AMD Radeon R7 250 vs NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M Comparison

# AMD Radeon R7 250 vs NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M

The database places these two mobile graphics processors in different eras of GPU design. The AMD Radeon R7 250 belongs to the Volcanic Islands generation, built on the GCN 1.0 architecture with a Cape Verde chip. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M is a GeForce 500M series part, using the Fermi architecture and the GF106 chip. Their benchmark results tell a clear story, but the architectural gap explains why.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

In the only head-to-head benchmark recorded in the database, the AMD Radeon R7 250 wins decisively. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD card scored 7557 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M scored 6493. That is a delta of 16.4%, a substantial margin for a mobile-class GPU.

The AMD R7 250 sits in the 41st percentile of all GPUs tested, while the GT 555M sits in the 37th percentile. The nearest rivals to the AMD part are the Intel Arc A310 (7550, just 0.1% behind), the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7580, 0.3% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (7472, 1.1% behind), and the AMD Radeon HD 8850M (7447, 1.5% behind). For the NVIDIA part, the closest matches are the NVIDIA Quadro M5000M (6481, 0.2% ahead), the AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile (6476, 0.3% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (6513, 0.3% behind), and the Intel UHD Graphics P750 (6554, 0.9% behind).

The delta in absolute terms is 1064 points. The AMD part wins the only head-to-head recorded, with one win and zero losses. The NVIDIA part has not won a single head-to-head matchup in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs have very different internal designs. The AMD Radeon R7 250 is built on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die. That gives a transistor density of 12.2 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M uses a 40 nm process at TSMC, with 1,170 million transistors on a 238 mm² die, for a density of 4.9 million per square millimeter. The AMD chip is clearly the denser design, packing more than twice the number of transistors into roughly half the die area.

Memory configurations also differ. The AMD Radeon R7 250 has 1024 MB of DDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 28.80 GB/s of bandwidth. The GeForce GT 555M also has 1024 MB of DDR3, but its memory clock runs at an effective 1800 Mbps, and its bandwidth is listed at 28.80 GB/s. The memory subsystem of the AMD part is configured with a higher effective data rate.

The shading and geometry resources are heavily weighted toward the AMD card. The R7 250 has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The GT 555M has 144 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The AMD part has more than three times the shading units and a third more TMUs.

Other specifications are in the database. The Radeon R7 250 has a pixel rate of 14.80 GPixel/s and a texture fill rate of 29.60 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 947.2 GFLOPS. The GT 555M has a 3.540 GPixel/s pixel rate and a 14.16 GTexel/s texture rate, with FP32 at 339.8 GFLOPS. Compute workloads are a clear AMD advantage in the measured OpenCL test.

The TDP rating is also different: the R7 250 is rated at 55 W, while the GT 555M is rated at 35 W. The AMD card draws more power, but the difference in performance is substantial. The AMD part uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface, while the NVIDIA part uses a PCIe 2.0 x16 interface. The AMD card outputs via 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2. The NVIDIA card is portable device dependent in terms of its display output.

API support is similar, both support DirectX 12 (11_0 for GT 555M) and OpenGL 4.6. The AMD card also adds Vulkan 1.2 support, which is not present on the NVIDIA part. The release dates place the AMD as the newer part: the R7 250 released October 7, 2013, while the GT 555M dates from July 1, 2011. The AMD card is marked end-of-life, while the NVIDIA part is also end-of-life.

The Verdict

From the database, the AMD Radeon R7 250 is the stronger part in nearly every measurable metric. The OpenCL benchmark gap is significant: 16.4% ahead of the GT 555M. The AMD part has more shading units, more texture units, higher fill rates, higher memory bandwidth, and a smaller, more efficient die. The GT 555M is the older part in terms of release date, architecture generation, and production node.

The only place where the GT 555M is not classified as behind is in the TDP rating, which is lower at 35W versus 55W. But the AMD part is a faster part with a higher feature set. The verdict for the synthetic load is simple: the AMD Radeon R7 250 is the stronger part.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher OpenCL benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 250 scored 7557 in the OpenCL test, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M's 6493. That is a win for the AMD part by 16.4%.

Q: What is the difference in shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 250 has 512 shading units. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M has 144 shading units. The AMD part has more than 3.5 times the shading units.

Q: Which GPU has more texture mapping units?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 250 has 32 TMUs. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M has 24 TMUs. The AMD part has one-third more TMUs.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 250 has a 28.80 GB/s memory bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M is at 28.80 GB/s. These two are equivalent in this metric.

Q: Which GPU has a smaller manufacturing process node?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 250 is built on a 28 nm process, while the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M is built on a 40 nm process. The AMD part uses a more advanced 12 nm process geometry.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R7 250 wins the following categories from the recorded data:

• OpenCL benchmark score: 7557 vs 6493 (16.4% faster)
• Shading units: 512 vs 144
• Texture mapping units: 32 vs 24
• Pixel fill rate: 14.80 GPixel/s vs 3.540 GPixel/s
• Texture fill rate: 29.60 GTexel/s vs 14.16 GTexel/s
• FP32 performance: 947.2 GFLOPS vs 339.8 GFLOPS
• Transistor count: 1500 million vs 1170 million
• Transistor density: 12.2M per mm² vs 4.9M per mm²
• Memory clock (effective): 1800 Mbps vs 1800 Mbps
• API support: Vulkan 1.2 vs none
• Die size: 123 mm² vs 238 mm² (smaller die)
• Release date: newer by about two years and three months

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M wins in these categories:

• TDP: 35W vs 55W (lower power draw)
• Bus interface: PCIe 2.0 x16 vs PCIe 3.0 x16 (different generation, but the GT 555M has the older interface)

The AMD part is the stronger in the vast majority of recorded metrics. The NVIDIA part is primarily a more power-efficient part with a lower TDP. For anyone who prioritizes compute performance in the database, the AMD Radeon R7 250 is the recommended choice.