AMD Radeon R7 M380 vs NVIDIA GeForce 945M Comparison

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the AMD Radeon R7 M380 than the NVIDIA GeForce 945M in the recorded OpenCL benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M380 scores 9,313 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce 945M scores 8,099 points. This places the AMD part 15% ahead in the head-to-head comparison.

Q: What is the percentile ranking for each GPU in the database?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M380 sits at the 46th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce 945M sits at the 42nd percentile. This indicates the AMD part outperforms a slightly larger share of the overall GPU pool.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor count?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce 945M integrates 1,870 million transistors on a die size of 148 mm². The AMD Radeon R7 M380 contains 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die.

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

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M380 delivers 32.00 GB/s, whereas the NVIDIA GeForce 945M provides 28.80 GB/s. Both use DDR3 memory across a 128-bit bus.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The AMD Radeon R7 M380 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), while the NVIDIA GeForce 945M supports DirectX 12 (11_0). The AMD part's feature level is one revision higher.

Q: What are the closest rivals for the NVIDIA GeForce 945M in the database?

A: The nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R9 M360 (0.4% ahead), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (0.4% ahead), the NVIDIA GRID K2 (0.2% behind), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (0.4% behind).

Architecture Differences

The two mobile GPUs come from different architectural families. The AMD Radeon R7 M380 is built on GCN 1.0, using the Tropo chip, while the NVIDIA GeForce 945M uses the Maxwell architecture with the GM107 chip. Both are fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, but the underlying designs diverge significantly.

The NVIDIA part packs more silicon: 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.6 million per mm². The AMD part is smaller, with 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, giving a density of 12.2 million per mm². Despite the smaller die, the R7 M380 maintains identical execution resource counts: 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 render output units. The GeForce 945M matches those exact counts, which makes the raw parallel throughput capability look similar on paper, but the clock behavior and memory configuration change the actual performance.

Clock speeds differ notably. The AMD Radeon R7 M380 runs at a 900 MHz base clock with a 915 MHz boost, while the NVIDIA GeForce 945M runs at 928 MHz base and 1,020 MHz boost. The higher boost clock on the NVIDIA part contributes to its higher peak compute rates: 1,305.6 GFLOPS FP32 versus 1,171.2 GFLOPS for AMD. Texture rate also favors NVIDIA at 40.80 GTexel/s compared to 36.60 GTexel/s, and pixel rate sits at 16.32 GPixel/s versus 14.64 GPixel/s.

Memory configurations are also distinct. The AMD part carries 4 GB of DDR3 at an effective 2 Gbps, producing 32.00 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA part uses 2 GB of DDR3 at 1,800 Mbps effective, yielding 28.80 GB/s. Both use a 128-bit bus, but the AMD part has a 3.2 GB/s bandwidth advantage.

API support shows a split. AMD lists DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. NVIDIA lists DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Vulkan version on the NVIDIA side is newer, while the DirectX feature level on the AMD side is higher.

Physical and interface differences exist as well. The NVIDIA GeForce 945M is a 75 W MXM module with no power connectors and display outputs described as dependent on the portable device. The AMD Radeon R7 M380 lacks listed TDP, slot width, and display outputs in the database. The bus interface for AMD is PCIe 3.0 x16, while NVIDIA uses MXM-B (3.0).

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R7 M380 wins in the only recorded benchmark, the Geekbench OpenCL test. Its 9,313 score versus 8,099 for the NVIDIA part gives it a 15% lead. This advantage likely stems from its larger memory pool (4 GB versus 2 GB) and higher memory bandwidth, which can help in memory-heavy compute workloads. The AMD part also holds a higher percentile ranking (46th versus 42nd), meaning it sits ahead of a larger fraction of the GPU field.

The NVIDIA GeForce 945M counters with higher raw compute rates. Its FP32 throughput of 1,305.6 GFLOPS exceeds the AMD part's 1,171.2 GFLOPS by 134.4 GFLOPS, and its texture rate of 40.80 GTexel/s beats the AMD part's 36.60 GTexel/s. The NVIDIA part also clocks higher, with a 1,020 MHz boost versus 915 MHz. These numbers suggest that in scenarios where the workload is dominated by raw shader math or texture fetch, the NVIDIA part could perform better, but the database only records the OpenCL test, where AMD wins.

