6,476 points by a 7.7% margin. This gives the R5 M240 the only head-to-head win in the data.

Q: How do these GPUs compare to their closest rivals in performance?

A: The R5 M240 sits within 0.8% of the NVIDIA T600 (7,035) and 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M (7,023), while leading the AMD FirePro M5100 by 2.1%. The Vega 10 Mobile trails the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M by 0.3% and the GeForce GTX 670M by 0.6%, but beats the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell by 1.1%.

Q: What is the fundamental difference in how these GPUs are implemented?

A: The R5 M240 is a discrete chip (Jet) with its own 1,024 MB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, yielding 14.40 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega 10 Mobile is an integrated GPU (Raven-M) that uses System Shared memory, with bandwidth described as System Dependent.

Q: Which GPU has more raw compute resources?

A: The Vega 10 Mobile has double the shading units (640 vs 320), double the texture mapping units (40 vs 20), and delivers 1.665 TFLOPS of FP32 performance versus 659.2 GFLOPS for the R5 M240. It also supports FP16 at 3.331 TFLOPS, which the R5 M240 does not list.

Q: What are the power characteristics of each GPU?

A: The Vega 10 Mobile is rated at a 10 W TDP and uses no power connectors, typical of an IGP. The R5 M240’s TDP is not listed in the data, but it is a discrete card requiring a PCIe 3.0 x8 bus interface.

Q: Which GPU supports newer graphics API features?

A: The Vega 10 Mobile supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3, while the R5 M240 supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different eras of AMD’s design philosophy. The R5 M240 uses the GCN 1.0 architecture, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. Its chip, codenamed Jet, packs 690 million transistors into a 56 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.3 million per square millimeter. It belongs to the Gem System (R5 M200) generation and was released in September 2014.

In contrast, the Vega 10 Mobile uses the much newer GCN 5.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The Raven-M chip is substantially larger and more complex: 4,940 million transistors on a 210 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 23.5 million per square millimeter. It comes from the Vega IGP (Raven Ridge-M) generation, released in January 2019, and is built as an integrated part rather than a discrete card.

The memory architecture is a major differentiator. The R5 M240 has dedicated video memory: 1,024 MB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus, providing a fixed 14.40 GB/s bandwidth. The Vega 10 Mobile has no dedicated memory at all; it relies on System Shared memory, with its bandwidth labeled as System Dependent. This means the Vega 10 Mobile’s performance scales with the host system’s RAM speed and configuration, whereas the R5 M240 has predictable, fixed memory performance.

Clock behavior also differs significantly. The R5 M240 runs at a 1000 MHz base and 1030 MHz boost, with memory at 900 MHz (1,800 Mbps effective). The Vega 10 Mobile has a much lower 300 MHz base clock but boosts aggressively to 1,301 MHz. The R5 M240’s narrower memory bus and lower clock speeds are offset by its dedicated memory, while the Vega 10 Mobile relies on its higher boost clock and shared memory bandwidth.

Where Each One Wins

The R5 M240 wins in the only benchmark provided, but its advantages are more about consistency than raw capability. Because it has dedicated DDR3 memory on a fixed 64-bit bus, its performance is deterministic. It does not depend on the system’s RAM speed, dual-channel configuration, or other factors. For applications that are sensitive to memory latency or bandwidth stability, this discrete card offers a predictable baseline. Its pixel rate of 8.240 GPixel/s and texture rate of 20.60 GTexel/s are lower than the Vega 10 Mobile’s, but it achieves a higher OpenCL score, suggesting it handles certain workloads more efficiently despite fewer resources.

The Vega 10 Mobile wins where raw compute throughput matters. With 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 1.665 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, it has more than double the arithmetic capacity of the R5 M240. Its texture rate of 52.04 GTexel/s is roughly 2.5 times higher, and its pixel rate of 10.41 GPixel/s is about 26% higher. In workloads that scale with shader count or texture fill — such as compute-heavy tasks or certain modern game effects — the Vega 10 Mobile should theoretically pull ahead, even if the Geekbench score does not reflect that. Its support for FP16 (3.331 TFLOPS) also gives it an advantage in applications that can use reduced precision. Furthermore, being an IGP with a 10 W TDP, it has no additional power connector requirements and fits into ultraportable designs where discrete GPUs are impractical.

