AMD Radeon R7 M365X vs NVIDIA GeForce 940MX Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded data positions the AMD Radeon R7 M365X and the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX as close competitors, but with a clear statistical edge for the AMD part. The AMD Radeon R7 M365X achieves an average benchmark score of 5416, placing it in the 32nd percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX scores 4844, sitting in the 28th percentile. This 11.8% gap in average score is consistent across both recorded tests, where the AMD part wins the OpenCL test by 20.2% and the Vulkan test by 3%. For a user choosing strictly from this data, the AMD Radeon R7 M365X is the stronger pick for general compute workloads and for any application leveraging Vulkan, even if the margin there is slim. The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, however, remains a viable option for scenarios where its lower power envelope and specific architectural traits matter, though the raw performance data does not favor it.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R7 M365X wins both head-to-head benchmark entries, making its case primarily in compute-oriented tasks. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 5939 against 4939 for the NVIDIA part represents a substantial 20.2% advantage, indicating that the AMD architecture handles raw parallel compute workloads with notably higher efficiency. The Vulkan test is closer, with the AMD part scoring 4893 versus 4749, a 3% lead, suggesting that for graphics API workloads the two are nearly matched, with AMD holding a slight edge.

The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX does not win any benchmark in the head-to-head comparison. Its strengths lie outside raw performance numbers. The data shows it has a TDP of 23 W, whereas the AMD part has no recorded TDP, implying that NVIDIA’s solution is designed with a more explicit power constraint. Additionally, the 940MX uses a 64-bit memory bus with 2 GB of GDDR5, while the AMD part uses a 128-bit bus with only 1 GB. For applications where memory capacity is more critical than bandwidth, the NVIDIA part offers double the VRAM, which could be a deciding factor for specific workloads, even though its bandwidth is lower.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies. The AMD Radeon R7 M365X is built on the GCN 1.0 architecture, using a chip codenamed Litho, and is part of the Gem System generation within the R7 M300 series. It is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 950 million transistors on a 77 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.3M per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, in contrast, uses the Maxwell architecture with a GM107 chip, belongs to the GeForce 900M generation, and is also on a 28 nm TSMC process but packs 1,870 million transistors into a 148 mm² die, achieving a slightly higher density of 12.6M per mm².

These architectural differences manifest in the compute resources. The AMD part fields 384 shading units, 24 texture mapping units, and 8 ROPs, while the NVIDIA part has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and also 8 ROPs. Despite having fewer shading units, the AMD part achieves a higher FP32 throughput of 633.6 GFLOPS compared to 881.7 GFLOPS for NVIDIA, though NVIDIA’s higher raw count does not translate to a win in the recorded benchmarks. The memory subsystems are notably different: AMD uses a 128-bit bus with 1 GB of GDDR5 at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective), delivering 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth, while NVIDIA uses a 64-bit bus with 2 GB of GDDR5 at 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective), providing 40.10 GB/s. The pixel rates are close, 6.600 GPixel/s for AMD and 6.888 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, but AMD’s texture rate of 19.80 GTexel/s trails NVIDIA’s 27.55 GTexel/s.

API support also differs slightly. The AMD part supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the NVIDIA part supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The newer Vulkan version on NVIDIA could matter for future software, but the benchmark data shows AMD still leads in the Vulkan test. Both use a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface, and both are marked as end-of-life products, with AMD released in May 2015 and NVIDIA in June 2016.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M365X has an average benchmark score of 5416, which is higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX’s score of 4844.

Q: How much faster is the AMD part in the OpenCL test?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M365X scores 5939 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 20.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX’s score of 4939.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX win any benchmark against the AMD part?

A: No, the head-to-head data shows the AMD Radeon R7 M365X wins both the OpenCL and Vulkan tests, with the NVIDIA part recording zero wins.

