AMD Radeon R8 M445DX vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M and AMD Radeon R8 M445DX represent two distinct eras of mobile graphics, separated by five years of architectural evolution. In the single benchmark provided, the GTX 560M edges out the R8 M445DX with a Geekbench OpenCL score of 4855 against 4727, a 2.7% advantage. While this delta is modest, the underlying specifications reveal fundamentally different design philosophies that explain the performance parity despite the generational gap.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M scores 4855 points against the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX’s 4727 points. This 2.7% margin places the GTX 560M as the winner of the sole head-to-head benchmark, with exactly one win for NVIDIA and zero for AMD. The score difference of 128 points is notable but not transformative; in real-world terms, this represents a slight edge in compute workloads that leverage OpenCL.

Contextualizing these scores against their respective peer groups is instructive. The GTX 560M sits at the 28th percentile of all GPUs, while the R8 M445DX sits just one point lower at the 27th percentile. The GTX 560M’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, which averages 4844 points—a delta of just 0.2%, meaning the GTX 560M is effectively tied with that much newer part. Meanwhile, the AMD Radeon R6 M255DX scores 4867 points, placing it 0.2% ahead of the GTX 560M, showing that this older Fermi chip still trades blows with later entry-level parts.

For the R8 M445DX, its closest competitor is the AMD Radeon R5 M335, which scores 4752 points, a 0.5% advantage for the R5. The NVIDIA Quadro P400 trails the R8 M445DX by 0.9% with a 4684 score, while the AMD Radeon R5 M255 sits 1.3% ahead. Interestingly, both GPUs face off against far more powerful modern parts in their rival lists—the GTX 560M is 0.9% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB, and the R8 M445DX is 1.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB—though these deltas are more indicative of benchmark noise at the extreme low end than meaningful comparisons.

The 2.7% delta between the two subjects is consistent with their percentile ranking gap. What is remarkable is that a 2011 chip with 1,170 million transistors can outperform a 2016 chip with 1,550 million transistors, a feat attributable to the very different ways each GPU allocates its resources.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is substantial. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M uses the GF116 chip built on a 40 nm process at TSMC, employing the Fermi 2.0 architecture from the GeForce 500M generation. It packs 1,170 million transistors into a 238 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 4.9M per mm². In contrast, the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX uses the Meso chip on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC, with the GCN 3.0 architecture from the Gem System Hybrid generation. It contains 1,550 million transistors on a much smaller 125 mm² die, achieving a density of 12.4M per mm²—more than 2.5 times the density of the NVIDIA part.

This density difference reflects the five-year manufacturing gap, with the 28 nm node allowing AMD to fit more transistors in nearly half the silicon area. However, raw transistor count does not translate directly to performance. The GTX 560M allocates its resources across 192 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 24 render output units. The R8 M445DX counters with 320 shading units—67% more—but only 20 TMUs and 8 ROPs, representing a 37.5% reduction in TMUs and a 67% reduction in ROPs compared to the NVIDIA part.

Memory architecture further separates these GPUs. The GTX 560M features 1536 MB of dedicated GDDR5 memory on a 192-bit bus, delivering 60.00 GB/s of bandwidth with a memory clock of 625 MHz (2.5 Gbps effective). The R8 M445DX relies on System Shared memory, with the type, bus width, and bandwidth all listed as system-dependent. This means AMD’s part must contend for memory bandwidth with the CPU and other system components, a significant handicap in bandwidth-sensitive workloads. The GTX 560M’s dedicated memory provides predictable performance, while the R8 M445DX’s shared memory creates variability based on system configuration.

Clock behavior differs as well. The R8 M445DX has a base clock of 780 MHz and a boost clock of 1021 MHz, allowing dynamic frequency scaling under load. The GTX 560M lists no base or boost clock in the data, only its memory clock, suggesting a fixed GPU clock. In terms of throughput, the GTX 560M achieves a pixel rate of 6.200 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 24.80 GTexel/s, while the R8 M445DX posts higher pixel throughput at 8.168 GPixel/s but lower texture throughput at 20.42 GTexel/s. FP32 compute favors AMD at 653.4 GFLOPS versus NVIDIA’s 595.2 GFLOPS, and the R8 M445DX also supports FP16 at 653.4 GFLOPS (1:1), a feature absent from the GTX 560M.

