AMD Radeon R7 M445 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M Comparison

# AMD Radeon R7 M445 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M

The AMD Radeon R7 M445 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M are both end-of-life mobile graphics solutions built on a 28 nm TSMC process, yet they represent fundamentally different design philosophies. The R7 M445 is a GCN 3.0 part from the Gem System (R7 M400) generation, released in May 2016, while the GTX 760M is a Kepler-based chip from the GeForce 700M family, launched three years earlier in May 2013. In the single available head-to-head OpenCL benchmark, the GTX 760M edges ahead with a score of 5604 against the R7 M445's 5358, a 4.4% margin. However, both cards sit at the 31st percentile among all GPUs, indicating that neither is positioned as a performance leader in the current landscape.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL compute performance?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M scores 5604 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the AMD Radeon R7 M445 scores 5358. That gives the GTX 760M a 4.4% advantage in this specific test.

Q: How do these GPUs compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The R7 M445's average score of 5358 places it 0.2% behind the Intel UHD Graphics P630 (5370) and 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce 840M (5322). The GTX 760M's average score of 5236 is 0.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce 940M (5284) and 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro 4000M (5211).

Q: What are the memory configurations of these two GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M445 comes with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 64-bit bus, providing 32.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 64.13 GB/s — roughly double the bandwidth.

Q: Do both GPUs support modern graphics APIs?

A: Yes, but with limitations. The R7 M445 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The GTX 760M supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175, meaning its DirectX 12 feature level is lower.

Q: What is the transistor count difference between these chips?

A: The GTX 760M's GK106S chip packs 2,540 million transistors on a 221 mm² die. The R7 M445's Meso chip contains 1,550 million transistors on a 125 mm² die. Despite the larger chip, the GTX 760M has a lower transistor density at 11.5M per mm² versus 12.4M per mm².

Q: Which GPU has higher clock speeds?

A: The AMD R7 M445 runs a base clock of 780 MHz with a boost up to 920 MHz. The NVIDIA GTX 760M operates at a lower 628 MHz base and 719 MHz boost. Memory clocks are nearly identical at 1000 MHz and 1002 MHz respectively, both yielding 4 Gbps effective.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M is the clear winner in raw compute throughput. Its FP32 performance of 1,104.4 GFLOPS nearly doubles the R7 M445's 588.8 GFLOPS. The texture rate tells a similar story: 46.02 GTexel/s versus 18.40 GTexel/s, a 2.5x advantage. Pixel rate also favors NVIDIA at 11.50 GPixel/s compared to AMD's 7.360 GPixel/s. The 128-bit memory bus provides 64.13 GB/s of bandwidth, exactly double the R7 M445's 32.00 GB/s, which matters for texture-heavy workloads and higher resolutions. The GTX 760M also wins the only head-to-head benchmark, scoring 5604 in OpenCL versus 5358.

The AMD Radeon R7 M445 wins in a few specific areas. It offers twice the memory capacity at 4 GB versus 2 GB, which can be beneficial for large data sets or modern game textures at lower resolutions. It also has a higher base clock (780 MHz versus 628 MHz) and boost clock (920 MHz versus 719 MHz), though the NVIDIA part compensates with more cores. The R7 M445 supports DirectX 12 at feature level 12_0, whereas the GTX 760M is limited to 11_0. In the nearest-rival comparison, the R7 M445's average score of 5358 is higher than the GTX 760M's 5236, though both share the same 31st percentile ranking.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide here is significant. The AMD R7 M445 uses the GCN 3.0 architecture on the Meso chip, while the NVIDIA GTX 760M employs the Kepler architecture on the GK106S die. Both are fabricated by TSMC on a 28 nm process, but the design philosophies diverge sharply.

The R7 M445 packs 320 shading units, 20 texture mapping units, and 8 ROPs. This is a small, efficiency-oriented design that relies on higher clock speeds to deliver performance. The GTX 760M, by contrast, fields 768 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 16 ROPs — more than double the shader and texture resources. NVIDIA's Kepler architecture was designed for higher parallel throughput, and the GK106S chip's larger 221 mm² die accommodates those extra execution units.

