AMD Radeon R7 M460 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE Comparison

The AMD Radeon R7 M460 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE represent two very different eras of GPU design, yet benchmark results place them in a surprisingly close contest. The data shows a single head-to-head benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, where the AMD part scores 6612 against the NVIDIA part’s 6389, a 3.5% advantage. This narrow margin, combined with their distinct architectural approaches, makes the choice between them entirely dependent on the specific workload and platform constraints.

Where Each One Wins

Based strictly on the available benchmark data, the AMD Radeon R7 M460 is the outright winner in the only compute test recorded. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 6612 surpasses the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE’s 6389, giving it a 3.5% lead. This makes the AMD part the preferred choice for OpenCL-accelerated tasks, which often include general-purpose compute workloads, video encoding, and certain physics simulations. The data indicates a single win for the AMD Radeon R7 M460 and zero wins for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE.

However, the context of this win is crucial. The AMD Radeon R7 M460 sits at the 38th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE sits at the 37th percentile. This means both are entry-level performers in the broader market, and the 3.5% delta between them is within the noise of typical real-world variation. The AMD part’s victory is not a dominant one; it is a marginal edge in a single metric. For any workload not covered by this specific OpenCL test, the data cannot declare a winner. The NVIDIA part’s higher texture rate (31.20 GTexel/s vs 24.58 GTexel/s) and significantly higher memory bandwidth (108.8 GB/s vs 36.00 GB/s) suggest it could be stronger in pure fill-rate or bandwidth-bound scenarios, but no benchmark data is provided to confirm this. Therefore, the only defensible conclusion is that the AMD Radeon R7 M460 wins in the measured OpenCL compute test, while the NVIDIA part’s potential advantages remain unquantified.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M460 scores 6612, which is 3.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE’s score of 6389.

Q: How does the AMD Radeon R7 M460 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M460 is 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon HD 7730M (6581) and 0.9% ahead of the Intel UHD Graphics P750 (6554). It trails the NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010 (6698) by 1.3% and is 1.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (6513).

Q: How does the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE is exactly tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M (6389). It is 0.3% behind the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell (6407), and it leads the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 (6330) by 0.9% and the AMD Radeon R7 M350 (6327) by 1%.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M460 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 64-bit bus, yielding 36.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE has 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 108.8 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What is the power consumption of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE has a TDP of 150 W and requires a 450 W power supply, along with two 6-pin power connectors. The data does not list a TDP for the AMD Radeon R7 M460.

Q: Which card supports newer API features?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M460 supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but its Vulkan support is listed as null in the data.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The sole benchmark result available for comparison is the Geekbench OpenCL test. In this test, the AMD Radeon R7 M460 achieved a score of 6612, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE managed 6389. This results in a delta of 3.5% in favor of the AMD Radeon R7 M460. This is the only direct numerical comparison provided, and it shows a clear, albeit modest, victory for the AMD part.

Looking at the surrounding context, the AMD Radeon R7 M460’s score of 6612 places it just above its nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 1010, which scores 6698. The delta between the two is -1.3% for the AMD part, meaning the GT 1010 is slightly faster. Similarly, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE’s score of 6389 ties it exactly with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M, showing that these two older NVIDIA parts perform identically in this test. The data shows that while the AMD Radeon R7 M460 wins the head-to-head, the performance gap is small enough that other factors like driver optimization for specific applications could easily flip the result. The 3.5% delta is a real but narrow margin, and it represents the entire competitive landscape between these two specific cards based on the available information.

Specification Differences

The most striking difference between these two cards is their memory subsystems. The AMD Radeon R7 M460 features 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 64-bit bus, resulting in a bandwidth of 36.00 GB/s. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE, in contrast, has 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a much wider 256-bit bus, giving it a substantially higher bandwidth of 108.8 GB/s. This is a threefold difference in bandwidth, which heavily favors the NVIDIA part for any workload that is sensitive to memory throughput.

The compute configurations also differ significantly. The AMD Radeon R7 M460 has 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE has fewer shading units at 288, but more TMUs at 48 and more ROPs at 32. This leads to different theoretical rates: the AMD part has a higher pixel rate (8.192 GPixel/s vs 7.800 GPixel/s) but a lower texture rate (24.58 GTexel/s vs 31.20 GTexel/s). The FP32 performance is close, with the AMD part at 786.4 GFLOPS and the NVIDIA part at 748.8 GFLOPS.

The bus interface is another key difference, with the AMD Radeon R7 M460 using PCIe 3.0 x8 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE using PCIe 2.0 x16. The NVIDIA card also has a listed TDP of 150 W, a dual-slot cooler, two 6-pin power connectors, and a 450 W suggested PSU, while none of these are listed for the AMD part. The NVIDIA card is also physically longer at 210 mm (8.3 inches).

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon R7 M460 is built on the GCN 3.0 architecture, utilizing a chip codenamed Meso. It is manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with a die size of 125 mm² and 1,550 million transistors. This results in a transistor density of 12.4M per mm². It supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170, indicating a more modern feature set. Its generation is listed as "Gem System (R7 M400)" and its production status is end-of-life, with a release date in 2016.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE is based on the Fermi architecture, using the GF104 chip. It is built on a much older 40 nm process, also at TSMC, but with a significantly larger die size of 332 mm² and a higher transistor count of 1,950 million. Its transistor density is lower, at 5.9M per mm². This part supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but its Vulkan support is listed as null. It belongs to the GeForce 400 generation and was released in 2010. The differences in process node and die size are stark: the Fermi chip is larger and uses more transistors but is less dense, reflecting the older manufacturing technology. The AMD part’s GCN 3.0 architecture and newer process allow for a much smaller die with a higher density, while the NVIDIA part’s Fermi architecture leads to a larger, less efficient chip.