The database records a wins tally of 1 for the AMD Radeon R7 M380 and 0 for the NVIDIA GeForce 945M. This makes the AMD part the clear winner in the head-to-head benchmark suite, even though the NVIDIA part has theoretical peak advantages. The practical outcome in the measured test favors AMD, likely due to memory capacity and bandwidth.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across several fields in the database. The most direct comparison shows:

• Chip: AMD uses Tropo, NVIDIA uses GM107.
• Architecture: GCN 1.0 versus Maxwell.
• Transistors: 1,500 million versus 1,870 million.
• Die Size: 123 mm² versus 148 mm².
• Transistor Density: 12.2M / mm² versus 12.6M / mm².
• Base Clock: 900 MHz versus 928 MHz.
• Boost Clock: 915 MHz versus 1,020 MHz.
• Memory Clock: 2 Gbps effective versus 1,800 Mbps effective.
• Memory Size: 4 GB versus 2 GB.
• Bandwidth: 32.00 GB/s versus 28.80 GB/s.
• Pixel Rate: 14.64 GPixel/s versus 16.32 GPixel/s.
• Texture Rate: 36.60 GTexel/s versus 40.80 GTexel/s.
• FP32: 1,171.2 GFLOPS versus 1,305.6 GFLOPS.
• TDP: Not listed versus 75 W.
• Slot Width: Not listed versus MXM Module.
• Power Connectors: Not listed versus None.
• Bus Interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 versus MXM-B (3.0).
• Display Outputs: Not listed versus Portable Device Dependent.
• DirectX: 12 (11_1) versus 12 (11_0).
• Vulkan: 1.2.170 versus 1.4.
• Release Date: 2015-05-04 versus 2015-10-26.
• Predecessor: Solar System versus GeForce 800M.
• Successor: Polaris Mobile versus GeForce 10 Mobile.

Identical specs include shading units (640), TMUs (40), ROPs (16), memory type (DDR3), memory bus width (128 bit), process node (28 nm), foundry (TSMC), OpenGL version (4.6), production status (End-of-life), and no listed RT or tensor cores.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only recorded head-to-head test is the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark. The AMD Radeon R7 M380 scored 9,313 points, and the NVIDIA GeForce 945M scored 8,099 points. The delta is 15%, with the AMD part winning. This is a substantial lead in a compute-oriented workload.

Contextualizing this result against each GPU's nearest rivals shows how the score positions them. The AMD part sits just 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M (9,302 points), 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 (9,294 points), 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (9,273 points), and 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Vega 8 (9,221 points). This tight grouping means the R7 M380 performs in line with mid-range desktop GPUs from a couple of generations earlier.

The NVIDIA GeForce 945M, at 8,099 points, sits 0.4% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M360 (8,129 points) and 0.4% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (8,135 points). It is 0.2% ahead of the NVIDIA GRID K2 (8,080 points) and 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (8,067 points). The 945M therefore occupies a lower performance tier than the R7 M380, since its nearest rivals cluster around 8,100 points versus the 9,300-point cluster for the AMD part.

The 15% delta between the two is the largest gap in the recorded data. Looking at the raw specifications, the NVIDIA part has higher peak FP32 and texture rates, but the AMD part has more memory and higher bandwidth. The OpenCL benchmark appears to favor the AMD configuration, likely because the workload benefits from the larger frame buffer and faster memory subsystem. The 4 GB capacity may also allow larger working sets to stay on the GPU without spilling to system memory.

In summary, the AMD Radeon R7 M380 outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce 945M by a meaningful margin in the measured test. The NVIDIA part retains theoretical compute advantages, but the recorded data shows AMD delivering the higher real-world OpenCL score. For users prioritizing this type of workload, the R7 M380 is the stronger choice based on the database results.