AMD Radeon R7 M340 vs AMD Radeon RX 560 Comparison

The Verdict

The AMD Radeon RX 560 is the clear performance leader in this comparison. In the only directly comparable benchmark recorded in the database, Geekbench OpenCL, the RX 560 scores 16,472 against 4,932 for the R7 M340, a margin of 70.1% in favor of the newer card. This is not a close contest; the RX 560 outclasses the older mobile chip in raw compute throughput by a wide margin.

The R7 M340, however, is not without a purpose. Its average benchmark score of 5,063 places it in the 30th percentile of all GPUs, and it sits within 1.3% of peers like the AMD Radeon R7 240, AMD FirePro W4170M, AMD Radeon R5 M430, and AMD Radeon R7 Graphics. It is a low-end, end-of-life part that suits legacy systems or light workloads where the RX 560 would be overkill. The RX 560, despite having a lower percentile ranking at 26, offers substantially higher peak performance, but its average score of 4,569 is dragged down by a wide spread across many test types. The data suggests the RX 560 is for users who need actual gaming or compute capability, while the R7 M340 is for basic display output and very light tasks.

For buyers, the choice is straightforward: pick the RX 560 for any workload involving modern games, GPU-accelerated compute, or higher-resolution textures. Pick the R7 M340 only if the system in question is an older laptop or prebuilt where the RX 560 cannot physically fit or is not supported. The RX 560 is the only one of the two that can handle a 4 GB framebuffer and a 128-bit memory bus, making it the only viable option for contemporary software.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and manufacturing processes. The R7 M340 uses the Meso chip built on GCN 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The RX 560 uses the Polaris 21 chip based on GCN 4.0, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. This process shrink is significant: the RX 560 packs 3,000 million transistors into a 123 mm² die, while the R7 M340 fits 1,550 million transistors into a slightly larger 125 mm² die. Transistor density tells the story, the R7 M340 has 12.4M transistors per mm², while the RX 560 achieves 24.4M per mm², nearly double the density.

The R7 M340 belongs to the Gem System (R7 M300) generation, released in 2015, with its predecessor listed as Solar System and successor as Polaris Mobile. The RX 560 belongs to the Polaris (RX 500) generation, released in 2017, with predecessor Arctic Islands and successor Vega. The RX 560 supports Vulkan 1.3, while the R7 M340 is limited to Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support DirectX 12 (12_0) and OpenGL 4.6.

Clock speeds differ substantially. The R7 M340 runs at a 943 MHz base and 1021 MHz boost. The RX 560 runs at 1175 MHz base and 1275 MHz boost. Memory clocks are also far apart: the R7 M340 uses 1000 MHz memory with 2 Gbps effective data rate, while the RX 560 uses 1750 MHz memory at 7 Gbps effective. The RX 560 is a dual-slot card with no power connectors, a suggested 250 W PSU, and a 170 mm (6.7 inches) length. The R7 M340 has no listed TDP, slot width, power connectors, or dimensions, reflecting its mobile-oriented design.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M340 has a higher average benchmark score of 5,063, compared to the RX 560's 4,569. However, this average includes a broader set of tests for the RX 560, including DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, and compute workloads, which are not recorded for the R7 M340.

Q: How much faster is the RX 560 in OpenCL compute?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 560 scores 16,472, which is 70.1% higher than the R7 M340's 4,932. This is the only head-to-head benchmark recorded in the database.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The R7 M340 has 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, delivering 16.00 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 560 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 112.0 GB/s bandwidth, which is 7 times the memory bandwidth.

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No, both are listed as end-of-life. The R7 M340 was released in 2015, and the RX 560 was released in 2017.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units and texture units?

A: The RX 560 has 1,024 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The R7 M340 has 320 shading units, 20 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The RX 560 has 3.2 times the shading units and 3.2 times the TMUs.

Q: What is the pixel and texture rate difference?

A: The RX 560 achieves a pixel rate of 20.40 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 81.60 GTexel/s. The R7 M340 achieves 8.168 GPixel/s and 20.42 GTexel/s. The RX 560 is 2.5 times faster in pixel fill and 4 times faster in texture fill.