API support also reflects their respective eras. The GTX 560M supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, with no Vulkan support listed. The R8 M445DX supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, making it more future-proof for modern titles that rely on Vulkan. Power characteristics differ too: the GTX 560M is rated at 75 W TDP and uses an MXM Module form factor with no power connectors, while the R8 M445DX is an IGP with no TDP listed, reflecting its integrated nature in a hybrid graphics system.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the data, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M is the faster GPU, winning the only head-to-head benchmark by 2.7% and holding a higher percentile ranking at 28 versus 27. Its dedicated 60.00 GB/s memory bandwidth and superior TMU and ROP counts provide a more balanced compute profile, even if its absolute FP32 throughput is lower. The GTX 560M’s 24 ROPs deliver better pixel processing than the R8 M445DX’s 8 ROPs, which is critical for rasterization-heavy tasks.

However, the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX is not without merit. Its 320 shading units and 653.4 GFLOPS FP32 performance suggest it can handle compute workloads that scale with shader count, and its FP16 support at 1:1 ratio offers a capability the GTX 560M lacks entirely. The R8 M445DX also supports Vulkan 1.2.170, enabling compatibility with modern graphics APIs that the GTX 560M cannot access. For users running older DirectX 11 titles, the GTX 560M’s 192-bit memory bus and dedicated VRAM will likely provide a more consistent experience.

The production status of both parts is end-of-life, and neither has a listed launch MSRP, so this comparison is purely about capability, not acquisition. The GTX 560M’s 2011 release date and 2016 release for the R8 M445DX mean both are legacy parts, but the data shows the older chip still holds a slight edge in the tested workload.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M scores 4855 points, which is 2.7% higher than the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX’s 4727 points.

Q: How does the transistor count compare between the two GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon R8 M445DX contains 1,550 million transistors, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M contains 1,170 million transistors, a difference of 380 million in favor of AMD.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each GPU?

A: The GTX 560M uses 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 192-bit bus with 60.00 GB/s bandwidth, while the R8 M445DX uses System Shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth.

Q: Does either GPU support modern graphics APIs?

A: The AMD Radeon R8 M445DX supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, with no Vulkan support.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon R8 M445DX has 320 shading units, compared to 192 shading units on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M.

Q: What are the pixel rates for each GPU?

A: The R8 M445DX achieves 8.168 GPixel/s, while the GTX 560M achieves 6.200 GPixel/s, giving AMD a 31.7% advantage in pixel throughput.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M wins in the areas that matter for traditional gaming workloads. Its dedicated 1536 MB of GDDR5 memory with 60.00 GB/s bandwidth provides deterministic performance that does not depend on system memory speed or contention. The 24 ROPs deliver a 6.200 GPixel/s pixel rate that, while lower than AMD’s raw number, is paired with a 192-bit memory bus that can feed those ROPs more consistently. The 32 TMUs enable a 24.80 GTexel/s texture rate, which is 21.5% higher than the R8 M445DX’s 20.42 GTexel/s. For any workload that relies on texture filtering or fill-rate-limited scenarios, the GTX 560M is the stronger choice. Its 75 W TDP also indicates a discrete, self-contained solution, whereas the R8 M445DX’s lack of a TDP rating suggests it shares power and thermal budget with the host processor.

The AMD Radeon R8 M445DX wins in compute-oriented and future-facing scenarios. Its 320 shading units provide 653.4 GFLOPS of FP32 performance, which is 9.8% higher than the GTX 560M’s 595.2 GFLOPS. The FP16 support at 653.4 GFLOPS (1:1) doubles the effective throughput for half-precision workloads, a feature the GTX 560M does not offer at all. The 8.168 GPixel/s pixel rate is 31.7% higher than NVIDIA’s, making it superior for pixel-bound compute tasks. Its Vulkan 1.2.170 support ensures compatibility with modern engines that have moved beyond DirectX 11, where the GTX 560M is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0). The R8 M445DX’s 28 nm process with 12.4M transistors per mm² also indicates better power efficiency per transistor, though no TDP is listed to confirm absolute power draw. For users running OpenCL compute kernels that scale with shader count, or applications that leverage FP16 acceleration, the R8 M445DX presents a more capable platform despite losing the single benchmark test.