AMD Radeon R9 M295X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon R9 M295X and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile represent two distinct eras of mobile graphics, separated by nearly a decade of architectural evolution. The data shows a decisive performance shift, with the RTX 4070 Mobile dominating the shared benchmark suite, yet the R9 M295X remains a relevant data point for understanding legacy performance tiers.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark results available for both GPUs are limited to two compute-focused tests: Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan. In both instances, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile delivers a commanding victory over the AMD Radeon R9 M295X.

In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX 4070 Mobile scores 109,197, while the R9 M295X trails significantly with a score of 22,858. This represents a delta of -79.1% for the AMD part, indicating that the NVIDIA GPU is approximately 4.8 times faster in this compute workload. The gap is stark but expected, given the generational jump in technology.

The Geekbench Vulkan results paint a similar picture. The RTX 4070 Mobile achieves a score of 108,367, whereas the R9 M295X manages 29,091. The delta here is -73.2%, meaning the NVIDIA solution outperforms the AMD part by a factor of roughly 3.7. While the R9 M295X closes the relative gap slightly compared to OpenCL, it still loses by a substantial margin.

There are no benchmark tests where the AMD Radeon R9 M295X emerges victorious. The head-to-head data records zero wins for the AMD GPU and two wins for the NVIDIA GPU. While the R9 M295X lacks the modern feature set to compete in these specific API tests, its performance is not without context. Its average benchmark score across all tests is 28,580, which places it in the 74th percentile of all GPUs. This suggests that while it is far behind the RTX 4070 Mobile, it was a capable performer in its own right for its generation.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile scores 109,197 compared to the R9 M295X’s 22,858, a difference of -79.1% for the AMD GPU. This makes the NVIDIA part roughly 4.8 times faster in this specific test.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon R9 M295X win any benchmark against the RTX 4070 Mobile?

A: No. The head-to-head data shows the RTX 4070 Mobile winning both the Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan tests, with the AMD card recording zero wins.

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

A: The AMD Radeon R9 M295X has an average benchmark score of 28,580, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile has an average score of 27,435. Despite losing the head-to-head, the R9 M295X has a higher aggregate score due to benchmarks not shared between the two.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in overall GPU percentile ranking?

A: They are very close. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X sits in the 74th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile is in the 73rd percentile.

Q: Who are the nearest rivals for the AMD Radeon R9 M295X?

A: The nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (0.6% faster), the AMD Radeon RX 570 (0.6% faster), the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (1% faster), and the AMD Radeon RX 470 (1.4% faster).

Q: Who are the nearest rivals for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile?

A: The nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (0% difference), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (0.5% faster), the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell (1.1% slower), and the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 (1.5% faster).

Where Each One Wins

The use-case split is starkly defined by the benchmark data. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile is the clear winner for any workload that leverages modern compute APIs. Its dominance in both Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan indicates a significant advantage in general-purpose GPU compute tasks, which often underpin modern rendering techniques and professional applications. The 109,197 OpenCL score suggests it can handle heavy data-parallel workloads with ease.

The AMD Radeon R9 M295X, while losing the head-to-head, is not without a niche. Its higher average benchmark score (28,580 vs. 27,435) and superior percentile ranking (74th vs. 73rd) indicate that it performs well across a broader set of legacy benchmarks. For users running older DirectX or OpenGL applications that do not utilize Vulkan or the latest OpenCL paths, the R9 M295X may still offer competitive performance relative to its contemporary peers. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 570 and the RX 470, suggesting it slots into a similar performance tier as those older desktop parts.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every fundamental specification. The most obvious difference is memory: the R9 M295X features 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4070 Mobile doubles capacity to 8 GB of GDDR6 but uses a narrower 128-bit bus, yet achieves a higher bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s due to faster memory clocks.

Core configurations also diverge significantly. The AMD GPU has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 raster output units (ROPs). The NVIDIA GPU more than doubles the shading units to 4608, and increases TMUs to 144 and ROPs to 48. The RTX 4070 Mobile also includes 36 ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the R9 M295X.

Clock speeds tell a story of efficiency. The R9 M295X has no listed base or boost clock, but its memory runs at 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The RTX 4070 Mobile has a base clock of 1395 MHz and a boost clock of 1695 MHz, with memory at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The power envelope is dramatically different, with the R9 M295X rated at 250 W versus the RTX 4070 Mobile’s 115 W.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is generational. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X is built on GCN 3.0 architecture, using a chip codenamed “Amethyst.” It is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with 5,000 million transistors on a 366 mm² die. This results in a transistor density of 13.7M per mm². The GPU supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, and its predecessor is “Solar System.”

In contrast, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, using the AD106 chip. It is built on a much more advanced 5 nm process, also at TSMC, packing 22,900 million transistors into a smaller 188 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 121.8M per mm², nearly nine times higher than the AMD part. The RTX 4070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and the newer Vulkan 1.4 API. Its predecessor is listed as “GeForce 30 Mobile.”

The production status also differs; the R9 M295X is marked as end-of-life with a release date in late 2014, while the RTX 4070 Mobile is active, released in early 2023. The R9 M295X uses an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface, whereas the RTX 4070 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8. The inclusion of dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores in the NVIDIA part represents a fundamental shift in feature support, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-driven technologies that the older GCN architecture cannot handle.