Specification Differences

The table below lists only the fields where the two GPUs differ, based on the recorded data.

| Specification | AMD Radeon R7 M340 | AMD Radeon RX 560 |

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

| Chip | Meso | Polaris 21 |

| Architecture | GCN 3.0 | GCN 4.0 |

| Generation | Gem System (R7 M300) | Polaris (RX 500) |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | GlobalFoundries |

| Transistors | 1,550 million | 3,000 million |

| Die Size | 125 mm² | 123 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 12.4M / mm² | 24.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 943 MHz | 1175 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1021 MHz | 1275 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1000 MHz, 2 Gbps effective | 1750 MHz, 7 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | DDR3 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 64 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 16.00 GB/s | 112.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 320 | 1024 |

| TMUs | 20 | 64 |

| ROPs | 8 | 16 |

| Pixel Rate | 8.168 GPixel/s | 20.40 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 20.42 GTexel/s | 81.60 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 653.4 GFLOPS | 2.611 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 653.4 GFLOPS (1:1) | 2.611 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | Not listed | 75 W |

| Slot Width | Not listed | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | Not listed | None |

| Suggested PSU | Not listed | 250 W |

| Display Outputs | Not listed | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| Vulkan API | 1.2.170 | 1.3 |

| Length | Not listed | 170 mm, 6.7 inches |

| Release Date | 2015-05-04 | 2017-04-17 |

| Predecessor | Solar System | Arctic Islands |

| Successor | Polaris Mobile | Vega |

| Launch MSRP | Not listed | 99 USD |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records only one direct head-to-head benchmark between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. In that test, the RX 560 scores 16,472, and the R7 M340 scores 4,932. The delta is 70.1% in favor of the RX 560, meaning the RX 560 delivers more than three times the OpenCL compute score. This result aligns with the raw specification differences: the RX 560 has 1,024 shading units versus 320, a 2.611 TFLOPS FP32 rate versus 653.4 GFLOPS, and 112.0 GB/s memory bandwidth versus 16.00 GB/s.

The R7 M340's recorded benchmarks are limited to Geekbench OpenCL (4,932) and Geekbench Vulkan (5,193), both of which are low scores reflecting its 30th percentile position among all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are the AMD Radeon R7 240 with an identical average score of 5,063 (0% delta), the AMD FirePro W4170M at 5,034 (0.6% behind), the AMD Radeon R5 M430 at 5,018 (0.9% behind), and the AMD Radeon R7 Graphics at 4,998 (1.3% behind). The R7 M340 essentially ties these parts, confirming it sits at the very bottom of the discrete GPU performance scale.

The RX 560 has a much wider benchmark portfolio in the database. Its Passmark G3D score is 3,671, and its Passmark G2D score is 485. In DirectX tests, it scores 16 in DirectX 10, 25 in DirectX 11, 21 in DirectX 12, and 57 in DirectX 9. Its Passmark GPU compute score is 1,437. Its Geekbench Metal score is 18,941, which is higher than its OpenCL score of 16,472. Despite this, its average benchmark score of 4,569 is lower than the R7 M340's 5,063 because the Passmark DirectX scores are small integers that pull the average down heavily.

The RX 560's nearest rivals illustrate its odd positioning. It sits within 1.3% of the AMD Radeon R5 M230 (4,577, delta -0.2%), Intel HD Graphics P530 (4,560, delta 0.2%), NVIDIA Quadro M3000M (4,621, delta -1.1%), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M (4,628, delta -1.3%) in average score. The R5 M230 is 0.2% ahead, while the others are behind by small margins. This places the RX 560 in a crowded mid-low tier where average scores cluster around 4,500 to 4,600, despite its high peak compute scores. The RX 560's percentile ranking of 26 is actually lower than the R7 M340's 30, which reflects the fact that the RX 560's average is dragged down by the many low Passmark sub-scores, even though its peak OpenCL result is far superior.

In practical terms, the OpenCL head-to-head is the decisive measurement. A 70.1% lead in that test means the RX 560 is the only one of the two suitable for compute-heavy tasks like video encoding, machine learning inference, or GPU-accelerated rendering. The R7 M340's 653.4 GFLOPS FP32 rate is below what modern applications expect, while the RX 560's 2.611 TFLOPS is a usable level for entry-level gaming at reduced settings. The memory bandwidth gap is even more pronounced: 112.0 GB/s versus 16.00 GB/s means the RX 560 can feed its shading units far more effectively, avoiding the bandwidth starvation that would bottleneck the R7 M340 in texture-heavy scenes. The R7 M340's 8.168 GPixel/s pixel rate and 20.42 GTexel/s texture rate are roughly one quarter to one third of the RX 560's 20.40 GPixel/s and 81.60 GTexel/s, so any fill-rate-bound workload will show a massive difference. The data is unambiguous: the RX 560 wins the only recorded head-to-head test by a wide margin, and its architectural advantages in every measurable specification confirm that result.