AMD Radeon R8 M445DX vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and AMD Radeon R8 M445DX occupy very different corners of the mobile graphics landscape, and the benchmark data reflects that gap starkly. The GTX 980M is a high-end discrete part from NVIDIA’s Maxwell 2.0 generation, while the R8 M445DX is an integrated GPU from AMD’s GCN 3.0 lineup, designed for hybrid system configurations. Across the only directly comparable workload in the database, the GeForce OpenCL test, the GTX 980M delivers 23,832 points against the Radeon’s 4,727, a margin of 404.2 percent. That is not a close contest; it is a categorical difference in compute capability. The recorded data also shows the GTX 980M has a broader benchmark footprint, with scores in DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, 3DMark Steel Nomad, Passmark G2D, G3D, and GPU compute, while the R8 M445DX only appears in Geekbench OpenCL. This asymmetry alone tells a story about how these parts were positioned and where their respective strengths lie.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single head-to-head result in the database is Geekbench OpenCL, and it is decisive. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M scores 23,832, while the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX scores 4,727. That difference translates to a 404.2 percent advantage for the NVIDIA part. To put that in perspective, the GTX 980M’s nearest rivals in the overall database, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 930A at 5,317 and the GeForce 940M at 5,284, are all within a few percent of each other, with deltas ranging from minus 0.9 to plus 0.5 percent. The R8 M445DX, by contrast, sits near its own peer group: the AMD Radeon R5 M335 averages 4,752, the Radeon R5 M255 averages 4,788, and the NVIDIA Quadro P400 averages 4,684. The delta between the R8 M445DX and these rivals is similarly small, between minus 1.3 and plus 0.9 percent. So while both parts are clustered with their direct competitors, the two clusters are separated by an enormous gulf. The GTX 980M’s average benchmark score across all recorded tests is 5,308, and it lands in the 31st percentile of all GPUs. The R8 M445DX’s average score is 4,727, placing it in the 27th percentile. These percentile ranks are close, but that is because the database includes many older and lower-end parts; the raw compute gap remains the dominant fact.

Looking beyond the single head-to-head, the GTX 980M’s other records show where its strengths concentrate. In Passmark G3D, it scores 7,338, which is far above its own average and indicates strong rasterization performance. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 17,703, and in Passmark GPU compute, it scores 2,816. The DirectX legacy tests are more modest: 125 in DirectX 9, 57 in DirectX 11, 35 in DirectX 10, and 31 in DirectX 12. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 649. The R8 M445DX has no comparable records in any of these tests, so the database cannot confirm how it handles those workloads. The only measurable point of comparison is OpenCL, and there the NVIDIA part is more than five times faster. That is not a marginal win; it is a performance tier apart. For any application that offloads compute to the GPU, such as OpenCL-accelerated encoding, physics, or general number crunching, the GTX 980M is the clear choice based on the recorded numbers.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M has an average benchmark score of 5,308 across all recorded tests, while the AMD Radeon R8 M445DX has an average score of 4,727. The GTX 980M also holds a percentile rank of 31, slightly above the Radeon’s 27.

Q: How much faster is the GTX 980M in OpenCL compute?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the GTX 980M scores 23,832 versus the R8 M445DX’s 4,727, which is a 404.2 percent higher score. This means the NVIDIA part delivers roughly five times the OpenCL performance in this measurement.

Q: Are these two GPUs close to their respective rivals?

A: Yes. The GTX 980M’s nearest rivals include the GeForce 930A (5,317), GeForce 840M (5,322), GeForce 940M (5,284), and Radeon R7 M445 (5,358), with deltas between minus 0.9 and plus 0.5 percent. The R8 M445DX’s nearest rivals are the Radeon R5 M335 (4,752), Quadro P400 (4,684), Radeon R5 M255 (4,788), and GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB (4,791), with deltas between minus 1.3 and plus 0.9 percent. Both parts are typical of their performance class.

Q: Does the R8 M445DX have any benchmark wins over the GTX 980M?

A: No. In the head-to-head comparison, the GTX 980M wins 1 test and the R8 M445DX wins 0. The only shared test, Geekbench OpenCL, goes to the NVIDIA part.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The GTX 980M has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 160.4 GB/s and a memory clock of 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The R8 M445DX uses system shared memory, with no dedicated VRAM, a system dependent bus width, and system dependent bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel rate?

A: The GTX 980M has a pixel rate of 72.13 GPixel/s, while the R8 M445DX has a pixel rate of 8.168 GPixel/s. The NVIDIA part is over eight times higher in this metric.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures, and the data reflects that in every measurable way. The GTX 980M uses the GM204 chip, which is based on NVIDIA’s Maxwell 2.0 architecture. It is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 5,200 million transistors on a 398 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 13.1 million transistors per square millimeter. The R8 M445DX uses AMD’s Meso chip, based on GCN 3.0, also on a 28 nm TSMC process, but with only 1,550 million transistors on a 125 mm² die, for a density of 12.4 million per square millimeter. So the GTX 980M has more than three times the transistor count and a die that is more than three times larger.

