AMD Radeon R9 M295X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data presents a decisive split between these two mobile GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile wins every shared benchmark in the database, taking both head-to-head tests with commanding margins. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X does not claim a single benchmark victory in the comparison set.

The most significant gap appears in compute workloads. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA part scores 117,866 against the AMD's 22,858, a difference of 80.6% in favor of the newer card. That is not a marginal improvement; it represents roughly a fivefold increase in raw compute throughput as measured by this workload. The Geekbench Vulkan test tells a similar story, with NVIDIA at 107,502 and AMD at 29,091, a 72.9% deficit for the older part.

However, the database also shows that the AMD card holds its own relative to its own generation. Its average benchmark score of 28,580 places it at the 74th percentile of all GPUs in the database, which is actually higher than the NVIDIA card's 71st percentile despite the NVIDIA card's far higher raw scores. This apparent contradiction is explained by the benchmark mix. The AMD card has only three recorded tests (Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan), all of which are modern API workloads. The NVIDIA card has ten recorded tests, including several Passmark legacy DirectX tests where its scores are modest, such as 88 in DirectX 12 and 131 in DirectX 10. These older API results drag down its average, even though its modern API performance is far superior.

The takeaway is clear: if the workload is modern compute or graphics through OpenCL or Vulkan, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is the overwhelming choice. If the comparison is about consistency across a broad range of API generations, the AMD card's smaller test set looks better in percentile terms, but that is a statistical artifact of limited data rather than evidence of competitive performance.

Architecture Differences

These two GPUs come from different eras of GPU design, and the architecture gap is enormous. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X is built on GCN 3.0 architecture, using the Amethyst chip, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 5,000 million transistors onto a 366 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 13.7 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile uses the Ampere architecture with the GA103 chip, built on Samsung's 8 nm process. It contains 22,000 million transistors on a 496 mm² die, achieving a density of 44.4 million per square millimeter, more than three times the AMD part's density.

The compute resources differ by a similar magnitude. The AMD card has 2,048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA card has 7,424 shading units, 232 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. That is 3.6 times the shader count, 1.8 times the texture units, and 3 times the ROPs. The NVIDIA part also includes 58 ray tracing cores and 232 tensor cores, features that simply do not exist on the GCN 3.0 architecture. This is a fundamental capability difference: the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile can accelerate ray-traced workloads and tensor operations in hardware, while the R9 M295X cannot.

Memory architecture also diverges sharply. The AMD card uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA card uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on the same 256-bit bus width, but with 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth, exactly 3.2 times the AMD figure. The memory clock difference is stark: 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) for AMD versus 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA.

The API support reflects the generational gap. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The DirectX 12_2 feature level is significant, as it is required for hardware ray tracing and other next-generation rendering features. The bus interface also differs: AMD uses MXM-B (3.0), while NVIDIA uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

Power consumption presents an interesting inversion. The AMD card is rated at 250 W TDP, while the NVIDIA card is rated at only 115 W despite delivering vastly more performance. This confirms the efficiency gains of the newer 8 nm process and Ampere architecture. The AMD card is also listed as an MXM Module form factor, while the NVIDIA card's slot width is not recorded.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon R9 M295X has an average benchmark score of 28,580, which is higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile's average of 25,740. However, this is skewed by the different test sets: the AMD card has only three recorded benchmarks, while the NVIDIA card has ten, including several legacy DirectX tests with low scores.

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA card in OpenCL compute?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile scores 117,866 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the AMD Radeon R9 M295X scores 22,858. The NVIDIA card is 80.6% faster in this head-to-head comparison.

Q: Does the AMD card have any ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has 58 ray tracing cores and 232 tensor cores.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The AMD Radeon R9 M295X has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. Both use a 256-bit bus, but the NVIDIA card's bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s is 3.2 times the AMD card's 160.0 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU is more power-efficient?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has a TDP of 115 W, while the AMD Radeon R9 M295X has a TDP of 250 W. The NVIDIA card delivers significantly higher performance at less than half the power draw.

Q: How do their percentile rankings compare?

