AMD Radeon R9 M375 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Comparison

The AMD Radeon R9 M375 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 are GPUs from different eras and market segments, and the benchmark data reflects a decisive performance gap. The GTX 1070 wins every head-to-head test, with the R9 M375 trailing by 76.6% in Geekbench OpenCL and by 56.2% in Geekbench Vulkan. For any compute or graphics workload where these two are compared, the GTX 1070 is the clear choice; the R9 M375 remains relevant only in scenarios where its lower power footprint and older feature set are acceptable limitations.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is the superior GPU in every measurable benchmark. In Geekbench OpenCL, the GTX 1070 scores 44,700 against the R9 M375’s 10,457, a 76.6% deficit for the AMD part. In Geekbench Vulkan, the GTX 1070 posts 22,121 versus 9,682, a 56.2% gap. The GTX 1070 also holds a higher average benchmark score of 9,780, although the R9 M375’s average of 10,070 is slightly higher due to its two benchmark scores being more consistent. However, that average is misleading—the R9 M375’s nearest rivals (NVIDIA Quadro K5100M at 10,043, AMD Radeon Pro 5300M at 10,013) are all within 0.6% of its score, indicating it sits in a crowded mid-range tier. The GTX 1070’s nearest rivals (AMD FirePro W5000 at 9,803, NVIDIA Quadro M2000M at 9,832) are within 0.7%, but its absolute scores in head-to-head tests are far higher.

Who should pick which? From the data alone, the GTX 1070 is for anyone needing high compute throughput, 8 GB of VRAM, and modern API support. The R9 M375 is for legacy systems or low-power applications where its 28 nm process and 2 GB DDR3 memory are sufficient, and where the GTX 1070’s 150 W TDP and dual-slot cooler are not acceptable. The GTX 1070’s 47th percentile versus all GPUs places it in the upper half of the database, while the R9 M375’s 48th percentile is nearly identical—but that percentile is computed across all GPUs, and the head-to-head deltas show the real disparity.

Where Each One Wins

The R9 M375 wins nowhere in the provided head-to-head benchmarks. It has zero wins, while the GTX 1070 has two wins. However, the R9 M375 does have a higher average benchmark score (10,070) than the GTX 1070 (9,780), but this is due to the different benchmark sets: the R9 M375 is tested only in Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan, while the GTX 1070 includes additional tests like Passmark G3D (13,498) and Passmark GPU Compute (6,102), which skew its average lower. In direct comparisons, the GTX 1070 dominates.

The GTX 1070 wins in OpenCL by 76.6% and in Vulkan by 56.2%. The Vulkan gap is smaller, suggesting that the R9 M375’s Vulkan 1.2.170 driver support is more competitive than its OpenCL implementation, but it still loses by over half. The GTX 1070’s Vulkan 1.4 support and DirectX 12 (12_1) feature level give it a broader API advantage, while the R9 M375 is limited to DirectX 12 (11_1). For users targeting modern graphics APIs, the GTX 1070 is the only option that fully leverages those standards.

Use-case split: The GTX 1070 suits compute-heavy tasks (OpenCL, GPU compute), high-resolution texture workloads (8 GB GDDR5 at 256.3 GB/s), and modern game APIs (DirectX 12_1, Vulkan 1.4). The R9 M375 fits older DirectX 11 titles or embedded scenarios where its 28 nm process and 1,299.2 GFLOPS FP32 are adequate, but its 28.80 GB/s bandwidth and 2 GB DDR3 will bottleneck any texture-intensive workload.

Architecture Differences

The R9 M375 uses AMD’s GCN 1.0 architecture on a 28 nm TSMC process, with 1,500 million transistors on a 123 mm² die (transistor density of 12.2M / mm²). The GTX 1070 uses NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture on a 16 nm TSMC process, with 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die (density of 22.9M / mm²). The GTX 1070’s smaller process node and higher density enable nearly five times the transistors in just 2.5 times the die area.

Core counts differ drastically: the R9 M375 has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, while the GTX 1070 has 1,920 shading units, 120 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. This translates to a pixel rate of 16.24 GPixel/s for the R9 M375 versus 107.7 GPixel/s for the GTX 1070, and a texture rate of 40.60 GTexel/s versus 202.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 compute is 1,299.2 GFLOPS for the R9 M375 and 6.463 TFLOPS for the GTX 1070—a 5x difference. The GTX 1070 also has a 1:64 FP16 ratio (101.0 GFLOPS), while the R9 M375 lists no FP16 capability.

Memory architecture is a major differentiator. The R9 M375 uses 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 28.80 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 1070 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 256.3 GB/s—an 8.9x bandwidth advantage. Clock speeds also favor the GTX 1070: base 1,506 MHz and boost 1,683 MHz versus 1,000 MHz base and 1,015 MHz boost on the R9 M375. The GTX 1070’s memory runs at 2,002 MHz (8 Gbps effective), while the R9 M375’s runs at 900 MHz (1,800 Mbps effective).

