AMD Radeon R9 M295X vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell compare to the AMD Radeon R9 M295X in average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell records an average benchmark score of 31,532, while the AMD Radeon R9 M295X averages 28,580. That places the NVIDIA part roughly 10% higher in overall aggregated performance.

Q: Which GPU sits higher in the database percentile ranking?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is in the 76th percentile of all GPUs, while the AMD Radeon R9 M295X sits in the 74th percentile. Both are close in relative standing, but the NVIDIA card holds a two-point advantage.

Q: What is the single direct head-to-head benchmark result between these two cards?

A: The database includes one shared test, Geekbench Vulkan. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 221,768, and the AMD Radeon R9 M295X scores 29,091, giving the NVIDIA card a 662.3% lead in that specific workload.

Q: What are the nearest rivals to the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell in the database?

A: The closest competitors are the NVIDIA TITAN RTX (average score 31,676, which is 0.5% higher), the NVIDIA GRID M60-1Q (31,220, 1% lower), the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 (31,206, 1% lower), and the Intel Arc Pro A30M (31,894, 1.1% higher). The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell sits within a tight 1.1% band of all four rivals.

Q: What are the nearest rivals to the AMD Radeon R9 M295X in the database?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 (average score 28,421, 0.6% lower), the AMD Radeon RX 570 (28,766, 0.6% higher), the AMD Radeon RX 6800M (28,874, 1% higher), and the AMD Radeon RX 470 (28,996, 1.4% higher). The R9 M295X sits in a tight cluster with all four within 1.4%.

Q: Which card has the higher memory bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell has a memory bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s, while the AMD Radeon R9 M295X has a bandwidth of 160.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card offers more than five times the bandwidth.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using the GB203 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 120.6 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X, by contrast, uses the GCN 3.0 architecture with the Amethyst chip, produced on a 28 nm process at TSMC. That chip has 5,000 million transistors on a 366 mm² die, giving a density of 13.7 million per square millimeter.

The process node difference is stark: 5 nm versus 28 nm. This explains the massive disparity in transistor density, the NVIDIA chip fits nearly nine times more transistors per unit area. The die sizes are comparable, 378 mm² versus 366 mm², but the architectural generation gap is enormous. NVIDIA's part is from the Blackwell PRO W generation, while AMD's is from the Gem System (R9 M200) family.

Memory architecture differs fundamentally. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell uses 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, achieving 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The R9 M295X uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on the same 256-bit bus, reaching 160.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card also has a higher memory clock at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective, versus 1250 MHz with 5 Gbps effective on the AMD side.

Compute resources diverge sharply. The NVIDIA card has 10,496 shading units, 328 texture mapping units, 112 render output units, 82 ray tracing cores, and 328 tensor cores. The AMD card has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor cores listed. The NVIDIA part's pixel rate is 269.6 GPixel/s versus 23.14 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 789.5 GTexel/s versus 92.54 GTexel/s.

Floating point performance follows the same pattern. The RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell delivers 50.53 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1 ratio). The R9 M295X delivers 2.961 TFLOPS in both, also at 1:1. The NVIDIA card is roughly 17 times faster in raw FP32 throughput.

API support differs as well. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The NVIDIA part also supports PCIe 5.0 x16, while the AMD part uses an MXM-B (3.0) bus interface, reflecting its mobile-oriented design.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear separation in intended use and performance class. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is an active production workstation card with a dual-slot form factor, 200 W TDP, and a 1x 16-pin power connector. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X is an end-of-life MXM module with a 250 W TDP and no power connectors, designed for portable devices. These are not competing in the same chassis or market segment.

For raw performance, the NVIDIA card wins decisively. Its Geekbench Vulkan score is 662.3% higher than the AMD card's, and its average benchmark score is about 10% higher. The NVIDIA card also has far more memory, newer memory technology, and significantly higher compute throughput. Any workload that stresses GPU compute, rendering, or memory bandwidth will favor the RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell.

The AMD card's only listed advantage is its lower transistor count and smaller physical footprint as an MXM module, which suits it for laptop or compact systems where a full-sized workstation card cannot fit. But the benchmark data shows no test where the R9 M295X wins. The head-to-head record is 1 win for NVIDIA, 0 for AMD.

Buyers should pick the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell for workstation-class tasks, ray tracing, tensor workloads, and any application requiring large memory capacity or high bandwidth. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X is only appropriate for legacy portable systems that require an MXM-B module and cannot accept a modern dual-slot card. Given its end-of-life status and dramatically lower performance, the AMD part is not a competitive choice in any modern workload represented in the database.

