AMD Radeon R7 M350 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M and AMD Radeon R7 M350 are two end-of-life mobile graphics processors from different architectural eras, separated by four years of GPU evolution. The data shows a close average benchmark score, with the AMD part edging ahead in the single OpenCL test, yet the underlying specifications reveal fundamentally different design philosophies. This analysis compares their architectural foundations, raw specifications, and benchmark performance to determine which GPU holds the advantage in specific workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M has an average benchmark score of 6389, while the AMD Radeon R7 M350 has an average score of 6327. This puts the GTX 580M at the 37th percentile of all GPUs and the R7 M350 at the 36th percentile.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M350 scores 6991 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 8.6% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M’s score of 6389. The head-to-head benchmark data lists the AMD part as the winner in this specific test.

Q: What are the memory configurations of each GPU?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The AMD Radeon R7 M350 uses 4 GB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, providing 16.00 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M350 has a transistor density of 12.4M per mm², more than double the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M’s density of 5.9M per mm². This is due to the AMD part’s smaller 125 mm² die size versus the NVIDIA part’s 332 mm² die.

Q: Do both GPUs support DirectX 12?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12, but at different feature levels. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the AMD Radeon R7 M350 supports DirectX 12 (12_0).

Q: What is the nearest rival for each GPU based on average score?

A: The GTX 580M’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE with a 0% delta, while the R7 M350’s nearest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 with a 0% delta. Interestingly, the GTX 580M and R7 M350 are rivals to each other, with a 1% delta favoring the NVIDIA part.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M is built on the Fermi 2.0 architecture using the GF114 chip, manufactured on TSMC’s 40 nm process. This older design packs 1,950 million transistors into a large 332 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 5.9M per mm². The Fermi 2.0 architecture was designed for high-end desktop and mobile gaming in 2011, emphasizing raw compute throughput and memory bandwidth over power efficiency.

The AMD Radeon R7 M350 uses the GCN 3.0 architecture with the Meso chip, fabricated on TSMC’s 28 nm process. Despite having fewer total transistors at 1,550 million, the die is much smaller at 125 mm², yielding a transistor density of 12.4M per mm². This newer architecture, released in 2015, benefits from a more advanced manufacturing node and a more efficient design philosophy, focusing on balanced compute and power consumption.

Architecturally, the two GPUs differ significantly in their compute resource allocation. Both have 384 shading units, but the NVIDIA part allocates 64 texture mapping units (TMUs) and 32 raster operation pipelines (ROPs), whereas the AMD part has only 24 TMUs and 8 ROPs. This disparity suggests the GTX 580M was designed for higher texture fill and pixel throughput, while the R7 M350 concentrates on shader compute.

The AMD Radeon R7 M350 supports Vulkan 1.2.170 and DirectX 12 (12_0), while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M lacks Vulkan support and only reaches DirectX 12 (11_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6. The AMD part also has a 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratio at 779.5 GFLOPS for both, whereas the NVIDIA part only lists FP32 performance at 952.3 GFLOPS.

The Verdict

The benchmark data shows a narrow margin between these two GPUs. The AMD Radeon R7 M350 wins the only head-to-head benchmark, the Geekbench OpenCL test, with a score of 6991 versus the GTX 580M’s 6389, representing an 8.6% advantage. However, the GTX 580M holds a slightly higher average benchmark score of 6389 compared to 6327, and a higher percentile ranking at 37 versus 36.

For users prioritizing raw compute performance in OpenCL workloads, the AMD Radeon R7 M350 is the clear choice based on the data. Its higher score in the single available benchmark, combined with its newer GCN 3.0 architecture and support for Vulkan, makes it more capable in modern compute applications. The 4 GB memory capacity also provides more headroom for larger datasets, despite the much lower bandwidth.

For users who require higher pixel and texture throughput, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M has the advantage in specification terms. Its 96.00 GB/s memory bandwidth is six times higher than the R7 M350’s 16.00 GB/s, and its 39.68 GTexel/s texture rate is 63% higher. These figures suggest better performance in texture-heavy and bandwidth-intensive workloads, even if the overall compute score is lower.

The GTX 580M also benefits from a higher FP32 compute rate at 952.3 GFLOPS versus 779.5 GFLOPS, a 22% advantage. This could translate to better performance in single-precision compute tasks that do not rely heavily on memory bandwidth.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification category. The process node is a key differentiator: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M uses 40 nm, while the AMD Radeon R7 M350 uses 28 nm. Transistor counts are 1,950 million versus 1,550 million, and die sizes are 332 mm² versus 125 mm², resulting in transistor densities of 5.9M per mm² and 12.4M per mm², respectively.

