AMD Radeon R5 M240 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M Comparison

AMD Radeon R5 M240 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M: a comparison of two end-of-life mobile graphics processors from different architectural eras. The AMD part, built on GCN 1.0, posts a Geekbench OpenCL score of 6975, while the NVIDIA Fermi 2.0 part scores 6389. The data shows a 9.2% delta in favor of the AMD Radeon R5 M240, despite the NVIDIA card carrying a larger memory bus and more shading units.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single available benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, provides a clear and decisive result: the AMD Radeon R5 M240 wins with a score of 6975 against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M's 6389. This translates to a 9.2% performance advantage for the AMD part. This is not a marginal victory; it is a substantial lead in raw compute throughput as measured by this workload.

Placing this result in context, the AMD Radeon R5 M240 sits at the 39th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M rests at the 37th percentile. The AMD part's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M, which scores 7023, a delta of -0.7% from the R5 M240. This means the R5 M240 is nearly identical in performance to that higher-tier NVIDIA part. Conversely, the GTX 580M's closest competitor is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE, which scores identically at 6389, showing a 0% delta and a perfect tie.

The AMD Radeon R5 M240 also holds a 2.1% advantage over the AMD FirePro M5100 (score 6830) and a 0.4% edge over the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M (score 6946). The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M, for its part, leads the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 (score 6330) by 0.9% and the AMD Radeon R7 M350 (score 6327) by 1.0%. These numbers illustrate that while the GTX 580M is competitive with its direct peers, it does not reach the performance tier where the R5 M240 operates. The benchmark results indicate a clear hierarchy: the AMD Radeon R5 M240 outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M by a meaningful margin, placing it in the company of faster mobile GPUs from the same era.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different design philosophies and manufacturing generations. The AMD Radeon R5 M240 is built on the GCN 1.0 architecture using a chip codenamed Jet, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 690 million transistors on a die size of 56 mm², yielding a transistor density of 12.3 million per square millimeter. In contrast, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M uses the Fermi 2.0 architecture with the GF114 chip, also manufactured by TSMC but on an older 40 nm process. This older node results in a much larger die: 332 mm² housing 1,950 million transistors, for a density of just 5.9 million per square millimeter.

The raw compute resources differ significantly. The NVIDIA part has 384 shading units, 64 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 raster operation units (ROPs). The AMD Radeon R5 M240 is configured with 320 shading units, 20 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. Despite having fewer of these units, the AMD chip achieves higher clock speeds, with a base clock of 1000 MHz and a boost clock of 1030 MHz. The NVIDIA part does not list base or boost clocks in the data, but its memory runs at 750 MHz with an effective 3 Gbps. The AMD memory operates at 900 MHz with an effective 1800 Mbps.

The memory architecture is another major divergence. The AMD Radeon R5 M240 uses 1024 MB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, delivering a bandwidth of 14.40 GB/s. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth—a massive 6.7x advantage in memory throughput. The NVIDIA card also has a higher pixel rate (9.920 GPixel/s vs 8.240 GPixel/s) and texture rate (39.68 GTexel/s vs 20.60 GTexel/s). However, the AMD card leads in FP32 compute with 659.2 GFLOPS, though the NVIDIA card claims 952.3 GFLOPS on paper; the benchmark result favors AMD, suggesting real-world efficiency differences.

The bus interface also differs: the AMD part uses PCIe 3.0 x8, while the NVIDIA part uses an MXM-B (3.0) interface and is described as an MXM Module. The NVIDIA GPU is rated at a 100 W TDP, while the AMD part has no TDP listed. The AMD card supports Vulkan 1.2.170, while the NVIDIA card has no Vulkan support listed. Both support DirectX 12, but the AMD part supports 11_1 features while the NVIDIA part supports 11_0. Both list OpenGL 4.6.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD Radeon R5 M240 scores 6975, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M scores 6389, giving AMD a 9.2% lead.

Q: How does the AMD Radeon R5 M240 compare to its nearest rival?

A: Its closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M, which scores 7023, a delta of -0.7%. The R5 M240 also leads the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M (6946) by 0.4% and the AMD FirePro M5100 (6830) by 2.1%.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The AMD Radeon R5 M240 has 1024 MB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus with 14.40 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU uses a more advanced manufacturing process?

A: The AMD Radeon R5 M240 uses a 28 nm process, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M uses a 40 nm process. Both are fabricated by TSMC.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M have any performance advantages over the AMD part?