The compute resources differ even more sharply. The GTX 980M has 1,536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs. The R8 M445DX has 320 shading units, 20 TMUs, and only 8 ROPs. These are not incremental differences; the NVIDIA part has 4.8 times the shading units, 4.8 times the TMUs, and 8 times the ROPs. The clock speeds tell a similar story. The GTX 980M runs at a base clock of 1038 MHz and a boost clock of 1127 MHz. The R8 M445DX runs at 780 MHz base and 1021 MHz boost. Even at boost, the AMD part is 106 MHz slower, and its base clock is 258 MHz lower. The memory subsystem is entirely different as well. The GTX 980M has dedicated GDDR5 memory with a 256-bit interface and 160.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The R8 M445DX relies on system shared memory, with no dedicated VRAM, and its bandwidth is listed as system dependent, meaning it varies with the host platform. This is a fundamental design difference: one is a discrete graphics processor with its own memory pool, the other is an integrated part that borrows system RAM.

The API support also differs. The GTX 980M supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The R8 M445DX supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The DirectX feature level difference (12_1 versus 12_0) indicates that the GTX 980M supports additional optional features in DirectX 12, such as conservative rasterization and rasterizer ordered views, which the Radeon part lacks. The Vulkan version is also newer on the NVIDIA side. For floating-point compute, the GTX 980M delivers 3.462 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the R8 M445DX delivers 653.4 GFLOPS, which is about one-fifth. The R8 M445DX does support FP16 at the same rate as FP32 (653.4 GFLOPS), but the GTX 980M has no recorded FP16 figure. Texture and pixel rates follow the same pattern: the GTX 980M has a texture rate of 108.2 GTexel/s versus 20.42 GTexel/s, and a pixel rate of 72.13 GPixel/s versus 8.168 GPixel/s. These are not close numbers; they are separated by factors of five to eight.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear conclusion: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M is the far more capable GPU in every measured dimension. Its OpenCL score is 404.2 percent higher, its shading unit count is 4.8 times greater, its pixel rate is over eight times higher, and its FP32 throughput is more than five times higher. It also has dedicated VRAM with a 256-bit bus and 160.4 GB/s bandwidth, while the R8 M445DX is limited to system shared memory. The GTX 980M wins the only head-to-head benchmark and has a higher average score (5,308 versus 4,727). The R8 M445DX does have a lower transistor density (12.4M per mm² versus 13.1M), but that is the sole metric where it is not far behind, and it is not a performance advantage. In terms of percentile rank, the GTX 980M sits at 31 and the Radeon at 27, but that narrow gap is misleading because the OpenCL test alone shows a fivefold difference.

Who should pick which? If the workload involves any form of GPU compute, modern DirectX 12 titles with higher feature levels, or memory-intensive tasks, the GTX 980M is the only rational choice based on the recorded data. It also supports Vulkan 1.4, which is a more recent API version than the Radeon’s 1.2.170. The R8 M445DX might be acceptable for light, legacy DirectX 9 or 10 workloads, but the database does not include any such scores for it, so there is no evidence that it excels even there. Its only recorded benchmark is OpenCL, where it underperforms dramatically. The GTX 980M is end-of-life, as is the R8 M445DX, so neither is a current product, but among these two, the GTX 980M is the dominant part in every quantifiable way. The verdict is not nuanced: the GTX 980M wins decisively.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M | AMD Radeon R8 M445DX |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Chip | GM204 | Meso |

| Architecture | Maxwell 2.0 | GCN 3.0 |

| Generation | GeForce 900M | Gem System Hybrid (Rx M400) |

| Transistors | 5,200 million | 1,550 million |

| Die Size | 398 mm² | 125 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 13.1M / mm² | 12.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1038 MHz | 780 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1127 MHz | 1021 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1253 MHz (5 Gbps effective) | System Shared |

| Memory Size | 8 GB GDDR5 | System Shared |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | System Shared |

| Memory Bandwidth | 160.4 GB/s | System Dependent |

| Shading Units | 1536 | 320 |

| TMUs | 96 | 20 |

| ROPs | 64 | 8 |

| Pixel Rate | 72.13 GPixel/s | 8.168 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 108.2 GTexel/s | 20.42 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 3.462 TFLOPS | 653.4 GFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | Not recorded | 653.4 GFLOPS (1:1) |

| Slot Width | MXM Module | IGP |

| Power Connectors | None | Not specified |

| Bus Interface | MXM-B (3.0) | IGP |

| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan | 1.4 | 1.2.170 |

| Release Date | 2014-10-06 | 2016-05-14 |

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 980M wins in every category where both parts have recorded data. In OpenCL compute, it is 404.2 percent ahead. It has a higher average benchmark score (5,308 versus 4,727). It has more shading units, more TMUs, more ROPs, a larger die, more transistors, higher clocks, and a dedicated memory system. It also supports a higher DirectX feature level (12_1) and a newer Vulkan version (1.4). If the task is any form of GPU-accelerated computing, the GTX 980M is the clear winner.

The R8 M445DX has no recorded wins in any benchmark. Its only score is the OpenCL test, which it loses by a wide margin. It does have a lower transistor density than the GTX 980M (12.4M versus 13.1M per mm²), but that is a design efficiency metric, not a performance advantage. It also supports FP16 at the same rate as FP32 (653.4 GFLOPS), whereas the GTX 980M has no recorded FP16 figure, so in workloads that specifically use FP16, the Radeon might have a relative edge, but the database does not provide a direct comparison. The R8 M445DX was released later (2016-05-14 versus 2014-10-06), but that does not translate into better performance in the recorded data. For a laptop or system where power efficiency and integration matter more than raw compute, the R8 M445DX’s IGP design might be preferable, but the benchmark results do not support choosing it for performance. The GTX 980M is the winner in every measured test, and the R8 M445DX’s only distinction is having fewer wins, zero in fact, and a lower average score.