AMD Radeon R7 M350 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains a single direct comparison between the AMD Radeon R7 M350 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti, and it is a decisive one. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon R7 M350 scores 6991 points against 5731 points for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti. That is a 22% advantage for the AMD part, a substantial margin that places the two cards in different performance tiers despite their overlapping positions in the overall database rankings.

The AMD Radeon R7 M350 sits at the 36th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti sits at the 33rd percentile. The gap of three percentile points understates the actual benchmark delta, because the average benchmark score for the AMD card is 6327 against 5731 for the NVIDIA card, a difference of roughly 10%. The OpenCL result widens that gap further, suggesting the AMD card is particularly strong in compute-oriented workloads.

The NVIDIA card's nearest rivals in the database include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670MX (5721, only 0.2% behind), the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P6300 (5712, 0.3% behind), and the AMD Radeon HD 8790M (5691, 0.7% behind). The AMD Radeon R7 M465 sits 1.9% ahead of the GTX 550 Ti with a score of 5841. These comparisons show that the GTX 550 Ti is clustered tightly with other older mid-range parts, all within a few points of each other.

The AMD Radeon R7 M350, by contrast, sits in a higher performance neighborhood. Its average score of 6327 places it near the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 (6330, essentially identical), the NVIDIA Quadro K620 (6282, 0.7% behind), and even the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SUPER and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER AD102, both at 6270 (0.9% behind). These are much newer and more capable cards on paper, yet the benchmark scores cluster together, indicating that the OpenCL workload scales in a way that favors the AMD R7 M350's architecture.

The single head-to-head result is unambiguous: the AMD card wins the only benchmark both cards share. The delta of 22% is large enough that it would likely translate into observable differences in real-world compute tasks, though the database does not include gaming or other application benchmarks for this pair.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the only direct benchmark comparison in the database?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M350 wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 6991 against 5731 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti, a 22% advantage.

Q: How do the two cards compare in overall database percentile rankings?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M350 ranks at the 36th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti ranks at the 33rd percentile. The AMD card's average benchmark score is 6327, compared to 5731 for the NVIDIA card.

Q: What are the closest rivals to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti according to the database?

A: The closest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670MX (5721, 0.2% behind), the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P6300 (5712, 0.3% behind), and the AMD Radeon HD 8790M (5691, 0.7% behind). The AMD Radeon R7 M465 is 1.9% ahead at 5841.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti support Vulkan?

A: No, the database lists no Vulkan support for the GTX 550 Ti. The AMD Radeon R7 M350 supports Vulkan 1.2.170.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two cards?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M350 has 4 GB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus with 16.00 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti has 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 192-bit bus with 98.50 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has a higher FP32 compute rating?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M350 has 779.5 GFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti has 691.2 GFLOPS. The AMD card also supports FP16 at 779.5 GFLOPS (1:1), while the NVIDIA card has no listed FP16 capability.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectural generations. The AMD Radeon R7 M350 uses the Meso chip built on GCN 3.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti uses the GF116 chip based on Fermi 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 40 nm process, also at TSMC. The process node difference is significant: the AMD part uses a denser, more modern fabrication technology.

The transistor counts and die sizes reflect this architectural gap. The AMD chip packs 1,550 million transistors into a 125 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.4 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA chip contains 1,170 million transistors on a much larger 238 mm² die, giving a density of just 4.9 million per square millimeter. The AMD design is more than twice as dense, a direct consequence of the smaller process node.

The compute configurations differ in structure. The AMD Radeon R7 M350 has 384 shading units, 24 texture mapping units, and 8 raster output units. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti has 192 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. The AMD card has twice as many shading units but only a quarter of the ROP count, and fewer TMUs. These numbers explain the performance profiles: the AMD card excels in shader-heavy compute tasks, while the NVIDIA card has more fill-rate oriented hardware.

The pixel and texture rates confirm this split. The AMD card delivers 8.120 GPixel/s and 24.36 GTexel/s. The NVIDIA card delivers 7.200 GPixel/s and 28.80 GTexel/s. The NVIDIA part has a higher texture rate despite lower raw FP32, while the AMD part has a higher pixel rate. The FP32 compute ratings are 779.5 GFLOPS for AMD versus 691.2 GFLOPS for NVIDIA, a 12.8% advantage for the AMD card.

