AMD Radeon R5 M430 vs NVIDIA GeForce 940MX Comparison

The benchmark data shows a narrow but consistent victory for the AMD Radeon R5 M430 over the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX. Across the two available head-to-head tests, the AMD part wins both, but the margins are slim, with the largest gap being just 4.3%. The GeForce 940MX, however, counters with a substantially larger transistor count, higher core counts, and significantly faster memory bandwidth, which paints a more complex picture than the raw scoreboard suggests.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R5 M430 takes the win in both recorded benchmark disciplines. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 5152 against the NVIDIA’s 4939, a lead of 4.3%. In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD part scores 4884 versus 4749, a 2.8% advantage. These are the only two head-to-head tests in the data, so the AMD card is the clear winner on the benchmark leaderboard, taking both wins out of a possible two.

The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX does not win any benchmark in the head-to-head comparison. Its average benchmark score of 4844 is lower than the AMD’s 5018. However, the NVIDIA part’s architecture and memory subsystem suggest it holds advantages in theoretical throughput metrics. The 940MX has a higher texture rate of 27.55 GTexel/s versus the AMD’s 17.10 GTexel/s, and its FP32 compute of 881.7 GFLOPS dwarfs the AMD’s 547.2 GFLOPS. The memory bandwidth difference is stark: the NVIDIA card offers 40.10 GB/s, which is 2.5 times the AMD’s 16.00 GB/s. These figures indicate that in workloads not captured by the two Geekbench tests—such as texture-heavy gaming or compute tasks that scale with raw FP32—the NVIDIA part is likely to pull ahead, despite losing the specific tests recorded here.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural lineages. The AMD Radeon R5 M430 is built on GCN 1.0, using the “Jet” chip, and belongs to the Gem System (R5 M400) generation. The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX is based on Maxwell, using the GM107 chip, and belongs to the GeForce 900M generation. Both are manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC, but the similarities end there.

The silicon sizes are vastly different. The NVIDIA chip contains 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die, while the AMD chip has just 690 million transistors on a 56 mm² die. This makes the NVIDIA chip nearly three times larger in die area and over 2.7 times higher in transistor count. Transistor density is similar, at 12.6M / mm² for NVIDIA versus 12.3M / mm² for AMD, indicating the density advantage comes from sheer die size, not packing efficiency.

Core configurations diverge significantly. The NVIDIA GPU has 512 shading units and 32 texture mapping units, while the AMD GPU has 320 shading units and 20 TMUs. Both have 8 ROPs. The NVIDIA part also has a higher base clock of 795 MHz and a boost clock of 861 MHz, compared to the AMD’s 780 MHz base and 855 MHz boost. Memory configurations differ completely: the AMD uses 4 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus, while the NVIDIA uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on the same 64-bit bus width. The memory clock is the key differentiator, with NVIDIA running at 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective) versus AMD’s 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective), resulting in the 40.10 GB/s versus 16.00 GB/s bandwidth gap.

API support shows a split. The AMD card lists DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA card lists DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The NVIDIA part has a higher Vulkan version, while the AMD part has a slightly higher DirectX feature level. Power characteristics also differ: the NVIDIA card has a stated TDP of 23 W and is an MXM Module with no power connectors, while the AMD card’s TDP is not listed, and it is an IGP with portable-device-dependent display outputs.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test is the clearest win for the AMD Radeon R5 M430. It scores 5152, which is 4.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX’s 4939. This is the largest margin of victory in any test. The AMD part’s average benchmark score of 5018 also edges out the NVIDIA’s 4844 by 3.6%. In the context of their nearest rivals, the AMD card sits between the AMD FirePro W4170M (5034) and the AMD Radeon R7 Graphics (4998), with a delta of -0.3% and +0.4% respectively. The NVIDIA card, meanwhile, is positioned near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (4855), with a delta of -0.2%.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD card again wins, scoring 4884 versus 4749, a 2.8% difference. This margin is smaller than the OpenCL gap, but it still represents a consistent sweep. The NVIDIA card’s Vulkan API version is higher (1.4 versus 1.2.170), yet the benchmark result does not reflect an advantage in this specific test. Notably, the NVIDIA card’s nearest rival list includes the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB with an average score of 4791, which is lower than the 940MX’s 4844, showing that the 940MX outperforms a much higher-tier card in this aggregated metric.