The GTX 1070 is a dual-slot card with a 150 W TDP, 1x 8-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 450 W. It measures 267 mm x 112 mm x 40 mm. The R9 M375 has no listed TDP, slot width, power connectors, or dimensions, implying it is a mobile or low-power part. Both use PCIe 3.0 x16, but the GTX 1070 offers display outputs (1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a) while the R9 M375 lists none.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon R9 M375 has an average benchmark score of 10,070, which is higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070’s 9,780. However, this is due to different benchmark sets—the GTX 1070 includes Passmark tests (e.g., G3D at 13,498) that lower its average, while the R9 M375 only has two Geekbench results.

Q: How much faster is the GTX 1070 in OpenCL?

A: The GTX 1070 scores 44,700 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 76.6% higher than the R9 M375’s 10,457. This is the largest performance gap in the head-to-head data.

Q: Does the R9 M375 support Vulkan?

A: Yes, the R9 M375 supports Vulkan 1.2.170, but its Geekbench Vulkan score of 9,682 is 56.2% lower than the GTX 1070’s 22,121, which supports Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The GTX 1070 has 256.3 GB/s of bandwidth from 8 GB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, while the R9 M375 has 28.80 GB/s from 2 GB DDR3 on a 128-bit bus. The GTX 1070’s bandwidth is 8.9 times higher.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The GTX 1070 has 1,920 shading units, compared to 640 on the R9 M375. This is a 3x difference, reflected in the FP32 compute rates (6.463 TFLOPS versus 1,299.2 GFLOPS).

Q: Are both GPUs end-of-life?

A: Yes, both the R9 M375 and GTX 1070 are marked as end-of-life in production status. The R9 M375 was released on 2015-05-04, and the GTX 1070 on 2016-06-09.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only two head-to-head tests are Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and the GTX 1070 wins both by wide margins. In OpenCL, the GTX 1070 scores 44,700 versus 10,457 for the R9 M375, a delta of -76.6% for the AMD part. This is the most lopsided result, highlighting the GTX 1070’s massive advantage in compute throughput. The GTX 1070’s 1,920 shading units and 6.463 TFLOPS FP32 performance are the likely drivers, versus the R9 M375’s 640 shading units and 1,299.2 GFLOPS.

In Vulkan, the GTX 1070 scores 22,121 versus 9,682, a delta of -56.2%. This narrower gap suggests that the R9 M375’s Vulkan driver (version 1.2.170) is relatively efficient, but the GTX 1070 still wins by more than double. The GTX 1070’s Vulkan 1.4 support and higher memory bandwidth (256.3 GB/s versus 28.80 GB/s) contribute to this result.

Beyond these two tests, the GTX 1070 has additional benchmarks that the R9 M375 lacks: Passmark G3D (13,498), Passmark GPU Compute (6,102), and Geekbench Metal (18,801). These scores, while not head-to-head, demonstrate the GTX 1070’s versatility. The R9 M375 has no Metal score and no Passmark results, so its performance in those areas is unknown from the data.

The R9 M375’s highest benchmark score is its Geekbench OpenCL result of 10,457, which is lower than the GTX 1070’s lowest listed score (Passmark DirectX 12 at 48, but that is a different scale). In absolute terms, the GTX 1070’s Geekbench OpenCL score is 4.27 times higher than the R9 M375’s best. The closest the R9 M375 comes to the GTX 1070 is in Vulkan, where it reaches 9,682 versus 22,121—still a 2.28x gap.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every specification. The process node is 28 nm for the R9 M375 and 16 nm for the GTX 1070. Transistor count is 1,500 million versus 7,200 million, and die size is 123 mm² versus 314 mm², leading to transistor densities of 12.2M / mm² and 22.9M / mm², respectively. Clock speeds: base 1,000 MHz vs 1,506 MHz, boost 1,015 MHz vs 1,683 MHz, and memory clock 900 MHz (1,800 Mbps) vs 2,002 MHz (8 Gbps). Memory size is 2 GB DDR3 versus 8 GB GDDR5, with bus widths of 128-bit and 256-bit, and bandwidths of 28.80 GB/s and 256.3 GB/s.

Compute resources: shading units 640 vs 1,920, TMUs 40 vs 120, ROPs 16 vs 64. Pixel rate is 16.24 GPixel/s vs 107.7 GPixel/s, texture rate is 40.60 GTexel/s vs 202.0 GTexel/s, and FP32 is 1,299.2 GFLOPS vs 6.463 TFLOPS. The GTX 1070 has an FP16 rate of 101.0 GFLOPS (1:64), while the R9 M375 has no FP16 listing. The GTX 1070 has a TDP of 150 W, is dual-slot, uses 1x 8-pin power, and requires a 450 W PSU; the R9 M375 lists none of these. The GTX 1070 has dimensions of 267 mm x 112 mm x 40 mm and display outputs (1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a); the R9 M375 has none listed.

API support: DirectX 12 (11_1) for the R9 M375 versus DirectX 12 (12_1) for the GTX 1070. OpenGL is 4.6 for both, but Vulkan is 1.2.170 versus 1.4. The GTX 1070 supports Metal (Geekbench Metal score of 18,801), while the R9 M375 has no Metal score. The GTX 1070’s launch MSRP was 379 USD, while the R9 M375 has no launch MSRP listed. Both are end-of-life, with release dates of 2015-05-04 and 2016-06-09. The R9 M375’s predecessor is Solar System and successor is Polaris Mobile; the GTX 1070’s predecessor is GeForce 900 and successor is GeForce 20.