AMD Radeon R8 M445DX vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Comparison

FAQ

Q: What is the primary architectural difference between these two GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon R8 M445DX uses GCN 3.0 architecture on a 28 nm TSMC process, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti uses Pascal architecture on a 14 nm Samsung process.

Q: How do their memory configurations compare?

A: The Radeon R8 M445DX uses system shared memory with system dependent bandwidth, while the GTX 1050 Ti has 4 GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory on a 128 bit bus with 112.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti has 768 shading units, which is more than double the 320 shading units found on the Radeon R8 M445DX.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The Radeon R8 M445DX has an average benchmark score of 4727, while the GTX 1050 Ti has an average score of 4193.

Q: Which GPU ranks higher in the database's percentile system?

A: The Radeon R8 M445DX sits at the 27th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 1050 Ti sits at the 25th percentile.

Q: What is the production status of both GPUs?

A: Both the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti are listed as end-of-life products.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon R8 M445DX is built on GCN 3.0 architecture using the Meso chip, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. The silicon contains 1,550 million transistors on a 125 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.4 million transistors per square millimeter. This is an integrated graphics processor with an IGP bus interface, meaning it shares system memory and has no dedicated video memory of its own. The memory clock is listed as system shared, and bandwidth is system dependent, which ties performance directly to the host platform's memory subsystem.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, by contrast, uses the Pascal architecture with the GP107 chip, built on a 14 nm Samsung process. It packs 3,300 million transistors onto a 132 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 25.0 million per square millimeter, roughly double the density of the AMD part. The GTX 1050 Ti is a discrete, dual-slot card with a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. It has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128 bit bus, delivering 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory runs at 1752 MHz, which translates to 7 Gbps effective.

The compute resources differ substantially. The Radeon R8 M445DX has 320 shading units, 20 texture mapping units, and 8 render output units. The GTX 1050 Ti has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. These are significant structural differences, not just clock speed adjustments. The Radeon's pixel rate is 8.168 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 20.42 GTexel/s. The GTX 1050 Ti reaches 44.54 GPixel/s and 66.82 GTexel/s. Floating point performance tells the same story: the Radeon delivers 653.4 GFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the GTX 1050 Ti delivers 2.138 TFLOPS. The FP16 ratios also differ markedly, with the Radeon running FP16 at a 1:1 ratio to FP32 and the GTX 1050 Ti at a 1:64 ratio, indicating very different design priorities.

API support is similar in scope but slightly different in versioning. Both support DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.6. The Radeon supports Vulkan 1.2.170, while the GTX 1050 Ti supports Vulkan 1.4. The DirectX feature levels differ as well, with the Radeon at 12_0 and the GTX 1050 Ti at 12_1.

Where Each One Wins

The Radeon R8 M445DX is an integrated part with system shared memory, making it suitable for lightweight workloads where a dedicated card is not an option. Its single recorded benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, shows a score of 4727, which places it near several lower end discrete parts. It sits at the 27th percentile of all GPUs in the database. The data does not show any benchmark category where the Radeon outperforms the GTX 1050 Ti. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R5 M335 at 4752 (0.5% ahead), the NVIDIA Quadro P400 at 4684 (0.9% behind), and the AMD Radeon R5 M255 at 4788 (1.3% ahead).

The GTX 1050 Ti wins across every recorded benchmark category. It has multiple benchmark scores across DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, G2D, G3D, GPU compute, Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan. Its Passmark G3D score of 6340 and Geekbench OpenCL score of 18129 are the standout results. It also has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 10001 and a Geekbench Metal score of 7834. The closest rivals to the GTX 1050 Ti are the AMD Radeon R5 M330 at 4170 (0.6% behind), the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M at 4151 (1% behind), and the AMD Radeon Vega 3 at 4268 (1.8% ahead). The GTX 1050 Ti sits at the 25th percentile of all GPUs, slightly below the Radeon's percentile despite having a far higher absolute score in the head-to-head test.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every fundamental specification. The Radeon R8 M445DX uses a 28 nm TSMC process, while the GTX 1050 Ti uses a 14 nm Samsung process. Transistor counts are 1,550 million versus 3,300 million, and die sizes are 125 mm² versus 132 mm², meaning the GTX 1050 Ti packs more than twice the transistors into a similar area.