API support also differs. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support listed. This means the AMD card is compatible with modern graphics APIs that the NVIDIA card cannot use, which has implications for software compatibility in newer applications.

Specification Differences

The memory subsystems are dramatically different. The AMD Radeon R7 M350 uses 4 GB of DDR3 memory with a 64-bit bus and 16.00 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory with a 192-bit bus and 98.50 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA card has over six times the memory bandwidth, despite having a quarter of the capacity. The memory clock rates are 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective) for the AMD card and 1026 MHz (4.1 Gbps effective) for the NVIDIA card.

The bus interfaces differ as well. The AMD card uses PCIe 3.0 x8, while the NVIDIA card uses PCIe 2.0 x16. The AMD interface is newer but narrower; the NVIDIA interface is older but wider. In practice, both provide adequate bandwidth for their respective GPU generations.

Power and physical specifications are only recorded for the NVIDIA card. The GTX 550 Ti has a TDP of 116 W, a dual-slot cooler, one 6-pin power connector, and a suggested power supply of 300 W. Its length is 210 mm (8.3 inches) and it has display outputs of 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a. The AMD Radeon R7 M350 has no TDP, slot width, power connector, or dimension data in the database, which is typical for a mobile-oriented part.

The release dates place these cards far apart in time. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti was released on March 14, 2011, while the AMD Radeon R7 M350 was released on May 4, 2015. The AMD card is four years newer and belongs to the R7 M300 generation, succeeding the Solar System architecture and preceding Polaris Mobile. The NVIDIA card belongs to the GeForce 500 generation, succeeding GeForce 400 and preceding GeForce 600.

The NVIDIA card has a recorded launch MSRP of 149 USD. The AMD card has no launch MSRP recorded in the database. Both cards are listed as end-of-life products.

The Verdict

The benchmark data clearly favors the AMD Radeon R7 M350 in raw compute performance. The 22% OpenCL victory is the only direct comparison available, and it is consistent with the average benchmark scores, where the AMD card leads by 596 points (6327 versus 5731). The AMD card also has a higher FP32 rating, more shading units, and newer architecture support including Vulkan.

However, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti has substantial advantages in memory bandwidth and texture throughput. Its 98.50 GB/s bandwidth dwarfs the AMD card's 16.00 GB/s, a 6.2x difference. Its texture rate of 28.80 GTexel/s is 18% higher than the AMD card's 24.36 GTexel/s. These factors matter for certain workloads, particularly those that are bandwidth-bound or texture-heavy.

The data suggests that the AMD card is the better choice for compute-oriented tasks, modern API compatibility, and higher memory capacity. The NVIDIA card is the better choice for scenarios that rely on memory bandwidth or texture fill rates. Given that the only recorded benchmark shows the AMD card winning by a wide margin, the overall verdict leans toward the AMD Radeon R7 M350 for general performance.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R7 M350 wins in every recorded benchmark comparison. Its OpenCL score of 6991 versus 5731 gives it a clear edge in compute workloads. Its FP32 output of 779.5 GFLOPS exceeds the NVIDIA card's 691.2 GFLOPS by 12.8%. The AMD card also offers 4 GB of memory, which is four times the capacity of the NVIDIA card, and supports Vulkan, which the NVIDIA card does not. For modern applications that use compute shaders or Vulkan rendering, the AMD card is the only viable option between the two.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti wins in the specifications that are not directly benchmarked. Its memory bandwidth of 98.50 GB/s is far superior, which would benefit workloads that stream large amounts of data, such as high-resolution textures or certain physics simulations. Its texture rate of 28.80 GTexel/s is higher, suggesting better performance in texture-bound rendering. The NVIDIA card also has a wider 192-bit memory bus and faster effective memory speed of 4.1 Gbps.

The practical split is clear: the AMD card wins compute and modern API scenarios, while the NVIDIA card wins bandwidth-sensitive and texture-heavy scenarios. The single benchmark in the database only tests OpenCL compute, which is the AMD card's strength. Users whose workloads align with the AMD card's advantages will see the bigger performance delta, while those whose workloads depend on memory bandwidth would need to rely on the specification data, which favors NVIDIA. The database records only one head-to-head test, and the AMD card wins it outright.