Q: What is the difference in memory bandwidth between the two?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M365X offers 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth from a 128-bit bus, while the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX provides 40.10 GB/s from a 64-bit bus, making the AMD part 59.8% higher in bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has more VRAM?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the AMD Radeon R7 M365X has only 1024 MB (1 GB) of GDDR5.

Q: What are the transistor counts for each chip?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M365X contains 950 million transistors, whereas the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX contains 1,870 million transistors.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive result in the comparison is the Geekbench OpenCL test. The AMD Radeon R7 M365X posts a score of 5939, against 4939 for the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX. That is a 20.2% margin, a substantial gap that indicates the AMD architecture’s compute shaders are exceptionally efficient in this workload. The AMD part’s 384 shading units, despite being fewer than NVIDIA’s 512, manage to produce a higher FP32 throughput relative to the benchmark outcome, suggesting that the GCN 1.0 design has a scheduling advantage or that the memory bandwidth of 64.00 GB/s plays a critical role in feeding the compute units. The NVIDIA part’s higher texture rate of 27.55 GTexel/s does not rescue its OpenCL score, as the test likely prioritizes raw floating-point and memory throughput over texture operations.

The Vulkan test is far closer, with the AMD part scoring 4893 and the NVIDIA part scoring 4749, a 3% delta. This narrow margin suggests that when the workload is more graphics-oriented, the two GPUs perform nearly identically, with the NVIDIA part’s newer Vulkan 1.4 support and higher shading unit count partially offsetting AMD’s bandwidth advantage. The 64-bit memory bus on the NVIDIA part, with its 40.10 GB/s bandwidth, becomes less of a bottleneck in this test, allowing its 512 shading units to work more effectively. However, the AMD part still wins, indicating that its 128-bit bus and higher bandwidth provide a consistent edge even when the API overhead differs.

Looking at the broader context from the nearest rivals, the AMD part’s average score of 5416 sits just 0.5% below the AMD Radeon 610M’s 5444 and 0.9% above the Intel UHD Graphics P630’s 5370. It also trails the NVIDIA Quadro M4000’s 5467 by 0.9% and leads the AMD Radeon R7 M445’s 5358 by 1.1%. These small deltas place the R7 M365X in a tight cluster of mid-range mobile GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX’s average score of 4844 is 0.2% below the GeForce GTX 560M’s 4855 and 0.5% below the AMD Radeon R6 M255DX’s 4867, while sitting 1% below the GeForce GTS 450’s 4893 and 1.1% above the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB’s 4791. This shows that the 940MX is at the lower end of its performance tier, whereas the AMD part is at the upper end.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs diverge most clearly in their memory and compute configurations. The AMD Radeon R7 M365X uses a 128-bit memory bus with 1024 MB of GDDR5, running at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective), yielding 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX uses a 64-bit bus with 2 GB of GDDR5, running at 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective), yielding 40.10 GB/s. This means the AMD part has 59.8% more bandwidth but half the memory capacity.

The compute units also differ: AMD has 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 8 ROPs, while NVIDIA has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The FP32 performance is 633.6 GFLOPS for AMD and 881.7 GFLOPS for NVIDIA, a 39.1% advantage for NVIDIA in theoretical throughput, yet the benchmark results favor AMD. The pixel rate is nearly identical, 6.600 GPixel/s for AMD and 6.888 GPixel/s for NVIDIA, while the texture rate is 19.80 GTexel/s for AMD and 27.55 GTexel/s for NVIDIA.

The process and die details show NVIDIA’s larger investment: 1,870 million transistors on 148 mm² versus AMD’s 950 million on 77 mm². The NVIDIA part has a recorded TDP of 23 W and uses an MXM Module slot with no power connectors, while the AMD part has no TDP or slot width recorded. The NVIDIA part also has a base clock of 795 MHz and a boost clock of 861 MHz, while the AMD part has no base or boost clocks recorded. Both support PCIe 3.0 x8, and both are end-of-life products, but the AMD part was released in May 2015 and the NVIDIA part in June 2016. The API support differs slightly, with AMD offering DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170, while NVIDIA offers DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.4.