AMD Radeon R7 M460 vs NVIDIA GRID K2 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GRID K2 records an average benchmark score of 8080, while the AMD Radeon R7 M460 scores 6612. The GRID K2 sits at the 42nd percentile of all GPUs, while the R7 M460 sits at the 38th percentile.

Q: How much faster is the GRID K2 in the only shared benchmark?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the GRID K2 scores 10602 against the R7 M460's 6612, a delta of 60.3% in favor of the NVIDIA part.

Q: What are the closest rivals for each card according to the database?

A: The GRID K2's nearest rivals are the GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (0.2% higher average score), GeForce 945M (0.2% lower), GeForce GTX 650 Ti (0.3% higher), and GeForce GTX 880M (0.5% higher). The R7 M460's nearest rivals are the Radeon HD 7730M (0.5% higher), Intel UHD Graphics P750 (0.9% higher), GeForce GT 1010 (1.3% lower), and GeForce GTX 670M (1.5% higher).

Q: Which card supports a newer DirectX version?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M460 supports DirectX 12 (12_0), while the NVIDIA GRID K2 supports DirectX 12 (11_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6, with Vulkan versions being 1.2.175 for NVIDIA and 1.2.170 for AMD.

Q: What is the production status of both cards?

A: Both the NVIDIA GRID K2 and the AMD Radeon R7 M460 are listed as end-of-life products in the database.

Q: Does the R7 M460 have any benchmark where it wins?

A: No, the head-to-head data shows zero wins for the AMD part. The GRID K2 wins the only shared test, the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA GRID K2 is built on the Kepler architecture using the GK104 chip, while the AMD Radeon R7 M460 uses GCN 3.0 with the Meso chip. Both are manufactured by TSMC on a 28 nm process, but the transistor counts differ substantially: the GRID K2 packs 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, whereas the R7 M460 has 1,550 million transistors on a 125 mm² die. Interestingly, the transistor density is nearly identical: 12.0M per mm² for NVIDIA and 12.4M per mm² for AMD.

The GRID K2's generation is listed as "GRID (K2)", while the R7 M460 belongs to the "Gem System (R7 M400)" generation. AMD's part has a documented predecessor ("Solar System") and successor ("Polaris Mobile"), while the NVIDIA card has no listed predecessor or successor.

The shading unit count tells a major story: the GRID K2 has 1,536 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The R7 M460 has just 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. This 4:1 ratio in shading units and TMUs, and 4:1 in ROPs, directly explains the massive performance gap. Neither card features ray tracing cores or tensor cores.

Clock behavior differs as well. The GRID K2 has no base or boost clock listed, only a memory clock of 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The R7 M460 has a base clock of 730 MHz and a boost clock of 1024 MHz, with memory at 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective). The AMD card's boost clock is 294 MHz higher than its base, a 40% lift, which is notable for a mobile part.

The GRID K2 is a dual-slot card requiring 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors, with a suggested power supply of 550 W and a TDP of 225 W. The R7 M460 has no TDP, slot width, power connector, or PSU data recorded. The NVIDIA card measures 267 mm (10.5 inches) in length; the AMD card has no dimensions recorded.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark in the database is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is decisive. The NVIDIA GRID K2 scores 10602, while the AMD Radeon R7 M460 scores 6612. That is a 60.3% delta in favor of NVIDIA. To frame this differently, the R7 M460 would need to improve its score by roughly 60% just to match the GRID K2. The GRID K2's score is 3990 points higher in absolute terms.

This margin aligns with the architectural resource disparity. The GRID K2 has 4 times the shading units, 4 times the ROPs, and a memory bus width of 256 bit versus 64 bit. The memory bandwidth figures tell the same story: the GRID K2 delivers 160.0 GB/s, while the R7 M460 manages only 36.00 GB/s, a gap of over 4 times.

The GRID K2's pixel rate is 23.84 GPixel/s versus 8.192 GPixel/s for the R7 M460, and texture rates are 95.36 GTexel/s versus 24.58 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute is 2.289 TFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 786.4 GFLOPS for AMD. The R7 M460 does support FP16 at a 1:1 ratio (786.4 GFLOPS), a capability not listed for the GRID K2, but this does not appear in any benchmark result.

The GRID K2 also benefits from a wider PCIe interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x8 for the R7 M460. In a compute or data-transfer scenario, this doubles the available bus bandwidth, though the benchmark data does not isolate this factor.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every measured specification. The GRID K2 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256 bit bus, while the R7 M460 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 64 bit bus. Memory bandwidth is 160.0 GB/s versus 36.00 GB/s. The GRID K2's memory clock is 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective), while the R7 M460 runs at 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective).

