AMD Radeon R7 M340 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available in the database is the Geekbench OpenCL workload, and the results are not close. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti scores 5731, while the AMD Radeon R7 M340 scores 4932. That is a 16.2% advantage for the older NVIDIA part, a meaningful gap in any compute-oriented task. In practical terms, if you are running OpenCL-accelerated workloads, the GTX 550 Ti will finish them noticeably faster.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the GTX 550 Ti sits at the 33rd percentile of all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals are tightly clustered: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670MX scores 5721, just 0.2% behind, and the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P6300 scores 5712, 0.3% behind. The AMD Radeon HD 8790M trails at 5691, a 0.7% gap. The only nearby GPU that beats it is the AMD Radeon R7 M465, which scores 5841, putting it 1.9% ahead. The data shows the GTX 550 Ti is essentially at parity with these mid-range mobile and desktop parts from its era, with only a slim margin separating it from the pack.

The R7 M340, by contrast, sits at the 30th percentile, three points lower than the GTX 550 Ti. Its average benchmark score across recorded tests is 5063, which reflects both its OpenCL and Vulkan results. Its nearest rival is the AMD Radeon R7 240, which scores exactly 5063, a 0% delta. The AMD FirePro W4170M is 0.6% behind at 5034, the AMD Radeon R5 M430 is 0.9% behind at 5018, and the AMD Radeon R7 Graphics is 1.3% behind at 4998. This places the R7 M340 at the top of its immediate peer group, but that peer group is clearly slower than the one surrounding the GTX 550 Ti.

The Vulkan score for the R7 M340, 5193, does not have a direct counterpart for the GTX 550 Ti in the database, so a cross-comparison is not possible from the recorded data. However, the OpenCL result is the one shared metric, and it favors the NVIDIA card decisively. The single head-to-head win goes to the GTX 550 Ti, with the R7 M340 recording zero wins in direct comparisons.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and different design philosophies. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti uses the GF116 chip, built on the Fermi 2.0 architecture, part of the GeForce 500 generation. It is fabricated on a 40 nm process at TSMC, with 1,170 million transistors on a 238 mm² die. The transistor density works out to 4.9 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon R7 M340 uses the Meso chip, based on GCN 3.0, and belongs to the Gem System (R7 M300) generation. It is also made by TSMC, but on a newer 28 nm process, packing 1,550 million transistors into a much smaller 125 mm² die. That gives it a transistor density of 12.4 million per square millimeter, meaningfully higher than the NVIDIA part.

These process and density differences have real implications. The R7 M340 crams more transistors into roughly half the die area, which is consistent with its later release date and more advanced manufacturing node. The GTX 550 Ti relies on a larger, older die with fewer transistors overall. In raw compute resources, the R7 M340 has 320 shading units against 192 for the GTX 550 Ti, a substantial numerical advantage. However, the GTX 550 Ti counters with 32 texture mapping units versus 20, and 24 ROPs versus 8. That ROP disparity is stark: the NVIDIA chip has three times the pixel output capacity on paper, which shows up in its pixel rate of 7.200 GPixel/s versus 8.168 GPixel/s for the AMD part. Despite having fewer ROPs, the AMD card actually achieves a higher pixel rate due to its higher clock speeds.

Clock behavior differs as well. The R7 M340 has a base clock of 943 MHz and a boost clock of 1021 MHz, while the GTX 550 Ti has no recorded base or boost clocks. Its memory clock is listed at 1026 MHz, translating to 4.1 Gbps effective. The AMD card runs its memory at 1000 MHz, or 2 Gbps effective. The memory configuration is one of the biggest separators: the GTX 550 Ti has 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 98.50 GB/s of bandwidth. The R7 M340 has 2 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus, but only 98.50 GB/s is not repeated here, the AMD part manages only 16.00 GB/s. That is a massive bandwidth deficit, roughly six times less, and it will hurt any workload that depends on moving large textures or vertex data quickly.

The feature sets reflect their release eras. The GTX 500 series precedes the GeForce 600 series, and the R7 M300 series precedes the R7 M340, the AMD part is newer by several years. The GTX 550 Ti supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.0, no, OpenGL 4.6 is listed, but Vulkan is not listed, and the AMD part supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. Power and form factor details differ too. The GTX 550 Ti is a dual-slot card, 210 mm long, requires a 300 W suggested PSU, and uses a 1x 6-pin connector. The R7 M340 has no recorded TDP, no slot width, no power connectors, no suggested PSU, no display outputs, no dimensions, and no, the data simply omits them.

The Verdict

From the recorded data, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti is the better performer in the only direct benchmark comparison, winning the OpenCL test by 16.2% and sitting three percentile points higher in the overall GPU distribution. Its nearest rivals are all within 1.9% of its score, and it leads three of the four. The AMD Radeon R7 M340 leads all four of its nearest rivals, but those rivals are all slower to begin with. This is a case where being at the top of a weak group still leaves you behind a GPU that is merely average in a stronger group.

The GTX 550 Ti is the pick if you need OpenCL compute performance, higher memory bandwidth, or the raw fill rate advantages that come with 24 ROPs. Its 98.50 GB/s bandwidth versus 16.00 GB/s is a decisive factor for texture-heavy or bandwidth-sensitive tasks. The R7 M340, however, brings newer architectural features and a more efficient process node, 2 GB of memory capacity, and Vulkan support. If you are building a system that uses Vulkan API workloads, the R7 M340 is the only one of the two with a recorded Vulkan score in the database. The GTX 550 Ti has no Vulkan entry, and no Vulkan, no, Vulkan is not listed for it.

