AMD Radeon R9 M295X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Comparison

The AMD Radeon R9 M295X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 represent two distinct eras of mobile graphics, separated by over a decade of architectural evolution. The data shows a decisive generational shift: the RTX 5060 wins both head-to-head benchmark comparisons by overwhelming margins, with the R9 M295X trailing by 79.7% in Geekbench OpenCL and 74.3% in Geekbench Vulkan. While the R9 M295X holds a higher percentile ranking (74th vs. 72nd) based on its average score across all GPUs, this reflects its position relative to its contemporaries rather than its absolute performance against modern silicon. The RTX 5060 delivers roughly four times the compute throughput, nearly triple the memory bandwidth, and does so at a lower power draw.

The Verdict

The benchmark results are unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 is the superior choice for anyone prioritizing raw compute performance. In the two directly comparable tests, the RTX 5060 scores 112,787 in Geekbench OpenCL and 113,321 in Geekbench Vulkan, dwarfing the R9 M295X's 22,858 and 29,091 respectively. The delta percentages of -79.7% and -74.3% indicate that the older AMD part achieves less than a quarter of the newer GPU's performance in these workloads. For users running compute-intensive applications, modern game engines with Vulkan support, or any task leveraging OpenCL, the RTX 5060 is the only rational selection.

The R9 M295X, however, still holds relevance in a narrow context. Its average benchmark score of 28,580 places it just 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (28,421) and 1.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 470 (28,996), showing it remains competitive within its own performance tier. For legacy systems with MXM slots, or for users whose software stack is optimized for GCN 3.0 architecture, the R9 M295X remains a functional, end-of-life option. Yet its 4 GB GDDR5 memory, 28 nm process node, and 250 W TDP make it an impractical choice for new builds. The RTX 5060, with its 8 GB GDDR7 memory, 5 nm node, and 145 W TDP, offers superior performance per watt and per millimeter of die area.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is vast. The R9 M295X uses the Amethyst chip on GCN 3.0 architecture, manufactured on TSMC's 28 nm process. It packs 5,000 million transistors into a 366 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 13.7 million per square millimeter. The RTX 5060, by contrast, uses the GB206 chip on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, built on TSMC's 5 nm process. It crams 21,900 million transistors into just 181 mm², achieving a density of 121.0 million per square millimeter — nearly nine times higher.

This density difference translates directly into feature disparity. The RTX 5060 includes 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads that the GCN 3.0 part simply cannot handle. The R9 M295X has no equivalent hardware. The RTX 5060 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the R9 M295X is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0). Vulkan support has been upgraded from 1.2.170 to 1.4, and the RTX 5060's 3840 shading units dwarf the R9 M295X's 2048. Even the render output units differ, with the RTX 5060 featuring 48 ROPs versus 32 on the older AMD part.

The memory subsystems reflect the generational leap. The R9 M295X uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 160.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5060 uses 8 GB of GDDR7 on a narrower 128-bit bus, yet achieves 448.0 GB/s — 2.8 times the bandwidth. This is made possible by the newer memory standard's higher effective data rate of 28 Gbps versus 5 Gbps. The R9 M295X's texture rate of 92.54 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 23.14 GPixel/s are similarly dwarfed by the RTX 5060's 299.6 GTexel/s and 119.9 GPixel/s.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results are stark and one-sided. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5060 scores 112,787 against the R9 M295X's 22,858, a delta of -79.7% for the AMD part. This means the RTX 5060 delivers approximately 4.9 times the OpenCL performance of the R9 M295X. The OpenCL test is particularly relevant for compute workloads beyond gaming, and the margin here indicates that the RTX 5060 is in a completely different performance class.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows a similar picture. The RTX 5060 scores 113,321, while the R9 M295X manages only 29,091, a delta of -74.3%. This translates to roughly 3.9 times the Vulkan performance. Vulkan is the modern cross-platform graphics API, and this margin demonstrates how far GPU compute has advanced since 2014. The R9 M295X's Vulkan score of 29,091 places it in the same ballpark as its nearest rivals — the AMD Radeon RX 570 (28,766 avg) and AMD Radeon RX 6800M (28,874 avg) — but that comparison only reinforces how dated its absolute performance is.

The RTX 5060's other benchmark results further contextualize its capabilities. Its Passmark G3D score of 20,891 and GPU Compute score of 10,899 indicate strong overall performance, while its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3,628 shows modern API efficiency. The R9 M295X has no comparable data in these tests, but its Geekbench Metal score of 33,790 suggests it performs best in Apple's Metal API, likely due to its use in certain MacBook Pro models of its era.

Specification Differences

The specification sheet reveals fundamental divergences beyond raw performance. The process node shifts from 28 nm to 5 nm, enabling the RTX 5060 to pack 21,900 million transistors into a 181 mm² die, while the R9 M295X uses 5,000 million transistors across 366 mm². Transistor density jumps from 13.7M per mm² to 121.0M per mm², a 8.8x improvement. Power efficiency is dramatically better on the newer part: the RTX 5060 has a 145 W TDP versus the R9 M295X's 250 W TDP, despite delivering far more compute.

Memory specifications differ in every field. The R9 M295X offers 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus at 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective), yielding 160.0 GB/s. The RTX 5060 offers 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128-bit bus at 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), yielding 448.0 GB/s. The newer GPU also has more shading units (3840 vs. 2048), more ROPs (48 vs. 32), but fewer TMUs (120 vs. 128). The RTX 5060's FP32 compute of 19.18 TFLOPS is 6.5x the R9 M295X's 2.961 TFLOPS, with both offering 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratios.

Physical and interface differences are pronounced. The R9 M295X is an MXM module with MXM-B (3.0) bus interface, drawing power through the module without external connectors. The RTX 5060 is a dual-slot card measuring 241 mm by 111 mm by 40 mm, using a PCIe 5.0 x8 interface, a single 8-pin power connector, and a suggested 300 W PSU. Display outputs differ as well: the R9 M295X's outputs are portable-device dependent, while the RTX 5060 offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b. The RTX 5060's production status is Active with a release date of May 2025, while the R9 M295X is End-of-life, released in November 2014.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance?

A: The RTX 5060 delivers 19.18 TFLOPS FP32 performance, compared to the R9 M295X's 2.961 TFLOPS, a 6.5x advantage.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5060 in the head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The RTX 5060 wins both tests: 112,787 vs. 22,858 in Geekbench OpenCL (-79.7% delta for the R9 M295X) and 113,321 vs. 29,091 in Geekbench Vulkan (-74.3% delta).

Q: What memory advantages does the RTX 5060 offer?

A: The RTX 5060 has 8 GB of GDDR7 with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth, versus 4 GB of GDDR5 with 160.0 GB/s on the R9 M295X, despite using a narrower 128-bit bus.

Q: Does the R9 M295X support any modern features that the RTX 5060 lacks?

A: No. The RTX 5060 adds 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores, supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12_0, and offers Vulkan 1.4 versus 1.2.170. The R9 M295X has no equivalent capabilities.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The RTX 5060 has a 145 W TDP with a suggested 300 W PSU, while the R9 M295X has a 250 W TDP with no suggested PSU listed. The RTX 5060 delivers significantly more performance at lower power.

Q: Which GPU has better standing relative to its own generation?

A: The R9 M295X ranks in the 74th percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 28,580, while the RTX 5060 ranks in the 72nd percentile with 26,331 average. The R9 M295X's nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (28,874, -1% delta), while the RTX 5060's is the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (26,011, +1.2% delta).