The pixel rates are nearly identical, with the NVIDIA part at 6.888 GPixel/s and the AMD at 6.840 GPixel/s. This suggests that fill-rate-bound operations will perform similarly. The texture rate, however, favors NVIDIA strongly, at 27.55 GTexel/s versus 17.10 GTexel/s, a 61% advantage. Similarly, the FP32 compute is 61% higher on the NVIDIA side. These theoretical numbers do not translate into wins in the Geekbench tests, but they indicate that the NVIDIA card has significantly more raw shader and texture processing capability that could manifest in other workloads.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear but conditional recommendation. For users who rely on the specific Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan workloads recorded here, the AMD Radeon R5 M430 is the better performer. It wins both head-to-head tests, has a higher average benchmark score (5018 versus 4844), and holds a higher percentile rank among all GPUs (30th versus 28th). The AMD card also offers double the memory capacity at 4 GB versus 2 GB, which can be beneficial for larger data sets in compute tasks.

For users prioritizing raw compute throughput, texture processing, or memory bandwidth, the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX is the stronger choice on paper. Its FP32 performance of 881.7 GFLOPS and texture rate of 27.55 GTexel/s are substantial theoretical advantages. The 40.10 GB/s memory bandwidth is a massive improvement over the AMD’s 16.00 GB/s, which directly impacts bandwidth-sensitive applications. The NVIDIA card also has a defined power envelope at 23 W, whereas the AMD card’s power draw is unspecified, making the NVIDIA part a more predictable choice for thermal design.

The benchmark results, however, do not reflect these theoretical advantages. The AMD card wins where it counts in the recorded tests. Given that the wins are consistent across two different APIs, the AMD Radeon R5 M430 is the safer pick for general-purpose compute based on the available evidence. The 940MX should be considered only if the workload is known to be texture-heavy or bandwidth-bound, where its architectural strengths are likely to overcome the benchmark deficit.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon R5 M430 has an average benchmark score of 5018, which is higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX’s 4844.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference between the two?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX offers 40.10 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is significantly higher than the AMD Radeon R5 M430’s 16.00 GB/s.

Q: Does the AMD card have more memory capacity?

A: Yes, the AMD Radeon R5 M430 has 4 GB of DDR3 memory, while the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: Which card has a higher shading unit count?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX has 512 shading units, which is higher than the AMD Radeon R5 M430’s 320 shading units.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The AMD Radeon R5 M430 scores 5152, which is 4.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX’s score of 4939.

Q: What are the process nodes for both GPUs?

A: Both the AMD Radeon R5 M430 and the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX are manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC.

Specification Differences

The following table lists only the fields where the two GPUs differ, based on the provided data.

| Specification | AMD Radeon R5 M430 | NVIDIA GeForce 940MX |

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

| Manufacturer | AMD | NVIDIA |

| Chip | Jet | GM107 |

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | Maxwell |

| Generation | Gem System (R5 M400) | GeForce 900M |

| Transistors | 690 million | 1,870 million |

| Die Size | 56 mm² | 148 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.3M / mm² | 12.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 780 MHz | 795 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 855 MHz | 861 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective) | 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 2 GB |

| Memory Type | DDR3 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bandwidth | 16.00 GB/s | 40.10 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 320 | 512 |

| TMUs | 20 | 32 |

| Texture Rate | 17.10 GTexel/s | 27.55 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 547.2 GFLOPS | 881.7 GFLOPS |

| TDP | Not listed | 23 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | MXM Module |

| Power Connectors | Not listed | None |

| DirectX Support | 12 (11_1) | 12 (11_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.2.170 | 1.4 |

| Release Date | Not listed | 2016-06-27 |

| Predecessor | Solar System | GeForce 800M |

| Successor | Polaris Mobile | GeForce 10 Mobile |

| Geekbench OpenCL Score | 5152 | 4939 |

| Geekbench Vulkan Score | 4884 | 4749 |

| Average Benchmark Score | 5018 | 4844 |

| Percentile vs All GPUs | 30 | 28 |