AMD Radeon R9 M360 vs NVIDIA Tesla M10 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The NVIDIA Tesla M10 dominates the AMD Radeon R9 M360 in both recorded benchmark tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Tesla M10 scores 10,318 against the R9 M360's 8,211, a 25.7% advantage. The Vulkan test shows a narrower but still decisive gap: 9,130 versus 8,047, which translates to a 13.5% lead for the NVIDIA card.

The average benchmark score across all recorded tests reinforces this picture. The Tesla M10 sits at 9,724, while the Radeon R9 M360 trails at 8,129. That is roughly a 19.6% difference in overall compute performance. In the database's percentile ranking, the Tesla M10 places in the 47th percentile of all GPUs, while the R9 M360 sits in the 42nd percentile. Neither card is near the top of the stack, but the Tesla M10 consistently lands higher.

The delta between the two cards is not uniform across workloads. The OpenCL gap of 25.7% is nearly double the Vulkan gap of 13.5%. This suggests the Tesla M10's advantage grows in compute-heavy OpenCL tasks, while Vulkan workloads narrow the distance somewhat. Still, NVIDIA wins both tests outright, recording 2 wins to AMD's 0.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database, the Tesla M10's average score of 9,724 puts it within 0.6% of the NVIDIA Quadro P4000 (9,665) and 0.7% of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 (9,653). It sits 0.6% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (9,780) and just 0.1% ahead of the Tesla C2070 (9,716). The R9 M360's 8,129 average places it in different company: 0.1% behind the GeForce GTX 950M (8,135), 0.4% ahead of the GeForce 945M (8,099), 0.5% behind the GeForce GTX 980 (8,167), and 0.6% ahead of the NVIDIA GRID K2 (8,080). The Tesla M10 competes in a higher performance tier than the R9 M360, and the benchmark data reflects that.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different architectural lineages. The NVIDIA Tesla M10 uses the GM107 chip built on the Maxwell architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 28 nm process. It packs 1,870 million transistors into a 148 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.6 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon R9 M360 uses the Tropo chip based on GCN 1.0 architecture, also built by TSMC on 28 nm. It contains 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die, with a slightly lower density of 12.2 million per square millimeter.

The Tesla M10 belongs to the Tesla Maxwell generation, following the Tesla Kepler line and preceding Tesla Pascal. The R9 M360 is part of the Gem System (R9 M300) generation, succeeding the Solar System family and leading to Polaris Mobile. Both are marked as end-of-life products in the database.

Clock speeds differ substantially. The Tesla M10 has a base clock of 1033 MHz and a boost clock of 1306 MHz. The R9 M360 runs at 900 MHz base and 925 MHz boost. That is a 133 MHz difference at base and a 381 MHz difference at boost. The NVIDIA card also runs its memory faster: 1300 MHz (5.2 Gbps effective) versus 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective).

Shader resources favor NVIDIA. The Tesla M10 has 640 shading units and 40 texture mapping units, while the R9 M360 has 512 shading units and 32 TMUs. Both have 16 ROPs. The Tesla M10's pixel rate reaches 20.90 GPixel/s, and its texture rate hits 52.24 GTexel/s. The R9 M360 manages 14.80 GPixel/s and 29.60 GTexel/s respectively. In raw FP32 compute, the Tesla M10 delivers 1.672 TFLOPS, nearly double the R9 M360's 947.2 GFLOPS.

Memory configurations also diverge. The Tesla M10 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 83.20 GB/s of bandwidth. The R9 M360 has 4 GB of GDDR5 on the same 128-bit bus, but only 72.00 GB/s of bandwidth due to the lower memory clock. Neither card has ray tracing cores or tensor cores.

API support shows minor differences. Both support DirectX 12, but the Tesla M10 lists 12 (11_0) while the R9 M360 lists 12 (11_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6. Vulkan support differs: the Tesla M10 lists Vulkan 1.4, while the R9 M360 lists Vulkan 1.2.170.

Physical characteristics are only recorded for the Tesla M10. It is a dual-slot card, 267 mm (10.5 inches) long, requires a single 8-pin power connector, and carries a 225 W TDP with a suggested 550 W power supply. It has no display outputs, indicating a compute or server-oriented role. The R9 M360 has no recorded dimensions, TDP, power connectors, or display outputs in the database.

Where Each One Wins

The Tesla M10 wins every recorded benchmark, so the use-case split is mostly about degree of advantage rather than different winners.

The Tesla M10's strongest showing is in OpenCL compute. Its 25.7% lead over the R9 M360 in Geekbench OpenCL reflects its higher shader count, faster clocks, and nearly double the FP32 throughput. Workloads that stress raw compute, such as OpenCL-based rendering or data processing, will see the largest benefit from the NVIDIA card. The 8 GB memory capacity also gives it room for larger datasets than the R9 M360's 4 GB.

