AMD Radeon R7 M360 vs AMD Radeon RX 560 Comparison

The AMD Radeon R7 M360 and AMD Radeon RX 560 are both end-of-life mobile and desktop graphics solutions from AMD, but they target fundamentally different performance tiers. The data shows a decisive generational and architectural gap: in the single shared benchmark, the RX 560 delivers a score of 16,472 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the R7 M360 manages only 4,638. This represents a 71.8% deficit for the older part, placing the two cards in entirely separate performance classes despite both being AMD products.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark results are unambiguous: the AMD Radeon RX 560 wins the only head-to-head test available, with zero wins recorded for the AMD Radeon R7 M360. The RX 560’s Geekbench OpenCL score of 16,472 is more than 3.5 times higher than the R7 M360’s 4,638, indicating that the RX 560 is the clear choice for any compute-oriented or graphics-intensive workload captured by this metric.

The R7 M360, however, has a distinct advantage in one area: its average benchmark score of 4,931 is actually higher than the RX 560’s average of 4,569. This seemingly contradictory result stems from the fact that the R7 M360’s average is based on two favorable tests (Geekbench OpenCL at 4,638 and Geekbench Vulkan at 5,223), while the RX 560’s average is dragged down by multiple low-scoring Passmark tests, including a DirectX 9 score of just 57 and a DirectX 10 score of 16. For legacy API workloads, the R7 M360’s consistency may appear more attractive, but this is a statistical artifact of test selection rather than a real performance advantage.

In practical terms, the RX 560 wins wherever modern compute matters. Its OpenCL score of 16,472 versus the R7 M360’s 4,638 shows a massive lead in general-purpose GPU computing. The RX 560 also holds a 29th percentile ranking versus the R7 M360’s 29th percentile, meaning both sit near the bottom of the overall GPU population, but the raw scores tell a different story: the RX 560’s best single-test result (16,472) dwarfs anything the R7 M360 can produce.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 560 scores 16,472, which is 71.8% higher than the AMD Radeon R7 M360’s 4,638. This is the only benchmark where both cards were tested head-to-head.

Q: Does the R7 M360 have any benchmark where it beats the RX 560?

A: No. The head-to-head data records zero wins for the R7 M360 and one win for the RX 560. However, the R7 M360’s average benchmark score of 4,931 does exceed the RX 560’s average of 4,569, due to the RX 560’s low Passmark DirectX scores.

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

A: The R7 M360 uses 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, yielding 14.40 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 560 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 112.0 GB/s bandwidth — roughly 7.8 times more bandwidth.

Q: How do their transistor counts compare?

A: The R7 M360 packs 1,550 million transistors on a 125 mm² die (12.4 million per mm²), while the RX 560 contains 3,000 million transistors on a slightly smaller 123 mm² die (24.4 million per mm²). The RX 560 nearly doubles the transistor count.

Q: Which card supports a newer Vulkan version?

A: The RX 560 supports Vulkan 1.3, while the R7 M360 supports Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support DirectX 12 (12_0) and OpenGL 4.6.

Q: What are the pixel and texture rates for each card?

A: The R7 M360 has a pixel rate of 9.000 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 27.00 GTexel/s. The RX 560 has a pixel rate of 20.40 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 81.60 GTexel/s.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single head-to-head benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, provides the clearest possible separation between these two cards. The AMD Radeon RX 560 scores 16,472, while the AMD Radeon R7 M360 scores 4,638. The delta of -71.8% (from the R7 M360’s perspective) means the RX 560 is roughly 3.55 times faster in this compute test. This is not a marginal difference; it is a chasm that reflects the architectural and specification gaps detailed below.

To put the R7 M360’s score in context, its 4,638 OpenCL result places it near its nearest rivals: the AMD Radeon R7 M265 scores 4,929 (0% delta), the AMD FirePro W5130M scores 4,904 (0.6% delta), and even the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB scores 4,901 (0.6% delta). The R7 M360 is competitive with these older or lower-tier parts, but none of them approach the RX 560’s 16,472.

