AMD Radeon R8 M445DX vs NVIDIA GeForce 940MX Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX and AMD Radeon R8 M445DX are both end-of-life mobile graphics solutions from 2016, targeting thin-and-light laptops where discrete performance is a secondary concern to portability. The data shows a clear, if modest, overall winner: the GeForce 940MX claims the only head-to-head benchmark victory and holds a higher average score across all tests. The 940MX sits at the 28th percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon R8 M445DX sits just one point lower at the 27th percentile, indicating both are entry-level parts. The verdict from the numbers is that the 940MX is the safer pick for raw compute tasks, but the Radeon’s hybrid IGP design and higher boost clock suggest it may hold advantages in specific system configurations that the benchmark suite does not fully capture.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the available benchmark data, the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX is the superior choice for users prioritizing raw GPU compute performance. In the sole head-to-head Geekbench OpenCL test, the 940MX scores 4939 against the Radeon’s 4727, a 4.5% advantage. This lead is further reflected in the average benchmark scores: 4844 for the 940MX versus 4727 for the Radeon R8 M445DX. The 940MX also holds a slightly higher percentile rank (28th vs 27th), placing it marginally higher among all GPUs. For anyone running OpenCL-accelerated applications, the NVIDIA part is the data-backed pick.

However, the Radeon R8 M445DX is not without its own rationale. Its architecture is built around a "Gem System Hybrid" design, meaning it relies on system-shared memory rather than dedicated VRAM. This is a fundamentally different approach that trades dedicated memory bandwidth for flexibility and potentially lower system cost. The Radeon’s higher boost clock (1021 MHz vs 861 MHz) and higher pixel rate (8.168 GPixel/s vs 6.888 GPixel/s) suggest it could outperform the 940MX in specific fill-rate-bound scenarios, even if the aggregate compute benchmarks do not show it. The data implies the Radeon is the choice for a system where memory sharing is a feature, not a drawback, though the 940MX wins on every measured metric in this pack.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different design philosophies from their respective manufacturers. The 940MX is built on NVIDIA’s Maxwell architecture, using the GM107 chip fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 1,870 million transistors into a 148 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.6M per mm². The Radeon R8 M445DX, in contrast, uses AMD’s GCN 3.0 architecture with the Meso chip, also on TSMC’s 28 nm node. Its die is smaller at 125 mm², housing 1,550 million transistors for a slightly lower density of 12.4M per mm². This makes the NVIDIA chip physically larger and more complex, which aligns with its higher shading unit count of 512 versus the Radeon’s 320.

The memory subsystems are where the architectures diverge most dramatically. The 940MX features a dedicated 2 GB GDDR5 memory pool on a 64-bit bus, delivering 40.10 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon R8 M445DX has no dedicated memory at all; it uses "System Shared" memory with a "System Dependent" bandwidth, meaning its performance is tied directly to the host system’s RAM and memory controller. This architectural choice also affects the clock speeds: the 940MX runs at a base of 795 MHz with an 861 MHz boost, while the Radeon operates at a lower 780 MHz base but boosts up to 1021 MHz. The Radeon’s higher boost clock partially compensates for its fewer cores, but the lack of dedicated memory bandwidth remains a structural disadvantage in memory-intensive tasks.

API support also differs. The 940MX supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and the older Vulkan 1.2.170. Both offer OpenGL 4.6. The Radeon’s full DirectX 12_0 feature set is a notable advantage for modern gaming titles that leverage those features, whereas the 940MX’s Vulkan 1.4 support is more forward-looking for cross-platform compute workloads. The Radeon also lists FP16 performance at 653.4 GFLOPS (1:1), while the 940MX has no listed FP16 capability, suggesting the AMD part may handle half-precision compute tasks more efficiently, though no benchmark data confirms this.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data provides one clear win for the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX: the Geekbench OpenCL test. This test measures general-purpose compute performance across a variety of workloads, including memory-bound and math-heavy operations. The 940MX’s 4.5% lead here is attributable to its dedicated GDDR5 memory (40.10 GB/s) and its higher shading unit count (512 vs 320). For users running OpenCL-based applications like video encoding filters, scientific simulations, or certain rendering plugins, the 940MX is the statistically safer choice. Its average benchmark score of 4844 further reinforces this, as it outpaces the Radeon’s average by 117 points.