A: The AMD Radeon R9 M295X sits at the 74th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile sits at the 71st percentile. The AMD card's higher percentile reflects its smaller, more favorable benchmark set rather than superior performance.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification. The process node is 28 nm for AMD versus 8 nm for NVIDIA. Transistor count is 5,000 million versus 22,000 million. Die size is 366 mm² versus 496 mm². Transistor density is 13.7M per mm² versus 44.4M per mm².

Clock speeds show the NVIDIA card running at 810 MHz base and 1260 MHz boost, while the AMD card has no recorded base or boost clock. Memory clocks are 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) for AMD versus 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA.

Memory capacity is 4 GB GDDR5 versus 16 GB GDDR6. Bandwidth is 160.0 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s. Shading units are 2,048 versus 7,424. TMUs are 128 versus 232. ROPs are 32 versus 96. The NVIDIA card has 58 RT cores and 232 tensor cores; the AMD card has none.

Pixel rate is 23.14 GPixel/s versus 121.0 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 92.54 GTexel/s versus 292.3 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 2.961 TFLOPS versus 18.71 TFLOPS. FP16 is also 2.961 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 18.71 TFLOPS (1:1).

TDP is 250 W versus 115 W. The AMD card uses an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface, while the NVIDIA card uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Release dates are November 2014 for AMD versus January 2022 for NVIDIA. The AMD card's predecessor is Solar System and its successor is Polaris Mobile. The NVIDIA card's predecessor is GeForce 20 Mobile and it has no recorded successor.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains two direct head-to-head benchmark comparisons between these GPUs, and the NVIDIA card wins both decisively.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile scores 117,866 against the AMD Radeon R9 M295X's 22,858. The delta is 80.6% in NVIDIA's favor. This is the largest gap in the dataset and reflects the massive difference in compute resources: 7,424 shading units versus 2,048, and 18.71 TFLOPS versus 2.961 TFLOPS. The NVIDIA card's FP32 throughput is more than six times higher, which directly translates to OpenCL compute performance.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the NVIDIA card scores 107,502 against the AMD card's 29,091, a delta of 72.9%. While slightly smaller than the OpenCL gap, it still represents the same story: the NVIDIA card is roughly 3.7 times faster in this graphics and compute API. The Vulkan gap is smaller than the OpenCL gap, which may reflect API overhead differences or the AMD card's relatively strong Vulkan driver support for its era, but the absolute scores still leave no doubt about the winner.

The AMD card's other recorded benchmark, Geekbench Metal, scores 33,790, but there is no corresponding Metal score for the NVIDIA card, so it cannot be compared directly. The NVIDIA card's additional benchmarks, including Passmark G3D at 19,288 and Passmark GPU Compute at 8,471, have no AMD equivalents in the dataset.

The nearest rival data provides context for each card's standing. The AMD R9 M295X's average score of 28,580 puts it 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000, 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX 570, 1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6800M, and 1.4% behind the AMD Radeon RX 470. The NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti Mobile's average of 25,740 puts it 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro W5700, 0.4% behind the AMD FirePro D700, 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 6700M, and 0.4% behind the AMD FirePro W7100. These rivals are all much closer to each card than the two cards are to each other, underscoring how the benchmark mix and scoring methodology can obscure the true performance gap.

The Verdict

The data supports only one conclusion: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is the superior GPU by every performance metric recorded in the shared benchmark set. It wins both head-to-head tests, with leads of 80.6% in OpenCL and 72.9% in Vulkan. It has 3.6 times the shading units, 3.2 times the memory bandwidth, 6.3 times the FP32 throughput, and 3 times the ROPs of the AMD Radeon R9 M295X. It also consumes less than half the power, at 115 W versus 250 W.

The AMD card's only statistical advantage is its 74th percentile ranking versus the NVIDIA card's 71st, and its higher average benchmark score of 28,580 versus 25,740. These figures are artifacts of the limited test set for the AMD card and the inclusion of legacy Passmark tests in the NVIDIA card's results. They do not reflect competitive performance.

For any user choosing between these two GPUs for modern workloads, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is the clear pick. It offers hardware ray tracing, tensor cores, DirectX 12 Ultimate support, 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, and vastly higher compute throughput. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X, released in 2014, is an end-of-life product with no path to competitive performance in modern APIs. Its only merit in this comparison is historical: it demonstrates how far mobile GPU performance has advanced in the eight years between these releases.