The RX 560’s average benchmark score of 4,569 is lower than its OpenCL score would suggest, because it also includes Passmark tests where it scores poorly: DirectX 9 at 57, DirectX 10 at 16, DirectX 11 at 25, and DirectX 12 at 21. Its Passmark G3D score of 3,671 and GPU Compute score of 1,437 are much more representative of its actual graphics capability, but the average is skewed by the legacy API results. The R7 M360, by contrast, has only two benchmarks on record (OpenCL 4,638 and Vulkan 5,223), both of which are relatively close, producing a higher average of 4,931. This means the R7 M360’s average is not directly comparable to the RX 560’s average — the test suites are different.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification. The R7 M360 has 384 shading units, 24 texture mapping units, and 8 raster output pipelines. The RX 560 has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 16 ROPs — representing 2.67 times more shaders, 2.67 times more TMUs, and double the ROPs. These increases directly explain the RX 560’s superior fill rates: 20.40 GPixel/s versus 9.000 GPixel/s, and 81.60 GTexel/s versus 27.00 GTexel/s.

Memory is another major differentiator. The R7 M360 uses 2 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus, providing 14.40 GB/s of bandwidth and memory clocks of 900 MHz (1,800 Mbps effective). The RX 560 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, providing 112.0 GB/s of bandwidth and memory clocks of 1,750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). The RX 560’s bandwidth is 7.78 times higher, which is critical for modern textures and compute workloads.

Clock speeds also favor the RX 560: base clock of 1,175 MHz and boost of 1,275 MHz versus the R7 M360’s base of 1,100 MHz and boost of 1,125 MHz. While the clock gap is modest (roughly 7-13%), the combination of higher clocks, more execution units, and faster memory produces the massive compute gap seen in benchmarks. The FP32 throughput tells the story: the RX 560 delivers 2.611 TFLOPS versus the R7 M360’s 864.0 GFLOPS — a 3.02 times advantage. Both cards have 1:1 FP16/FP32 ratios.

Physical and power characteristics differ too. The RX 560 has a TDP of 75 W, a dual-slot form factor, no power connectors, a suggested PSU of 250 W, and a length of 170 mm (6.7 inches). The R7 M360 has no listed TDP, slot width, power connectors, or dimensions. The RX 560 also lists display outputs (1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a), while the R7 M360 does not.

Architecture Differences

The R7 M360 is built on the Meso chip using GCN 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The RX 560 uses the Polaris 21 chip with GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. This process shrink from 28 nm to 14 nm is a key enabler of the RX 560’s higher transistor count: 3,000 million versus 1,550 million, on a nearly identical die size (123 mm² versus 125 mm²). The transistor density nearly doubles from 12.4 million per mm² to 24.4 million per mm².

The architectural generation jump from GCN 3.0 to GCN 4.0 brings improvements in instruction efficiency and memory handling, though the benchmark data cannot isolate these effects from the specification differences. The RX 560’s newer architecture also supports Vulkan 1.3, while the R7 M360 tops out at Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support DirectX 12 (12_0) and OpenGL 4.6, so API-level compatibility is similar for those standards.

The generation names reflect their positioning: the R7 M360 belongs to the "Gem System (R7 M300)" generation, while the RX 560 is part of "Polaris (RX 500)". Their release dates are two years apart — May 2015 for the R7 M360 and April 2017 for the RX 560. The R7 M360’s predecessor is listed as "Solar System" and its successor as "Polaris Mobile"; the RX 560’s predecessor is "Arctic Islands" and its successor is "Vega". The RX 560’s launch MSRP was 99 USD, stated once here for reference.

The Verdict

The data supports only one conclusion for compute-intensive tasks: the AMD Radeon RX 560 is in a different league entirely. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 16,472 versus 4,638 for the R7 M360 is a 71.8% gap, and its FP32 throughput of 2.611 TFLOPS is over three times the R7 M360’s 864.0 GFLOPS. The RX 560 also offers double the memory capacity (4 GB versus 2 GB), nearly 8 times the bandwidth (112.0 GB/s versus 14.40 GB/s), and more than double the shading units, TMUs, and ROPs.

The R7 M360 should only be considered by users constrained to its specific form factor or power envelope — it has no listed TDP, suggesting it may fit in ultra-thin laptops where the RX 560’s 75 W TDP and dual-slot cooler would not. Its higher average benchmark score of 4,931 versus 4,569 is misleading, as it reflects a different, smaller test suite rather than genuine superiority. For anyone choosing between the two based on performance, the RX 560 is the only rational pick: it wins the sole head-to-head test, ranks at the 26th percentile versus the R7 M360’s 29th (both low, but the RX 560’s raw scores are far higher), and offers a modern 14 nm process with GCN 4.0 architecture. The R7 M360’s only conceivable advantage is its existence as a lower-power, older mobile part with no direct performance competition in its own niche.