Specification Differences

The two parts differ in nearly every measurable specification. The R5 M240 uses a 28 nm TSMC process, while the Vega 10 Mobile uses 14 nm GlobalFoundries. Transistor count is 690 million versus 4,940 million, and die size is 56 mm² versus 210 mm². The R5 M240 has 320 shading units, 20 TMUs, and 8 ROPs; the Vega 10 Mobile has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. Clock speeds are 1000/1030 MHz base/boost for the R5 M240 versus 300/1301 MHz for the Vega 10 Mobile. Memory is 1,024 MB DDR3 on a 64-bit bus with 14.40 GB/s bandwidth for the R5 M240, versus System Shared for the Vega 10 Mobile. The R5 M240 has a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface, while the Vega 10 Mobile is an IGP with no bus interface. The Vega 10 Mobile is rated at 10 W TDP with no power connectors; the R5 M240’s TDP is not listed. API support differs: DirectX 12 (11_1) vs 12 (12_1), Vulkan 1.2.170 vs 1.3, with both at OpenGL 4.6. Pixel rate is 8.240 GPixel/s vs 10.41 GPixel/s, texture rate is 20.60 GTexel/s vs 52.04 GTexel/s, and FP32 is 659.2 GFLOPS vs 1.665 TFLOPS. The R5 M240 was released in September 2014; the Vega 10 Mobile in January 2019.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only head-to-head benchmark in the data is Geekbench OpenCL, and it results in a win for the AMD Radeon R5 M240 with a score of 6,975 against the Vega 10 Mobile’s 6,476. That is a 7.7% delta in favor of the older discrete GPU. This is a surprising result given the Vega 10 Mobile’s substantial hardware advantages — double the shading units, double the TMUs, and more than twice the FP32 throughput. The discrepancy likely stems from the Vega 10 Mobile’s System Shared memory, which introduces dependency on the host platform’s memory subsystem. The R5 M240’s dedicated 14.40 GB/s memory, while narrow, provides a fixed and stable bandwidth that may be more advantageous in the OpenCL workload tested.

Looking at the nearest rivals for context, the R5 M240’s score places it between the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M (6,946, 0.4% behind) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M (7,023, 0.7% ahead). It also beats the AMD FirePro M5100 by 2.1%. The Vega 10 Mobile’s 6,476 score sits just below the NVIDIA Quadro M5000M (6,481, 0.1% behind) and NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M (6,493, 0.3% behind). It is also within 0.6% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (6,513). Neither GPU is a performance leader; the R5 M240 sits at the 39th percentile of all GPUs, while the Vega 10 Mobile sits at the 37th percentile.

The Verdict

From the data, the AMD Radeon R5 M240 is the better choice if you need a confirmed performance edge in OpenCL compute tasks. It wins the head-to-head benchmark by 7.7%, has dedicated memory that isolates it from system RAM variability, and its benchmark standing against rival NVIDIA parts is slightly more favorable — it leads the GTX 680M, whereas the Vega 10 Mobile trails the GT 555M. Its end-of-life status and 2014 release date are drawbacks, but for a fixed-function compute role, it delivers a measurable performance advantage.

The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile is the better choice for modern system integration and raw compute headroom. It is an IGP with a 10 W TDP, no power connectors, and portable-device-dependent display outputs, making it suitable for thin laptops where a discrete GPU cannot fit. Its 640 shading units and 1.665 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, along with FP16 support, provide more theoretical compute capability than the R5 M240. In workloads that can leverage its higher texture rate of 52.04 GTexel/s or benefit from FP16, it should outperform the R5 M240, even if the Geekbench score does not show it. The Vega 10 Mobile also supports newer API versions, including DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3.

Ultimately, the R5 M240 wins on proven benchmark performance and memory stability; the Vega 10 Mobile wins on architecture, feature support, and raw shading power. The choice depends on whether you prioritize a guaranteed 7.7% OpenCL lead or a more capable, modern integrated solution with better long-term driver and API support. The data shows a narrow victory for the discrete card, but the integrated part has the stronger technical foundation for future workloads.