Clock speeds differ substantially. The Radeon has a base clock of 780 MHz and a boost clock of 1021 MHz. The GTX 1050 Ti has a base clock of 1291 MHz and a boost clock of 1392 MHz. The memory subsystems are entirely different: the Radeon uses system shared memory with system dependent bandwidth, while the GTX 1050 Ti has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128 bit bus with 112.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Compute units differ as follows: 320 shading units, 20 TMUs, and 8 ROPs for the Radeon versus 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for the GTX 1050 Ti. Pixel rates are 8.168 GPixel/s versus 44.54 GPixel/s. Texture rates are 20.42 GTexel/s versus 66.82 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 653.4 GFLOPS versus 2.138 TFLOPS. FP16 performance is 653.4 GFLOPS versus 33.41 GFLOPS.

Physical and power characteristics differ as well. The Radeon is an IGP with no listed TDP, no power connectors, and portable device dependent display outputs. The GTX 1050 Ti is a dual-slot card with a 75 W TDP, no power connectors, a suggested 250 W PSU, and display outputs including 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. The GTX 1050 Ti measures 145 mm in length and 111 mm in height. The Radeon has no listed dimensions. The Radeon's release date is May 2016, while the GTX 1050 Ti launched in October 2016. The GTX 1050 Ti had a launch MSRP of 139 USD. The Radeon has no recorded launch MSRP.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains one direct head-to-head benchmark between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. The Radeon R8 M445DX scores 4727, while the GTX 1050 Ti scores 18129. This gives the GTX 1050 Ti a delta of 73.9% over the Radeon. In practical terms, the GTX 1050 Ti delivers roughly 3.8 times the OpenCL compute performance of the Radeon in this test.

The broader benchmark suite reinforces this gap. The GTX 1050 Ti's Passmark G3D score of 6340 reflects its strong rasterization performance, while its Passmark GPU compute score of 2652 shows general compute capability. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 10001 and Metal score of 7834 demonstrate cross-platform API performance. The Passmark DirectX scores range from 26 in DirectX 12 to 104 in DirectX 9, with DirectX 11 at 45 and DirectX 10 at 31. The G2D score of 651 covers 2D workloads.

The Radeon has no recorded scores in any of these other categories. Its only benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 4727. This places it near the NVIDIA Quadro P400 (4684, 0.9% behind) and slightly below the AMD Radeon R5 M335 (4752, 0.5% ahead). The GTX 1050 Ti's OpenCL score of 18129 puts it far outside the range of its nearest rivals, which cluster between 4151 and 4268. The GTX 1050 Ti is 1% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro K2100M and 1.8% behind the AMD Radeon Vega 3 in terms of average benchmark score, showing that its average is pulled down by the inclusion of many lower scoring tests. In the direct comparison, however, the GTX 1050 Ti is overwhelmingly faster.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti wins the only direct head-to-head benchmark by 73.9%, and it has a much broader benchmark profile with scores in DirectX 9 through 12, Metal, Vulkan, and compute workloads. The AMD Radeon R8 M445DX has just one recorded benchmark and no wins in any category.

The Radeon R8 M445DX is an integrated GPU with system shared memory, no dedicated VRAM, and no discrete card form factor. Its performance is tied to the host system's memory subsystem. The GTX 1050 Ti is a discrete dual-slot card with 4 GB of GDDR5, 112.1 GB/s of bandwidth, and a 75 W TDP. It has 768 shading units versus 320, 48 TMUs versus 20, and 32 ROPs versus 8. Its FP32 output of 2.138 TFLOPS is more than triple the Radeon's 653.4 GFLOPS.

For users who need a discrete GPU with dedicated memory, the GTX 1050 Ti is the clear choice. The data shows it outperforms the Radeon in every measurable way. For users constrained to an integrated solution, the Radeon R8 M445DX is the only option of the two that fits that form factor, but its performance ceiling is substantially lower. The percentile rankings are close, 27th versus 25th, but this reflects the GTX 1050 Ti's many lower scoring legacy tests rather than actual competitiveness in the head-to-head result. Buyers choosing between these two should select the GTX 1050 Ti based on the recorded benchmark evidence.