For anyone prioritizing raw compute output, the GTX 550 Ti wins. For anyone prioritizing modern API coverage and newer memory capacity, the R7 M340 has its place, but the performance ceiling is lower. Neither GPU can claim a higher fp32 peak: the GTX 550 Ti computes 691.2 GFLOPS, the R7 M340 computes 653.4 GFLOPS, and the AMD part also offers fp16 at 653.4 GFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio. The GTX 550 Ti has no fp16 entry. This is a narrow margin in raw compute, roughly 5.8% in favor of the NVIDIA part, but the AMD part is more balanced across precision formats.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti scores 5731 in the Geekbench OpenCL test, while the AMD Radeon R7 M340 scores 4932. The GTX 550 Ti is 16.2% faster.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon R7 M340 support Vulkan?

A: Yes, it records a Vulkan score of 5193 and lists Vulkan 1.2.170 as supported. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti has no Vulkan entry in the database.

Q: How much memory bandwidth does each GPU have?

A: The GTX 550 Ti has 98.50 GB/s of bandwidth from its 192-bit GDDR5 interface, while the R7 M340 has 16.00 GB/s from a 64-bit DDR3 interface.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M340 has 320 shading units, compared to 192 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti. The GTX 550 Ti, however, has more texture mapping units (32 vs 20) and ROPs (24 vs 8).

Q: What are the process nodes for these chips?

A: The GTX 550 Ti uses a 40 nm process at TSMC with 1,170 million transistors on a 238 mm² die. The R7 M340 uses a 28 nm process at TSMC with 1,550 million transistors on a 125 mm² die.

Q: Do either of these GPUs support DirectX 12?

A: Both support DirectX 12, but at different feature levels. The GTX 550 Ti supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the R7 M340 supports DirectX 12 (12_0).

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti wins in the direct OpenCL benchmark by 16.2%. It also wins on texture rate, delivering 28.80 GTexel/s against 20.42 GTexel/s for the R7 M340. Its pixel rate of 7.200 GPixel/s is lower than the AMD card's 8.168 GPixel/s, so the R7 M340 actually pulls ahead in pixel throughput despite having only 8 ROPs. The GTX 550 Ti also dominates memory bandwidth at 98.50 GB/s, a 6.2x advantage that will matter in any scene with heavy texture streaming or high-resolution framebuffer traffic. Its fp32 compute of 691.2 GFLOPS edges out the AMD part's 653.4 GFLOPS.

The AMD Radeon R7 M340 wins on memory capacity, offering 2 GB versus 1 GB. It also wins on pixel rate, 8.168 GPixel/s versus 7.200 GPixel/s, and on fp16 support, which the GTX 550 Ti lacks entirely. The R7 M340 has Vulkan support and a recorded Vulkan score of 5193, while the GTX 550 Ti has no Vulkan entry. The AMD part also supports PCIe 3.0 x8, whereas the GTX 550 Ti uses PCIe 2.0 x16, though the practical impact depends on the platform. In terms of efficiency, the R7 M340 has a higher transistor density, 12.4M per mm² versus 4.9M per mm², indicating a more modern design.

For gaming and general compute from the recorded data, the GTX 550 Ti is the stronger part due to its bandwidth and texture throughput. The R7 M340 is better suited for scenarios that need more memory, modern API coverage, or higher pixel fill rate. Neither is a high-end part by today's standards, but within this pairing, the GTX 550 Ti holds the performance crown.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification category. The GTX 550 Ti uses the GF116 chip with Fermi 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 40 nm process, while the R7 M340 uses the Meso chip with GCN 3.0 architecture on a 28 nm process. Transistor counts are 1,170 million for NVIDIA and 1,550 million for AMD. Die size is 238 mm² for the GTX 550 Ti and 125 mm² for the R7 M340, yielding transistor densities of 4.9M and 12.4M per mm² respectively.

Clock speeds differ: the R7 M340 has a base clock of 943 MHz and a boost of 1021 MHz, while the GTX 550 Ti has no base or boost clocks recorded. Memory clocks are 1026 MHz (4.1 Gbps effective) for the GTX 550 Ti and 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective) for the R7 M340. Memory size is 1024 MB for NVIDIA and 2 GB for AMD. Memory type is GDDR5 versus DDR3. Bus width is 192 bit versus 64 bit. Bandwidth is 98.50 GB/s versus 16.00 GB/s.

Shading units are 192 for NVIDIA and 320 for AMD. TMUs are 32 versus 20. ROPs are 24 versus 8. Pixel rates are 7.200 GPixel/s for NVIDIA and 8.168 GPixel/s for AMD. Texture rates are 28.80 GTexel/s versus 20.42 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 691.2 GFLOPS versus 653.4 GFLOPS, and only the AMD part lists fp16 at 653.4 GFLOPS.

The GTX 550 Ti has a TDP of 116 W, a dual-slot cooler, a 1x 6-pin power connector, a 300 W suggested PSU, a length of 210 mm, and display outputs of 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a. The R7 M340 has no recorded TDP, slot width, power connectors, PSU suggestion, dimensions, or display outputs. The bus interface is PCIe 2.0 x16 for NVIDIA and PCIe 3.0 x8 for AMD. API support: DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6 for NVIDIA; DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170 for AMD. The release dates are March 2011 for the GTX 550 Ti and May 2015 for the R7 M340. The GTX 550 Ti has a launch MSRP of 149 USD.