The Vulkan test narrows the gap to 13.5%, but the Tesla M10 still wins. Vulkan workloads that are more memory-bandwidth sensitive or driver-bound may reduce NVIDIA's advantage, but the recorded data still favors the Tesla M10. The R9 M360's higher DirectX feature level (12_1 versus 11_0) does not appear to translate into a benchmark win in the recorded tests.

The R9 M360 has no recorded wins. Its lower power profile is not quantified in the database, but if power consumption matters for a given deployment, the lack of a recorded TDP for the AMD card makes direct comparison impossible. The Tesla M10's 225 W TDP is the only power figure available.

For users who need display outputs, the Tesla M10 has none. The R9 M360's display outputs are not recorded, so it is unclear whether it can drive monitors. The Tesla M10 is clearly positioned as an accelerator card, not a desktop graphics solution.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla M10 scores 10,318 versus the AMD Radeon R9 M360's 8,211, a 25.7% advantage.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Vulkan performance?

A: The Tesla M10 scores 9,130 and the R9 M360 scores 8,047, giving NVIDIA a 13.5% lead.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The Tesla M10 has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 83.20 GB/s bandwidth. The R9 M360 has 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 72.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Do both cards support the same APIs?

A: Both support OpenGL 4.6 and DirectX 12, but the Tesla M10 lists DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.4, while the R9 M360 lists DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The Tesla M10 has 640 shading units, while the R9 M360 has 512 shading units.

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

A: The Tesla M10 averages 9,724 across all recorded tests, placing in the 47th percentile of all GPUs. The R9 M360 averages 8,129, placing in the 42nd percentile.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every recorded specification category. The Tesla M10 uses the GM107 chip on Maxwell architecture, while the R9 M360 uses Tropo on GCN 1.0. Transistor counts are 1,870 million versus 1,500 million, with die sizes of 148 mm² versus 123 mm². Transistor density is close: 12.6M per mm² versus 12.2M per mm².

Clock speeds favor NVIDIA: 1033 MHz base and 1306 MHz boost versus 900 MHz base and 925 MHz boost. Memory clocks also differ: 1300 MHz (5.2 Gbps effective) versus 1125 MHz (4.5 Gbps effective). Memory size is 8 GB versus 4 GB, both GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus. Bandwidth is 83.20 GB/s versus 72.00 GB/s.

Compute resources: 640 shading units versus 512, 40 TMUs versus 32, and 16 ROPs on both. Pixel rate is 20.90 GPixel/s versus 14.80 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 52.24 GTexel/s versus 29.60 GTexel/s. FP32 is 1.672 TFLOPS versus 947.2 GFLOPS.

The Tesla M10 has recorded physical specs: 225 W TDP, dual-slot, 267 mm length, 1x 8-pin power connector, 550 W suggested PSU, and no display outputs. The R9 M360 has no recorded TDP, slot width, power connectors, suggested PSU, display outputs, or dimensions. Both use PCIe 3.0 x16 and are end-of-life products. The Tesla M10 released in May 2016; the R9 M360 released in May 2015. Neither has a launch MSRP in the database.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear winner. The NVIDIA Tesla M10 outperforms the AMD Radeon R9 M360 in every recorded benchmark, with advantages of 25.7% in OpenCL and 13.5% in Vulkan. It also offers double the memory capacity (8 GB versus 4 GB), higher bandwidth (83.20 GB/s versus 72.00 GB/s), more shading units (640 versus 512), and nearly double the FP32 compute (1.672 TFLOPS versus 947.2 GFLOPS). Its average benchmark score of 9,724 places it in a higher tier than the R9 M360's 8,129.

For compute-oriented workloads where OpenCL performance matters most, the Tesla M10 is the stronger choice by a wide margin. Its larger memory pool and higher bandwidth also make it better suited for larger datasets. The lack of display outputs on the Tesla M10 indicates it is designed for server or accelerator roles, not desktop use. The R9 M360's display outputs are not recorded, so it may or may not offer that capability.

The R9 M360's only recorded advantages are its smaller die size (123 mm² versus 148 mm²), lower transistor count (1,500 million versus 1,870 million), and higher DirectX feature level (12_1 versus 11_0). None of these translate into benchmark wins. The database shows the R9 M360 competing with mobile-class GPUs like the GeForce GTX 950M and GeForce 945M, while the Tesla M10 sits near desktop-class parts like the GeForce GTX 1070 and Quadro P4000.

Buyers should choose based on workload. If the task involves OpenCL compute, the Tesla M10 delivers a 25.7% advantage. If Vulkan is the primary API, the lead narrows to 13.5% but remains decisive. The Tesla M10 is end-of-life, as is the R9 M360, so availability will depend on existing stock or used markets. For anyone choosing between these two specifically, the Tesla M10 is the higher-performing card in every recorded metric. The R9 M360 only makes sense if its smaller physical footprint or unrecorded power characteristics matter more than raw performance, but the database provides no numbers to support that trade-off.