AMD Radeon R7 M360 vs NVIDIA Quadro P400 Comparison

The data places the AMD Radeon R7 M360 and the NVIDIA Quadro P400 in a close performance bracket, with the AMD part taking a narrow lead in both recorded benchmark tests. The R7 M360 achieves an average benchmark score of 4931, while the Quadro P400 trails with 4684. This places the R7 M360 in the 29th percentile of all GPUs and the Quadro P400 in the 27th percentile, indicating both are entry-level parts, but the benchmark results consistently favor the AMD solution in the tested workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows the most substantial performance gap between the two cards. The AMD Radeon R7 M360 scores 4638, while the NVIDIA Quadro P400 manages 4249. This represents a 9.2% advantage for the AMD part, a meaningful margin in compute-oriented workloads. The OpenCL result is particularly relevant for general-purpose GPU compute tasks, which are common in professional environments. The data indicates that the R7 M360’s higher shading unit count—384 versus 256—likely contributes to this lead, though the architecture differences are explored in a later section.

In the Vulkan API test, the gap narrows considerably. The R7 M360 scores 5223, and the Quadro P400 scores 5119, resulting in a 2% delta in favor of the AMD card. While still a win for the R7 M360, this smaller margin suggests that the NVIDIA card is more competitive in modern graphics API workloads. The Vulkan score for the R7 M360 is notably higher than its OpenCL score, while the Quadro P400 shows a similar pattern, indicating both cards perform better under this API.

The head-to-head record is clean: the R7 M360 wins both tests, securing 2 wins against 0 for the Quadro P400. The average of these two tests gives the R7 M360 its 4931 average score, while the Quadro P400’s 4684 average reflects its lower performance in both disciplines. It is importantly the R7 M360’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R7 M265, scores 4929—a 0% delta—showing that the R7 M360 is essentially performance-neutral against its immediate predecessor in this benchmark suite. Conversely, the Quadro P400 sits just 0.9% behind the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX, which scores 4727.

The Verdict

From a pure performance standpoint, the AMD Radeon R7 M360 is the faster card in both recorded benchmarks. Users prioritizing OpenCL compute performance should clearly choose the R7 M360, as its 9.2% lead in that test is the largest performance delta between the two cards. The 2% advantage in Vulkan reinforces the AMD card as the overall performance winner, even if the margin is less decisive.

However, the Quadro P400 is not without merit. Its 30 W TDP is a notable advantage for systems with strict power budgets, and its single-slot form factor with no external power connectors makes it a more flexible option for compact or legacy systems. The P400 also offers three mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, whereas the R7 M360’s display outputs are not listed in the data. For professional users who require multiple high-resolution display outputs and low power draw, the Quadro P400 may be the more practical choice, despite its lower benchmark scores.

The data does not support a "value" argument for either card, as no pricing information is available. The verdict is straightforward: the R7 M360 wins on raw performance, while the P400 wins on power efficiency and display connectivity. A user with a 200 W power supply and a need for three display outputs should favor the Quadro P400, but for any compute-heavy workload, the R7 M360’s higher scores make it the superior option.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and foundries. The AMD Radeon R7 M360 is built on GCN 3.0 architecture, using the Meso chip, and is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA Quadro P400 uses the Pascal architecture with the GP107 chip, manufactured on a 14 nm process at Samsung. The process node difference is significant: 14 nm versus 28 nm allows the NVIDIA chip to pack more transistors into a similar die area. The P400 contains 3,300 million transistors on a 132 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 25.0 million per mm². The R7 M360, by contrast, has 1,550 million transistors on a 125 mm² die, for a density of 12.4 million per mm². The newer process node gives the Quadro P400 a substantial density advantage, but the R7 M360 compensates with a different compute configuration.