The Radeon R8 M445DX’s wins are more speculative, derived from its specification sheet rather than direct benchmark results. Its higher boost clock (1021 MHz) and pixel rate (8.168 GPixel/s) suggest it could win in fill-rate-limited scenarios, such as older DirectX 11 games running at low resolutions where texture fill and pixel output matter more than raw compute. Its support for DirectX 12_0 is another potential advantage in modern titles that use explicit multi-GPU or async compute features, though the lack of a head-to-head benchmark in this category leaves this unproven. The Radeon’s system-shared memory also means it can access a larger pool of memory than the 940MX’s fixed 2 GB, which could be beneficial in applications that need more than 2 GB of VRAM, assuming the system RAM is fast enough.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX has an average benchmark score of 4844, which is 117 points higher than the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX’s average of 4727.

Q: How much faster is the 940MX in the head-to-head OpenCL test?

A: The GeForce 940MX scores 4939 in Geekbench OpenCL, beating the Radeon’s 4727 by a 4.5% margin.

Q: Does the Radeon R8 M445DX have any advantage in memory capacity?

A: Yes, the Radeon uses system-shared memory, meaning its available memory size is dependent on the host system’s RAM, which could exceed the 940MX’s fixed 2 GB GDDR5 allocation.

Q: What is the pixel rate difference between the two GPUs?

A: The Radeon R8 M445DX has a pixel rate of 8.168 GPixel/s, which is higher than the GeForce 940MX’s 6.888 GPixel/s.

Q: Which GPU supports the newer version of DirectX?

A: The AMD Radeon R8 M445DX supports DirectX 12 (12_0), while the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX only supports DirectX 12 (11_0).

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No, both the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX and the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX are listed as end-of-life products.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available in the data is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and it decisively favors the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX. The 940MX scores 4939, while the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX scores 4727, resulting in a 4.5% delta in favor of NVIDIA. This is a meaningful gap in the context of entry-level mobile GPUs, where a 4.5% performance difference can translate to several frames per second in compute-heavy workloads. To put this in perspective, the 940MX’s nearest rival by average score is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M at 4855, a 0.2% difference, meaning the 940MX is essentially on par with that older part. The Radeon’s nearest rival is the AMD Radeon R5 M335 at 4752, a 0.5% difference, and the Radeon R8 M445DX actually underperforms that rival by 25 points.

The delta between the two GPUs in the OpenCL test is larger than the delta between each GPU and its nearest rivals. The 940MX beats the Radeon by 4.5%, but it only beats its own closest rival by 0.2%, and it loses to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB by 1.1%. Similarly, the Radeon loses to the Radeon R5 M335 by 0.5% and to the RTX 3080 12 GB by 1.3%. This suggests that the 940MX and Radeon R8 M445DX are not just close to each other; they are both clustered with a group of similarly performing entry-level GPUs. The 940MX’s win is real but narrow in absolute terms, and the data shows that neither GPU is a performance outlier in its class.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification category, reflecting their distinct design goals. The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX uses the GM107 chip with 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 8 render output units (ROPs). The AMD Radeon R8 M445DX uses the Meso chip with 320 shading units, 20 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. This gives the 940MX a 60% advantage in shading units and a 60% advantage in TMUs, though both have the same ROP count.

Clock speeds diverge significantly. The 940MX has a base clock of 795 MHz and a boost clock of 861 MHz, while the Radeon has a lower base of 780 MHz but a much higher boost of 1021 MHz. The Radeon’s higher boost clock helps it achieve a higher pixel rate (8.168 GPixel/s vs 6.888 GPixel/s), but the 940MX’s higher texture rate (27.55 GTexel/s vs 20.42 GTexel/s) and FP32 performance (881.7 GFLOPS vs 653.4 GFLOPS) give it the compute edge. The 940MX also consumes a listed TDP of 23 W, while the Radeon’s TDP is not provided, making direct power efficiency comparisons impossible.

Memory is the starkest differentiator. The 940MX has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 64-bit bus with 40.10 GB/s bandwidth, while the Radeon relies entirely on system-shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth. The 940MX uses a PCIe 3.0 x8 bus interface and an MXM module slot, whereas the Radeon is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no discrete bus interface. Both have the same process node (28 nm) and foundry (TSMC), but the 940MX’s die is larger (148 mm² vs 125 mm²) and houses more transistors (1,870 million vs 1,550 million). The Radeon supports DirectX 12_0 and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the 940MX supports DirectX 12_0 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.4, with the Radeon also offering FP16 at 1:1 ratio.