Clock speeds differ substantially. The GTX 580M has no listed base or boost clock, but its memory runs at 750 MHz (3 Gbps effective). The R7 M350 has a base clock of 1000 MHz, a boost clock of 1015 MHz, and memory at 1000 MHz (2 Gbps effective). Memory configurations are opposite in strategy: the GTX 580M uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, while the R7 M350 uses 4 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus.

Compute resource allocation differs in TMU and ROP counts. The GTX 580M has 64 TMUs and 32 ROPs, while the R7 M350 has 24 TMUs and 8 ROPs. Both have 384 shading units. Pixel rates are 9.920 GPixel/s for the NVIDIA part and 8.120 GPixel/s for the AMD part. Texture rates are 39.68 GTexel/s versus 24.36 GTexel/s.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M has a TDP of 100 W and uses an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface with an MXM Module slot width. The AMD Radeon R7 M350 has no listed TDP and uses a PCIe 3.0 x8 bus interface. The GTX 580M has no power connectors, while the R7 M350 has no listed power connector information. Display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent" for the NVIDIA part and not specified for the AMD part.

API support differs in DirectX and Vulkan. The GTX 580M supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, with no Vulkan support. The R7 M350 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. Release dates are June 27, 2011 for the GTX 580M and May 4, 2015 for the R7 M350.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only head-to-head benchmark provided is Geekbench OpenCL, where the AMD Radeon R7 M350 wins decisively. The AMD part scores 6991, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M scores 6389, giving the AMD GPU an 8.6% advantage. This is a significant margin in compute workloads, indicating that the GCN 3.0 architecture handles OpenCL tasks more efficiently than Fermi 2.0.

Looking at the nearest rival data, the GTX 580M’s score of 6389 places it directly alongside the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE (6389, 0% delta) and just behind the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell (6407, -0.3% delta). The R7 M350’s average score of 6327 places it near the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 (6330, 0% delta) and ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro K620 (6282, 0.7% delta).

The delta between the two GPUs in average benchmark score is small, with the GTX 580M ahead by 1% (6327 vs 6389). However, in the head-to-head OpenCL test, the R7 M350 is ahead by 8.6%. This discrepancy suggests that the R7 M350 performs better in the specific OpenCL workload tested, while the GTX 580M has a slight edge in the overall average across all benchmarks.

The FP32 compute figures support the benchmark result partially. The GTX 580M has a theoretical FP32 peak of 952.3 GFLOPS, which is 22% higher than the R7 M350’s 779.5 GFLOPS. Yet the R7 M350 scores higher in OpenCL, indicating that real-world compute performance depends on more than just raw FLOPs, including memory latency, instruction efficiency, and driver optimization.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R7 M350 wins in compute-intensive workloads, as demonstrated by its 8.6% higher Geekbench OpenCL score. This advantage likely extends to GPU-accelerated applications that leverage OpenCL for general-purpose computing, such as video encoding, machine learning inference, and scientific simulations. The R7 M350’s support for Vulkan 1.2.170 also gives it an edge in modern gaming APIs and compute workloads that utilize Vulkan compute shaders.

The R7 M350 also wins on memory capacity, offering 4 GB versus the GTX 580M’s 2 GB. For workloads that require large framebuffers or datasets that exceed 2 GB, the AMD part has a clear advantage, even though its 16.00 GB/s bandwidth is significantly lower. This makes the R7 M350 more suitable for tasks like 4K texture loading or multi-monitor setups.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M wins in bandwidth-sensitive workloads. Its 96.00 GB/s memory bandwidth is six times higher than the R7 M350’s 16.00 GB/s. This advantage is critical for texture-heavy gaming, high-resolution rendering, and any workload that constantly streams data from memory. The GTX 580M’s higher texture rate of 39.68 GTexel/s versus 24.36 GTexel/s reinforces this strength.

The GTX 580M also wins in pixel throughput, with a 9.920 GPixel/s rate versus 8.120 GPixel/s. This 22% advantage in pixel fill rate makes it better suited for anti-aliasing, high-resolution display output, and rasterization-heavy tasks. Its 32 ROPs versus 8 ROPs further supports this advantage.

For users on older systems with MXM slots, the GTX 580M’s MXM-B (3.0) interface may be more compatible with legacy laptops. The R7 M350’s PCIe 3.0 x8 interface is more standard for newer systems. The GTX 580M also has a defined TDP of 100 W, which can be useful for system planning, while the R7 M350 does not list a TDP.