AMD Radeon R9 M360 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records a single direct benchmark comparison between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. In that test, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 scores 9294 points against the AMD Radeon R9 M360's 8211 points. That is a 13.2% advantage for the NVIDIA part, a decisive margin that places the two cards in different performance tiers. The GTX 465 lands in the 46th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the R9 M360 sits at the 42nd percentile. The 4-point percentile gap understates the actual score difference, as the distribution of GPU scores is dense around this range.

Context from the nearest rival lists reinforces the separation. The GTX 465's closest competitor is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M, which scores 9302, a delta of -0.1%, meaning the GTX 465 is essentially tied with that mobile part. It also sits within 0.2% of the GeForce GTX 960 (9273) and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon Vega 8 (9221). The R9 M360's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M at 8135, a delta of -0.1%, and it is 0.4% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce 945M (8099). The R9 M360's score is also 0.5% behind the GeForce GTX 980 (8167) and 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GRID K2 (8080). So the GTX 465 competes with a cluster of GPUs scoring in the 9200 to 9300 range, while the R9 M360 competes with a cluster in the 8000 to 8150 range. There is no overlap between these peer groups.

The R9 M360 does have a second recorded OpenCL score of 8211 that appears in its benchmark list, and that matches the head-to-head result exactly. The GTX 465 has only the single OpenCL test in its database profile. The GTX 465 wins the head-to-head with 1 win and the R9 M360 has 0 wins. The delta of 13.2% in the head-to-head is the same as the difference computed from the two OpenCL scores directly, confirming internal consistency in the measurement methodology.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs spring from fundamentally different design philosophies separated by five years of silicon evolution. The GTX 465 uses NVIDIA's GF100 chip built on the Fermi architecture, built on a 40 nm process node at TSMC, with a transistor count of 3,100 million transistors on a die size of 529 mm². This yields a transistor density of 5.9 million transistors per square millimeter. The R9 M360 uses AMD's Tropo chip based on GCN 1.0 architecture, made on a 28 nm node at TSMC with 1,500 million transistors on a die size of 123 mm², for a density of 12.2 million transistors per square millimeter. The GTX 465 packs more than twice the die area and more than double the total transistors of the AMD part. The die size difference matters for yield and cost in manufacturing, but from a density standpoint the R9 M360 is much denser, with 2,100 additional transistors per square millimeter over the Fermi part.

The memory subsystems diverge sharply. The GTX 465 has a 256 bit memory bus paired with 1024 MB of GDDR5, achieving a bandwidth of 102.7 GB/s at a memory clock of 802 MHz (3.2 Gbps effective). The R9 M360 uses a 128 bit bus with 4 GB of GDDR5, but its bandwidth is only 72.00 GB/s at 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective). The NVIDIA card has 30.7 GB/s more memory bandwidth, a 42.6% advantage over the AMD card, despite the AMD part running faster effective memory clocks. The larger frame buffer of the R9 M360 (4 GB vs 1024 MB) could help in texture-heavy workloads with large datasets, but the bandwidth deficit is substantial.

Compute resources tell a mixed story. The R9 M360 has 512 shading units to the GTX 465's 352, a 45% advantage in raw shader count. However, the GTX 465 has 44 TMUs versus 32 on the AMD part, and 32 ROPs versus 16. The texture rate reflects this: the GTX 465 reaches 26.75 GTexel/s, while the R9 M360 reaches 29.60 GTexel/s, a 10.7% advantage for AMD despite fewer TMUs, because of its higher clock frequency. The pixel rate is close: 13.38 GPixel/s for the GTX 465 and 14.80 GPixel/s for the R9 M360, a 10.6% AMD lead. The FP32 throughput is 855.4 GFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 947.2 GFLOPS for AMD, a 10.7% AMD advantage. So the AMD part leads in shader count, texture rate, pixel rate, and FP32, while NVIDIA leads in TMU count, ROP count, and memory bandwidth.

The R9 M360 has base and boost clocks of 900 MHz and 925 MHz respectively, while the GTX 465 has no base or boost clock recorded. The GTX 465 is a dual-slot card with a 200 W TDP and requires two 6-pin power connectors, with a suggested power supply of 550 W. The R9 M360 has no TDP, slot width, power connector, or PSU recommendation listed, consistent with its likely mobile or OEM positioning. The NVIDIA card uses PCIe 2.0 x16, while the AMD card uses PCIe 3.0 x16, a generational difference in bus interface. The GTX 465 has display outputs of 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a, while the R9 M360 has no display outputs listed.

API support differs in DirectX and Vulkan. The GTX 465 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the R9 M360 supports DirectX 12 (11_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6. The R9 M360 adds Vulkan support at version 1.2.170, while the GTX 465 has no Vulkan support recorded. For modern applications that require Vulkan, the AMD part has a clear compatibility advantage.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the recorded benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 scores 9294 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 8211 for the AMD Radeon R9 M360, a 13.2% lead for the NVIDIA card. The GTX 465 ranks in the 46th percentile of all GPUs, while the R9 M360 ranks in the 42nd.

