AMD Radeon R7 M350 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE Comparison

# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE vs AMD Radeon R7 M350

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE and AMD Radeon R7 M350 occupy very different corners of the GPU market, one a desktop discrete card from 2012, the other a mobile-class chip from 2015. The benchmark data in the database shows a clear overall winner, but the margin depends heavily on the workload. In the recorded OpenCL benchmark, the GTX 560 SE scores 7171, while the R7 M350 posts 6991. That is a 2.6% advantage for the NVIDIA part in this specific test. The head-to-head record is one win for NVIDIA and zero for AMD.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database includes one direct head-to-head comparison between these two parts, using the Geekbench OpenCL test. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE scored 7171, while the AMD Radeon R7 M350 scored 6991. The delta is 180 points, or 2.6% in favor of the GTX 560 SE. This is a narrow but consistent margin in a compute-oriented workload. The AMD card is not without merit, however. In the same OpenCL test, the R7 M350 finishes close behind, and given its mobile-class power envelope, this is a respectable result. The data shows that in this particular test, the desktop card's additional shader throughput and memory bandwidth translate into a measurable, but not overwhelming, lead.

Across the broader benchmark database, the GTX 560 SE sits at the 39th percentile among all GPUs, meaning 61% of recorded parts are faster. The Radeon R7 M350 sits at the 36th percentile, marginally lower in the distribution. The average benchmark score for the GTX 560 SE is 7171, which is within 0.2% of the Intel Iris Pro P580's average of 7170, and 0.4% below the GeForce GTX 970's 7157. The R7 M350's average score is 6991, placing it 0.7% above the NVIDIA Quadro K620's 6282 average.

Architecture Differences

The GTX 560 SE is built on the GF114 chip, part of the Fermi 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 40 nm process at TSMC. The die contains 1,950 million transistors on a 332 mm² slice, for a transistor density of 5.9 million per square millimeter. The Radeon R7 M350 uses the Meso chip, a GCN 3.0 architecture part, built on a 28nm process at TSMC. The AMD die holds 1,550 million transistors on a 125 mm² die, resulting in a much higher density of 12.4 million transistors per square millimeter. The newer process node and denser packing do not directly translate into performance here, but they do reflect a significant generational difference in design philosophy.

Memory configurations differ sharply. The GTX 560 SE ships with 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 91.87 GB/s of bandwidth. The R7 M350 uses 4 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit interface, for 16.00 GB/s. The NVIDIA card has more than five times the memory bandwidth, which is a decisive factor in texture-heavy and high-resolution workloads. Shading units also favor NVIDIA: 288 vs 384, TMUs 48 vs 24, and ROPs 24 vs 8.

Clock behavior follows the same pattern. The GTX 560 SE has a base clock of a figure not recorded in the database and a boost speed that is likewise unlisted; its memory operates at 957 MHz with an effective data rate of 3.8 Gbps. The R7 M350, by contrast, has a base of 1000 MHz and a boost of 1015 MHz, with memory at 1000 MHz and 2 Gbps effective. The NVIDIA card's pixel rate is 8.832 GPixel/s and texture rate 35.33 GTexel/s, while the AMD part delivers 8.120 GPixel/s and 24.36 GTexel/s.

In terms of raw compute, the GTX 560 SE reaches 847.9 GFLOPS FP32, while the R7 M350 achieves 779.5 GFLOPS FP32, and its FP16 rate is identical at 779.5 GFLOPS (1:1). The NVIDIA card's board power is listed at 150 W with a dual-slot cooler and a pair of 6-pin power connectors, while the AMD is a mobile part with no TDP listed, no slot width, no power connectors, and no suggested PSU. The AMD also lacks a display output in the record, while the NVIDIA has two DVI and one mini-HDMI 1.3a. Bus interface on the GTX card is PCIe 2.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x8 on the AMD.

The Verdict

Strictly from the recorded benchmark data, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE is the faster part in the one direct comparison. Its 2.6% lead in Geekbench OpenCL, and its higher memory bandwidth and shading resources, make it the safer bet for compute and texture-heavy tasks in a desktop system. The AMD Radeon R7 M350, however, is a mobile chip with a smaller die, higher transistor density, and a similar or better API feature set (DirectX 12_0, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.2.170). For a thin-and-light laptop where battery life and thermals matter, the R7 M350 is the rational fit, despite the performance gap. The data does not support using the AMD part for compute that is time-sensitive on an OpenCL workload.

Specification Differences

The two parts differ on several spec fields where the record has data. The NVIDIA is built on 40nm TSMC with 1,950 million transistors; the AMD is on 28nm TSMC with 1,550 million transistors. The NVIDIA die is 332mm², while the AMD is 125mm². Transistor density is 5.9 million/mm² for the NVIDIA and 12.4 million/mm² for the AMD. The GTX 560 SE supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, while the R7 M350 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Memory is the biggest dividing line. The GTX 560 SE has 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus, with 91.87 GB/s of bandwidth. The R7 M350 has 4 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus, for 16.00 GB/s.

The NVIDIA card has 288 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. The AMD has 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The AMD part has a lot more shading units, but far lower texture and pixel throughput.

The GTX 560 SE has a pixel rate of 8.832 GPixel/s and 35.33 GTexel/s. The R7 M350 is at 8.120 GPixel/s and 24.36 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 847.9 GFLOPS for the GTX 560 SE and 779.5 GFLOPS for the R7 M350.

The NVIDIA is a dual-slot card, 210mm long, with two 6-pin connectors and a 450W suggested PSU. The AMD has no dimensions, slot width, connectors, or PSU in the record. The GTX 560 SE uses PCIe 2.0 x16 and outputs 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a. The R7 M350 uses PCIe 3.0 x8 and has no display outputs recorded. The GTX 560 SE is end-of-life, released 2012-02-19, and its predecessor is GeForce 400, with the GeForce 600 as successor. The R7 M350 is end-of-life, released 2015-05-04, with the Solar System as predecessor and Polaris Mobile as successor.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the recorded OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE is faster. It scores 7171 versus 6991 for the AMD Radeon R7 M350, a 2.6% advantage.

Q: What are the memory specs of the GTX 560 SE?

A: The GTX 560 SE has 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 192-bit bus, with 91.87 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What memory type does the R7 M350 use?

A: The R7 M350 uses 4 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus, with 16.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M350 has 384 shading units, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE has 288.

Q: What process node are these parts made on?

A: The GTX 560 SE is on a 40nm process at TSMC. The R7 M350 is on a 28nm process at TSMC.

Q: Which API support do they have?

A: The GTX 560 SE supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6. The R7 M350 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170.