AMD Radeon R7 M265 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 Comparison

AMD Radeon R7 M265 and NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 are two end-of-life graphics cards from different eras, and the benchmark data places them nearly neck-and-neck. The AMD R7 M265 edges out the GTS 450 in the single available Geekbench OpenCL test, scoring 4929 against 4893, a delta of just 0.7%. Both cards sit in the bottom third of all GPUs, with the R7 M265 at the 29th percentile and the GTS 450 at the 28th, making them both entry-level performers by modern standards.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only head-to-head benchmark available is Geekbench OpenCL, and the results are remarkably close. The AMD Radeon R7 M265 scores 4929, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 scores 4893, giving the AMD part a 0.7% lead. This is essentially a statistical tie — the delta is smaller than the variance you would expect between two different driver versions or test runs.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each card confirms just how tightly grouped these GPUs are. The R7 M265’s closest competitor is the AMD Radeon R7 M360 with an average score of 4931, a delta of 0%. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB — a much newer and higher-end card — scores 4901, which is only 0.6% behind the R7 M265 in this particular test. The AMD FirePro W5130M scores 4904, 0.5% behind.

For the GTS 450, the picture is mirrored. Its nearest rival is the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB at 4901, a 0.2% difference in favor of the NVIDIA card. The AMD FirePro W5130M is also 0.2% ahead, and the AMD Radeon R6 M255DX trails by 0.5% with a score of 4867. The R7 M265 sits 0.7% ahead of the GTS 450 from the GTS 450’s perspective, which matches the head-to-head data.

In practical terms, a 0.7% performance gap means neither card has a meaningful advantage in compute workloads. The R7 M265 wins the single benchmark, but the margin is well within the noise of real-world testing. If you were to run the test multiple times, you could easily see the GTS 450 come out ahead on some runs.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the benchmark data, the AMD Radeon R7 M265 wins the only test available. That gives it one win out of one head-to-head comparison, while the GTS 450 has zero wins. However, a single 0.7% margin does not constitute a decisive victory in any workload category.

The R7 M265’s win in Geekbench OpenCL suggests it has a slight edge in general-purpose compute tasks that use OpenCL acceleration. This could include applications like video encoding, image processing, or physics simulations that offload work to the GPU. The GTS 450, despite being older, is not far behind, so the difference would be imperceptible in most real-world scenarios.

The data does not provide any gaming benchmarks, so it is impossible to declare a winner for gaming workloads. Both cards have the same DirectX support level (12 with feature level 11_1 for the AMD, 12 with feature level 11_0 for the NVIDIA), so they are equally capable of running modern APIs. The GTS 450 has a higher texture fill rate (25.06 GTexel/s vs 19.80 GTexel/s) and more ROPs (16 vs 8), which could theoretically help in pixel-heavy workloads, but the R7 M265 has more shading units (384 vs 192) and a higher FP32 throughput (633.6 GFLOPS vs 601.3 GFLOPS).

Neither card has a clear use-case advantage based on the available data. The R7 M265 edges out the GTS 450 in the one compute benchmark, but the margin is too small to recommend one over the other for any specific application.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon R7 M265 is built on GCN 1.0 architecture using the Opal chip, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The die size is 77 mm² and contains 950 million transistors, giving a transistor density of 12.3 million per square millimeter. The GTS 450 uses NVIDIA’s Fermi architecture with the GF106 chip, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 40 nm process. Its die is 238 mm² with 1,170 million transistors, resulting in a density of 4.9 million per square millimeter.

The process node difference is significant: 28 nm vs 40 nm. The smaller node allows the R7 M265 to pack more transistors into a much smaller die, which explains why AMD could fit 384 shading units into a 77 mm² chip. The GTS 450’s larger 238 mm² die houses only 192 shading units, but it compensates with 32 texture mapping units (TMUs) versus 24 on the R7 M265, and 16 raster output units (ROPs) versus 8.

Memory configurations differ substantially. The R7 M265 comes with 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 28.80 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTS 450 has 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on the same 128-bit bus, but achieves 57.73 GB/s — exactly double the bandwidth. The memory clock is 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective) on the AMD and 902 MHz (3.6 Gbps effective) on the NVIDIA.

Clock speeds also differ. The R7 M265 operates at a base clock of 725 MHz with a boost up to 825 MHz. The GTS 450 does not have listed base or boost clocks in the specifications, but its memory runs at 902 MHz. The AMD card’s pixel rate is 6.600 GPixel/s, slightly higher than the GTS 450’s 6.264 GPixel/s, but the NVIDIA card has a higher texture rate at 25.06 GTexel/s versus 19.80 GTexel/s.