Q: How does each card compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 465 is within 0.2% of the GeForce GTX 960 (9273) and 0.1% of the GeForce GTX 850M (9302), and 0.8% ahead of the Radeon Vega 8 (9221). The R9 M360 is within 0.1% of the GeForce GTX 950M (8135), 0.4% ahead of the GeForce 945M (8099), and 0.5% behind the GeForce GTX 980 (8167).

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The GTX 465 has 102.7 GB/s of bandwidth over a 256 bit bus, while the R9 M360 has 72.00 GB/s over a 128 bit bus. The GTX 465 leads by 30.7 GB/s or 42.6%.

Q: Does the R9 M360 have any compute advantage?

A: Yes. The R9 M360 has 512 shading units versus 352, achieving 947.2 GFLOPS FP32 versus 855.4 GFLOPS, a 10.7% lead. It also has a higher texture rate (29.60 GTexel/s vs 26.75 GTexel/s) and pixel rate (14.80 GPixel/s vs 13.38 GPixel/s).

Q: Which card has better API support?

A: The R9 M360 supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the GTX 465 supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and has no Vulkan support recorded. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The GTX 465 has 3,100 million transistors on a 529 mm² die for a density of 5.9 million per square millimeter. The R9 M360 has 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die for a density of 12.2 million per square millimeter.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every measured specification. The GTX 465 uses the GF100 chip under the Fermi architecture in the GeForce 400 generation, while the R9 M360 uses the Tropo chip under GCN 1.0 in the Gem System (R9 M300) generation. The manufacturing process is 40 nm for NVIDIA versus 28 nm for AMD, both at TSMC. Transistor count is 3,100 million versus 1,500 million, die size is 529 mm² versus 123 mm², and density is 5.9M versus 12.2M transistors per square millimeter.

The GTX 465 has no base or boost clock recorded; the R9 M360 has a base clock of 900 MHz and a boost clock of 925 MHz. Memory clock is 802 MHz (3.2 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA versus 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective) for AMD. Memory size is 1024 MB versus 4 GB, bus width is 256 bit versus 128 bit, and bandwidth is 102.7 GB/s versus 72.00 GB/s. Shading units are 352 versus 512, TMUs are 44 versus 32, and ROPs are 32 versus 16. Pixel rate is 13.38 versus 14.80 GPixel/s, texture rate is 26.75 versus 29.60 GTexel/s, and FP32 is 855.4 versus 947.2 GFLOPS. Neither card has RT cores, tensor cores, or FP16 support listed.

The TDP is 200 W for the GTX 465 with a dual-slot design, 2x 6-pin connectors, and a 550 W suggested PSU; the R9 M360 has none of these fields recorded. The bus interface is PCIe 2.0 x16 for NVIDIA versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for AMD. Display outputs are 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a on the GTX 465, while the R9 M360 has none listed. DirectX support is 12 (11_0) versus 12 (11_1), OpenGL is 4.6 for both, and Vulkan is 1.2.170 on the AMD card with none on the NVIDIA card. The release dates are 2010-05-30 for the GTX 465 and 2015-05-04 for the R9 M360. The GTX 465 has a launch MSRP of 279 USD. The GTX 465's predecessor is the GeForce 200 and its successor is the GeForce 500; the R9 M360's predecessor is Solar System and its successor is Polaris Mobile.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 465 wins the only head-to-head benchmark, so any workload that resembles the Geekbench OpenCL test will favor it. That benchmark likely stresses memory bandwidth and general compute throughput, where the GTX 465's 102.7 GB/s bandwidth and 256 bit bus give it a strong edge. The 44 TMUs and 32 ROPs also provide a solid foundation for traditional rasterization tasks, and the dual-slot 200 W design with a 550 W suggested PSU indicates a desktop card intended for sustained performance. For older DirectX 11 workloads, the GTX 465 is the better choice given its 13.2% lead in the recorded test and its position within 0.2% of the GeForce GTX 960.

The R9 M360 wins on raw compute specifications. Its 947.2 GFLOPS FP32 throughput, 512 shading units, higher texture rate of 29.60 GTexel/s, and higher pixel rate of 14.80 GPixel/s suggest it can handle shader-heavy or texture-heavy scenes that are not bandwidth-limited. The 4 GB frame buffer is four times the GTX 465's 1024 MB, which matters for applications that hold large textures or geometry in memory. The Vulkan 1.2.170 support and DirectX 12 (11_1) make it more compatible with modern graphics APIs, while the GTX 465 has no Vulkan support at all. The PCIe 3.0 x16 interface also allows faster host data transfers than the GTX 465's PCIe 2.0 x16.

For a user prioritizing benchmark performance in the database's recorded test, the GTX 465 is the clear winner. For a user prioritizing memory capacity, API modernity, and raw shader throughput, the R9 M360 has advantages that the head-to-head score does not capture. The GTX 465 is also the only one with a launch MSRP of 279 USD, which can be stated as its launch MSRP. The R9 M360's lack of a recorded TDP, slot width, and power connector data makes its power requirements uncertain, but its 28 nm process and lower transistor count of 1,500 million suggest a more efficient design per transistor than the GTX 465's 40 nm Fermi part. The end-of-life status applies to both cards, so neither is a candidate for new system builds in the current market, but within the database's historical context, the GTX 465 holds the performance crown while the R9 M360 offers a more balanced feature set for modern API demands.