Shading units: 1536 versus 384. TMUs: 128 versus 24. ROPs: 32 versus 8. Pixel rate: 23.84 GPixel/s versus 8.192 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 95.36 GTexel/s versus 24.58 GTexel/s. FP32: 2.289 TFLOPS versus 786.4 GFLOPS. FP16 is listed only for AMD at 786.4 GFLOPS (1:1).

Transistors: 3,540 million versus 1,550 million. Die size: 294 mm² versus 125 mm². The TDP is 225 W for NVIDIA, with no TDP recorded for AMD. The GRID K2 has a dual-slot form factor, while no slot width is listed for the R7 M460. Power connectors: 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin for NVIDIA, none listed for AMD. Suggested PSU: 550 W for NVIDIA, not listed for AMD.

Bus interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x8. Display outputs: the GRID K2 has no outputs, while the R7 M460 has no display output data recorded. DirectX support: 12 (11_0) for NVIDIA, 12 (12_0) for AMD. Vulkan: 1.2.175 versus 1.2.170. Release dates: the GRID K2 launched on 2013-05-10, while the R7 M460 launched on 2016-05-14, a three-year gap.

The GRID K2 has a launch MSRP of 5,199 USD; the R7 M460 has no launch MSRP recorded. The GRID K2 is the larger, more power-hungry, earlier-released part, while the R7 M460 is smaller, later, and more power-efficient in unspecified ways.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GRID K2 wins in every category where data exists. In compute performance, it leads by 60.3% in Geekbench OpenCL. In raw throughput metrics, it leads by roughly 3 to 4 times across pixel rate, texture rate, and FP32. Its memory bandwidth is over 4 times higher, which matters for large datasets and high-resolution textures. The 256 bit bus versus 64 bit bus is a fundamental advantage for bandwidth-bound workloads.

The GRID K2 also wins on PCIe interface width, offering x16 versus x8. For server or workstation use, this allows faster host-to-device transfers. Its 4 GB frame buffer doubles the R7 M460's 2 GB, which benefits large compute buffers or multi-display virtualization scenarios (though it has no display outputs).

The AMD Radeon R7 M460 wins in a few specific areas. It has a newer DirectX feature level (12_0 versus 11_0), which could matter for applications targeting the latest DX12 features. It also supports FP16 compute at a 1:1 ratio, which the GRID K2 does not list; this could benefit machine learning inference or media processing workloads that use half precision. The R7 M460's boost clock of 1024 MHz is substantially higher than its base clock, suggesting good thermal headroom for a mobile part.

The R7 M460 also wins on physical footprint. With a 125 mm² die and no listed power connectors or slot width, it fits in thin laptops or compact systems, whereas the GRID K2 is a 267 mm dual-slot board requiring 550 W PSU. For battery-powered or passively cooled devices, the AMD part is the only viable choice. It also has a listed predecessor and successor, indicating a clear product lifecycle, while the GRID K2's lineage is undocumented.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous about raw performance: the NVIDIA GRID K2 is the far faster GPU. Its average benchmark score of 8080 versus 6612, its 60.3% OpenCL lead, and its 4x resource advantage in shading units, ROPs, and memory bandwidth make it the choice for compute-heavy workloads. The card's 2.289 TFLOPS FP32 and 160.0 GB/s bandwidth are in a different class from the R7 M460's 786.4 GFLOPS and 36.00 GB/s.

The GRID K2's 42nd percentile ranking versus the R7 M460's 38th percentile reflects this gap, though both sit in the lower half of the database. Its nearest rivals are all GeForce parts within 0.5% of its score, indicating it sits in a tight performance cluster. The R7 M460's nearest rivals include integrated graphics (Intel UHD Graphics P750) and older mobile parts, confirming its entry-level positioning.

Who should pick the GRID K2? Anyone needing maximum compute throughput, large memory capacity (4 GB), or high memory bandwidth for data-parallel tasks. The card's lack of display outputs makes it unsuitable for direct display use, but as a compute or virtualization accelerator, it dominates. The 5,199 USD launch MSRP reflects its enterprise positioning.

Who should pick the R7 M460? Users prioritizing portability, low power draw, or modern API features. The card supports DirectX 12_0 and FP16, which the GRID K2 does not. Its compact size and unspecified power requirements suggest it belongs in thin-and-light laptops. For light graphics work, media playback, or applications that leverage FP16, the R7 M460 is the more modern if slower choice.

The release dates reinforce this: the GRID K2 launched in May 2013, while the R7 M460 launched in May 2016. The NVIDIA card is from an earlier era of high-power compute accelerators, while AMD's part belongs to a later generation of efficient mobile GPUs. If the workload fits within 2 GB of memory and does not demand extreme throughput, the R7 M460's newer feature set and smaller footprint matter. If raw speed is the only metric, the GRID K2 wins decisively, and the benchmark data shows no scenario where the AMD part closes the gap in measured performance.