Power characteristics are only listed for the GTS 450, which has a TDP of 106 W, a dual-slot cooler, a single 6-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 300 W. The R7 M265 has no TDP or power connector data listed. The GTS 450 is a physical card measuring 210 mm in length and 111 mm in height, while the R7 M265 has no dimensions listed.

The R7 M265 supports PCIe 3.0 x8, while the GTS 450 uses PCIe 2.0 x16. Both support DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.6, but the AMD card also supports Vulkan 1.2.170, while the GTS 450 has no Vulkan support listed. The GTS 450 has display outputs of 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a, while the R7 M265 lists no display outputs.

Release dates show the GTS 450 launched on 2010-09-12 as part of the GeForce 400 generation, while the R7 M265 arrived on 2014-01-08 in the Gem System (R7 M200) generation. The GTS 450’s predecessor is GeForce 200 and its successor is GeForce 500. The R7 M265’s predecessor is Solar System and its successor is Polaris Mobile.

FAQ

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

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M265 scores 4929, which is 0.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450’s score of 4893.

Q: How does the GTS 450 compare to the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB?

A: The GTS 450 scores 4893, just 0.2% behind the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB’s 4901. The R7 M265 is 0.6% ahead of the RTX 5060 Ti.

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

A: The GTS 450 has 57.73 GB/s of bandwidth using GDDR5 memory, while the R7 M265 has 28.80 GB/s using DDR3. The GTS 450 offers exactly double the bandwidth.

Q: Do both cards support DirectX 12?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12. The R7 M265 supports feature level 11_1, while the GTS 450 supports feature level 11_0.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The R7 M265 has 384 shading units, double the GTS 450’s 192. However, the GTS 450 has 32 TMUs and 16 ROPs, versus 24 TMUs and 8 ROPs on the R7 M265.

Q: What is the transistor count and die size for each?

A: The R7 M265 has 950 million transistors on a 77 mm² die, while the GTS 450 has 1,170 million transistors on a 238 mm² die.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon R7 M265 | NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 |

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

| Architecture | GCN 1.0 | Fermi |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 40 nm |

| Transistors | 950 million | 1,170 million |

| Die Size | 77 mm² | 238 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.3M / mm² | 4.9M / mm² |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 1024 MB |

| Memory Type | DDR3 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 28.80 GB/s | 57.73 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 384 | 192 |

| TMUs | 24 | 32 |

| ROPs | 8 | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 6.600 GPixel/s | 6.264 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 19.80 GTexel/s | 25.06 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 633.6 GFLOPS | 601.3 GFLOPS |

| TDP | Not listed | 106 W |

| Slot Width | Not listed | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | Not listed | 1x 6-pin |

| Suggested PSU | Not listed | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | Not listed | 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI |

| Vulkan Support | 1.2.170 | Not listed |

| Release Date | 2014-01-08 | 2010-09-12 |

| Launch MSRP | Not listed | 129 USD |

The Verdict

The benchmark data shows the AMD Radeon R7 M265 and NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 are effectively equivalent in compute performance, with the AMD card holding a 0.7% lead in the only available test. The GTS 450 has a launch MSRP of 129 USD, while the R7 M265 has no listed MSRP. Neither card offers a compelling reason to choose it over the other based purely on the Geekbench OpenCL scores.

Choose the R7 M265 if you want the marginally higher benchmark score, the newer 28 nm process, double the memory capacity (2 GB vs 1 GB), Vulkan API support, and PCIe 3.0 connectivity. Its smaller die and higher transistor density indicate a more modern design, and its boost clock of 825 MHz gives it a slight FP32 edge at 633.6 GFLOPS.

Choose the GTS 450 if you need the double memory bandwidth (57.73 GB/s vs 28.80 GB/s), higher texture fill rate (25.06 GTexel/s vs 19.80 GTexel/s), or more ROPs (16 vs 8) for pixel-heavy workloads. It also has a defined power profile with a 106 W TDP and a suggested 300 W PSU, which the R7 M265 lacks entirely.

In practice, the data suggests these cards are interchangeable for most tasks. The 0.7% benchmark delta is imperceptible, and the architectural differences — more shading units on the AMD, more bandwidth on the NVIDIA — tend to cancel out across different workloads. If you already own one, there is no reason to upgrade to the other. If you are choosing between them today, the R7 M265’s newer architecture and Vulkan support give it a slight edge for compatibility with modern software, while the GTS 450’s higher bandwidth may help in memory-bound scenarios.