Specification Differences

Process and chip: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell uses a 5 nm process with the GB203 chip. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X uses a 28 nm process with the Amethyst chip.

Transistors and density: NVIDIA has 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, density of 120.6M per mm². AMD has 5,000 million transistors on a 366 mm² die, density of 13.7M per mm².

Memory: NVIDIA has 32 GB of GDDR7 with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth. AMD has 4 GB of GDDR5 with 160.0 GB/s bandwidth. Both use a 256-bit bus.

Memory clock: NVIDIA runs at 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective. AMD runs at 1250 MHz with 5 Gbps effective.

Shading units: NVIDIA has 10,496. AMD has 2,048.

TMUs and ROPs: NVIDIA has 328 TMUs and 112 ROPs. AMD has 128 TMUs and 32 ROPs.

RT and tensor cores: NVIDIA has 82 RT cores and 328 tensor cores. AMD has none listed.

Pixel and texture rates: NVIDIA achieves 269.6 GPixel/s and 789.5 GTexel/s. AMD achieves 23.14 GPixel/s and 92.54 GTexel/s.

FP32 and FP16: NVIDIA delivers 50.53 TFLOPS in both. AMD delivers 2.961 TFLOPS in both.

TDP and power: NVIDIA is rated at 200 W with a 1x 16-pin connector and a suggested PSU of 550 W. AMD is rated at 250 W with no power connectors and no suggested PSU.

Slot and bus: NVIDIA is dual-slot with PCIe 5.0 x16. AMD is an MXM Module with MXM-B (3.0).

Display outputs: NVIDIA has 4x DisplayPort 2.1b. AMD is portable device dependent.

API versions: NVIDIA supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. AMD supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Production status: NVIDIA is active. AMD is end-of-life.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records exactly one shared benchmark between the two cards: Geekbench Vulkan. In that test, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell scores 221,768, while the AMD Radeon R9 M295X scores 29,091. The delta is 662.3% in NVIDIA's favor.

This is a massive gap. For context, the NVIDIA card's nearest rivals sit within 1.1% of its average score, meaning the Geekbench Vulkan result is not an outlier relative to its peer group. The AMD card's nearest rivals sit within 1.4% of its average score, and its Vulkan score of 29,091 is consistent with its overall standing near the 74th percentile.

The NVIDIA card also has its own set of benchmark scores across multiple tests, including 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 at 7,025, Passmark DirectX 10 at 204, DirectX 11 at 320, DirectX 12 at 119, DirectX 9 at 397, G2D at 1,336, G3D at 33,360, and GPU Compute at 19,255. The AMD card has Geekbench Metal at 33,790 and Geekbench OpenCL at 22,858, but no shared DirectX or Passmark tests with the NVIDIA part.

The single head-to-head result tells the story: in Vulkan, the NVIDIA card is more than seven times faster. That is not a marginal edge, it is a generational leap. The AMD card's Metal and OpenCL scores are respectable for its era, but they do not appear in the head-to-head comparison because the NVIDIA card does not have those same tests in the database.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell wins every benchmark category where both cards have data. Its Geekbench Vulkan score is 662.3% higher. Its average benchmark score is 31,532 versus 28,580. Its percentile rank is 76 versus 74. There is no recorded test where the AMD card comes out ahead.

Where the NVIDIA card excels specifically: raw compute (50.53 TFLOPS FP32), memory capacity (32 GB), memory bandwidth (896.0 GB/s), pixel throughput (269.6 GPixel/s), texture throughput (789.5 GTexel/s), and feature support including ray tracing cores, tensor cores, DirectX 12 Ultimate, and Vulkan 1.4. It is also active in production, meaning ongoing driver and software support.

Where the AMD card has any qualitative advantage: it is an MXM module, which allows installation in portable devices and compact systems that cannot fit a dual-slot PCIe card. It has a lower transistor count, which historically correlates with simpler manufacturing, but that does not translate to any performance benefit in the recorded data. Its 250 W TDP is higher than NVIDIA's 200 W, but it draws power through the host system rather than a dedicated connector.

In practical terms, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell is the choice for workstation rendering, AI inference with tensor cores, ray-traced visualization, and large dataset handling. The AMD Radeon R9 M295X is only viable for legacy MXM-based laptops or specialized embedded systems where the physical form factor is non-negotiable and performance expectations are minimal. The benchmark record gives no reason to prefer the AMD card on performance grounds.