Transistor counts reflect this scale difference: 2,540 million on the GTX 760M versus 1,550 million on the R7 M445. Interestingly, the R7 M445 achieves a higher transistor density (12.4M per mm²) than the GTX 760M (11.5M per mm²), suggesting a more compact layout on the smaller 125 mm² die.

The memory architecture also differs fundamentally. The R7 M445 uses a 64-bit bus, which severely limits bandwidth to 32.00 GB/s. The GTX 760M doubles the bus width to 128-bit, yielding 64.13 GB/s. This is a critical architectural difference because memory bandwidth often becomes the bottleneck in mobile GPUs.

API support reveals another generational gap. The R7 M445 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), which is the higher feature level. The GTX 760M manages DirectX 12 but only at the 11_0 feature level. Vulkan support is similar (1.2.170 versus 1.2.175), and both support OpenGL 4.6. The R7 M445 also has a defined FP16 performance of 588.8 GFLOPS (1:1 ratio with FP32), while the GTX 760M's FP16 capability is not specified.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification. The R7 M445 has a base clock of 780 MHz and boost clock of 920 MHz, while the GTX 760M runs slower at 628 MHz base and 719 MHz boost. Memory capacity favors AMD at 4 GB versus 2 GB, but the bus width and bandwidth heavily favor NVIDIA: 128-bit and 64.13 GB/s versus 64-bit and 32.00 GB/s. The memory clock is essentially a tie at 1000 MHz versus 1002 MHz, both delivering 4 Gbps effective.

Shader resources massively favor the GTX 760M: 768 shading units versus 320, 64 TMUs versus 20, and 16 ROPs versus 8. Consequently, the pixel rate (11.50 GPixel/s versus 7.360 GPixel/s), texture rate (46.02 GTexel/s versus 18.40 GTexel/s), and FP32 performance (1,104.4 GFLOPS versus 588.8 GFLOPS) all favor NVIDIA by roughly 2x or more.

Power characteristics differ as well. The GTX 760M has a TDP of 55 W and uses an MXM Module form factor, while the R7 M445 is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no specified TDP. The GTX 760M has no power connectors, and the bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16. The R7 M445 uses PCIe 3.0 x8, halving the bus lane count.

Both are end-of-life products with portable-device-dependent display outputs. The R7 M445's release date is May 2016, while the GTX 760M launched in May 2013. The R7 M445's predecessor is Solar System with a successor of Polaris Mobile; the GTX 760M's predecessor is GeForce 600M and its successor is GeForce 800M.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is Geekbench OpenCL, and it goes to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M. The GTX 760M scores 5604 against the R7 M445's 5358, a 4.4% delta. This is a modest victory in absolute terms, but the underlying hardware differences suggest the margin could vary significantly by workload.

Given that the GTX 760M has 2.4x the shading units, 3.2x the TMUs, and 2x the memory bandwidth, one might expect a larger gap. The R7 M445 counters with a 17% higher boost clock (920 MHz versus 719 MHz) and twice the memory capacity. The OpenCL result indicates that the GTX 760M's wider execution resources do translate into higher compute throughput, but the R7 M445's clock advantage and newer architecture narrow the gap.

The average benchmark scores tell a slightly different story. The R7 M445 has an average score of 5358, while the GTX 760M averages 5236. The GTX 760M's average is pulled down by its Vulkan score of 4868, which is notably lower than its OpenCL score. The R7 M445 has no Vulkan benchmark recorded. This suggests that in OpenCL, the GTX 760M is consistently faster, but the R7 M445 may perform relatively better in other API contexts.

Nearest-rival data provides additional context. The R7 M445's average score of 5358 sits within a tight cluster: 0.2% behind the Intel UHD Graphics P630 and 0.7% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce 840M. The GTX 760M's 5236 average is 0.9% behind the GeForce 940M and 1.5% ahead of the Radeon R7 M260X. Both GPUs also appear in each other's rival lists — the GTX 980M shows up as a nearby data point for both, with the R7 M445 0.9% above it and the GTX 760M 1.3% below it. This indicates that despite their architectural differences, both cards land in the same performance tier, with the GTX 760M holding a genuine but narrow edge in OpenCL compute workloads.