The R7 M360 features 384 shading units, 24 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 8 render output units (ROPs). The Quadro P400 has fewer shading units (256) and TMUs (16), but double the ROPs (16). This configuration makes the Quadro P400 more efficient at pixel processing, which is reflected in its pixel rate of 20.03 GPixel/s versus the R7 M360’s 9.00 GPixel/s. Conversely, the R7 M360’s higher TMU count and shading unit count give it a texture rate advantage: 27.00 GTexel/s versus 20.03 GTexel/s for the P400.

The FP32 compute performance tells a mixed story. The R7 M360 delivers 864.0 GFLOPS, while the Quadro P400 delivers 641.0 GFLOPS—a 34.8% advantage for the AMD card. However, the FP16 performance is dramatically different. The R7 M360 offers 864.0 GFLOPS FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the Quadro P400 offers a paltry 10.02 GFLOPS FP16 at a 1:64 ratio. This makes the R7 M360 vastly superior for any workload that can leverage FP16 arithmetic, while the Quadro P400 is clearly not designed for such tasks. Both cards lack dedicated RT cores and tensor cores, as neither architecture includes hardware ray tracing or AI acceleration.

Specification Differences

The memory subsystems differ notably. Both cards feature 2 GB of memory, but the R7 M360 uses DDR3 while the Quadro P400 uses GDDR5. The memory clock speeds reflect this: the R7 M360 runs at 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective), while the P400 runs at 1002 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The bus width is identical at 64 bits, but the GDDR5 memory on the P400 delivers more than double the bandwidth: 32.06 GB/s versus 14.40 GB/s for the R7 M360. This bandwidth advantage is significant for memory-bound workloads, though the R7 M360’s compute advantage appears to dominate in the recorded benchmarks.

Clock speeds also differ. The R7 M360 has a base clock of 1100 MHz and a boost clock of 1125 MHz. The Quadro P400 has a higher base clock of 1228 MHz and a boost clock of 1252 MHz. Despite the higher clocks, the P400’s lower shading unit count results in lower overall FP32 performance. The power characteristics are starkly different: the P400 has a TDP of 30 W, while the R7 M360’s TDP is not listed. The P400 also includes a suggested PSU rating of 200 W, requires no power connectors, and occupies a single slot. The R7 M360’s slot width and power connector requirements are not specified.

The bus interface differs as well. The R7 M360 uses PCIe 3.0 x8, while the Quadro P400 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The wider interface on the P400 provides more bandwidth to the host system. Display outputs are only listed for the P400: three mini-DisplayPort 1.4a connectors. The R7 M360’s display outputs are not documented. API support is similar, with both cards supporting DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.6, but the P400 supports Vulkan 1.4 while the R7 M360 supports Vulkan 1.2.170. The P400 also supports DirectX 12_1, while the R7 M360 supports 12_0.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher benchmark scores, the AMD Radeon R7 M360 or the NVIDIA Quadro P400?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M360 wins both recorded benchmarks. It scores 4638 in Geekbench OpenCL and 5223 in Geekbench Vulkan, versus 4249 and 5119 for the Quadro P400, respectively.

Q: What is the performance difference in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The R7 M360 outperforms the Quadro P400 by 9.2% in Geekbench OpenCL, scoring 4638 compared to 4249.

Q: How does the memory bandwidth compare between the two cards?

A: The Quadro P400 offers significantly higher memory bandwidth at 32.06 GB/s, while the R7 M360 provides 14.40 GB/s. This is due to the P400’s GDDR5 memory versus the R7 M360’s DDR3.

Q: Which card has better FP16 compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M360 has vastly superior FP16 performance, delivering 864.0 GFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the Quadro P400 delivers only 10.02 GFLOPS at a 1:64 ratio.

Q: What are the physical and power specifications of the Quadro P400?

A: The Quadro P400 has a 30 W TDP, is a single-slot card with no power connectors, and has a suggested PSU of 200 W. It measures 150 mm in length and 69 mm in height, and offers three mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs.

Q: Which card has a higher pixel rate?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro P400 has a higher pixel rate at 20.03 GPixel/s, compared to 9.00 GPixel/s for the AMD Radeon R7 M360, due to its 16 ROPs versus 8.