A: Yes. The NVIDIA part has higher pixel rate (9.920 GPixel/s vs 8.240 GPixel/s), higher texture rate (39.68 GTexel/s vs 20.60 GTexel/s), and more shading units (384 vs 320), TMUs (64 vs 20), and ROPs (32 vs 8).

Q: What is the release timeline for these GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M was released on 2011-06-27, and the AMD Radeon R5 M240 was released on 2014-09-17.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification. The process node is the most fundamental split: 28 nm for AMD versus 40 nm for NVIDIA. Transistor counts are 690 million for AMD versus 1,950 million for NVIDIA. Die size is 56 mm² for AMD versus 332 mm² for NVIDIA. Transistor density favors AMD at 12.3M per mm² versus 5.9M per mm².

Clock speeds show the AMD part boosting to 1030 MHz (base 1000 MHz), while the NVIDIA part has no base or boost clocks listed. Memory clocks are 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective) for AMD versus 750 MHz (3 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA. Memory size is 1024 MB for AMD versus 2 GB for NVIDIA. Memory type is DDR3 for AMD versus GDDR5 for NVIDIA. Bus width is 64-bit for AMD versus 256-bit for NVIDIA. Bandwidth is 14.40 GB/s for AMD versus 96.00 GB/s for NVIDIA.

Compute resources: shading units are 320 for AMD versus 384 for NVIDIA. TMUs: 20 for AMD versus 64 for NVIDIA. ROPs: 8 for AMD versus 32 for NVIDIA. Pixel rate: 8.240 GPixel/s for AMD versus 9.920 GPixel/s for NVIDIA. Texture rate: 20.60 GTexel/s for AMD versus 39.68 GTexel/s for NVIDIA. FP32: 659.2 GFLOPS for AMD versus 952.3 GFLOPS for NVIDIA.

The NVIDIA part has a listed TDP of 100 W and is an MXM Module with MXM-B (3.0) interface, while the AMD part has no TDP or slot width listed and uses PCIe 3.0 x8. The AMD part supports Vulkan 1.2.170; the NVIDIA part does not. DirectX support is 12 (11_1) for AMD versus 12 (11_0) for NVIDIA. Both support OpenGL 4.6. The NVIDIA part's display outputs are described as portable device dependent, while no display outputs are listed for AMD.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R5 M240 wins in the compute benchmark, which is the only head-to-head test available. It also wins on manufacturing efficiency, with a smaller die, fewer transistors, and a denser layout, all on a newer 28 nm process. Its higher clock speeds (1000 MHz base, 1030 MHz boost) and Vulkan support give it a modern feature set. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 6975 puts it ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M by 9.2%, and it even rivals the GeForce GTX 680M, which scores only 0.7% higher.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M wins on the raw memory and rasterization front. It has 6.7x the memory bandwidth, 4x the ROPs, and 3.2x the TMUs. Its 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus is a clear advantage for bandwidth-hungry workloads, and its pixel rate of 9.920 GPixel/s and texture rate of 39.68 GTexel/s are higher than the AMD part's 8.240 GPixel/s and 20.60 GTexel/s. It also has more shading units (384 vs 320) and a higher theoretical FP32 throughput (952.3 GFLOPS vs 659.2 GFLOPS), although the benchmark does not reflect that theoretical edge.

The Verdict

The data presents a straightforward conclusion for compute workloads: the AMD Radeon R5 M240 is the faster GPU. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 6975 beats the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M's 6389 by 9.2%, and it holds a higher percentile ranking (39th vs 37th). The AMD part achieves this with far fewer resources—320 shading units, 20 TMUs, 8 ROPs—and a much smaller memory bus, proving that architectural efficiency and a modern 28 nm process can overcome a larger, older chip.

However, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M should not be dismissed, particularly for workloads that depend on memory bandwidth or fill rates. Its 96.00 GB/s bandwidth, 32 ROPs, and 64 TMUs are significantly higher, suggesting it may handle texture-heavy or high-resolution rendering scenarios differently. The 2 GB memory capacity also offers more headroom for large datasets. The theoretical FP32 of 952.3 GFLOPS is also higher, though the benchmark shows AMD winning in practice.

For a buyer choosing between these two for general-purpose compute or OpenCL-based tasks, the AMD Radeon R5 M240 is the clear pick. For tasks that stress memory throughput, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M's specification sheet is more compelling, but the benchmark data does not confirm that advantage. The verdict from the numbers alone: the AMD Radeon R5 M240 is the better-performing part in the measured workload, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M is the better-specified part on paper for memory-intensive operations. The 9.2% benchmark delta is the only measured performance difference, and it favors AMD.