AMD Radeon R9 M380 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a decisive outcome: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is in a different performance class than the AMD Radeon R9 M380. In the only directly comparable benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3060 Mobile scores 79,483 against the R9 M380’s 12,565, a 532.6% advantage. This is not a close contest; it is a generational and architectural gap that no driver optimization or workload adjustment could plausibly close.

The RTX 3060 Mobile is the clear pick for any user running modern DirectX 12 Ultimate workloads, Vulkan applications, or compute-heavy tasks. Its recorded benchmark suite covers DirectX 9 through 12, OpenCL, Vulkan, and 2D tests, and its average benchmark score of 18,159 places it in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. The R9 M380, by contrast, has only two recorded benchmarks, Geekbench Metal and Geekbench OpenCL, and its average score of 15,521 puts it in the 58th percentile. Even when compared to its own nearest rivals, the R9 M380 sits near parity with much older or differently positioned hardware, such as the GeForce GTX 580 (1.6% behind) and the RTX 2060 (1.5% ahead).

The RTX 3060 Mobile should be selected for virtually any modern gaming or professional task. The R9 M380, based on its limited data and older feature set, is only relevant for legacy applications or systems where its specific GCN 2.0 feature set is required. The verdict is unambiguous: the RTX 3060 Mobile is the superior part by every measurable margin, and the R9 M380 should be considered only when its unique constraints, such as PCIe 3.0 compatibility or lower memory bus width, are the deciding factors.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3060 Mobile wins in every category where both parts have recorded data. In Geekbench OpenCL, the delta is a staggering 532.6% in favor of the RTX 3060 Mobile. This single data point dominates the comparison, but the RTX 3060 Mobile also has a full suite of Passmark tests that demonstrate its breadth. It scores 90 in Passmark DirectX 10, 110 in DirectX 11, 58 in DirectX 12, and 146 in DirectX 9. Its Passmark G3D score is 13,230, and its GPU compute score is 5,718. The 2D score of 588 indicates strong rasterization and display output capability.

The R9 M380 has no Passmark data, no 3DMark Steel Nomad score, and no Vulkan score. Its only other benchmark, Geekbench Metal, returns 18,476, which is not directly comparable to any RTX 3060 Mobile result. However, the fact that the R9 M380’s OpenCL score (12,565) is lower than its Metal score (18,476) suggests its compute performance is heavily API-dependent, whereas the RTX 3060 Mobile’s OpenCL score is nearly identical to its Vulkan score (80,344), indicating consistent compute throughput across APIs.

For use-case splits, the RTX 3060 Mobile wins on: modern API support (DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4), high-resolution texture workloads (6 GB GDDR6 with 336.0 GB/s bandwidth), ray tracing (30 RT cores), and AI acceleration (120 Tensor cores). The R9 M380 wins on: legacy hardware compatibility (PCIe 3.0 x16), lower memory bus width requirements (128 bit), and potentially lower power draw given its smaller transistor count, though no TDP data is recorded for it. The R9 M380 also has a higher Geekbench Metal score than its own OpenCL score, which could indicate better performance in Apple-specific Metal workloads, but this is speculative and not directly comparable to the RTX 3060 Mobile.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is vast. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile uses the GA106 chip on Samsung’s 8 nm process, with 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die. The transistor density is 43.5 million per mm². It is built on the Ampere architecture, which supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The R9 M380 uses the Strato chip on TSMC’s 28 nm process, with 2,080 million transistors on a 160 mm² die, a density of 13.0 million per mm². It is built on GCN 2.0, supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170.

The core counts differ by an order of magnitude. The RTX 3060 Mobile has 3,840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units, 48 ROPs, 30 RT cores, and 120 Tensor cores. The R9 M380 has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no RT cores or Tensor cores. This translates to a pixel rate of 68.40 GPixel/s and texture rate of 171.0 GTexel/s for the RTX 3060 Mobile, versus 16.00 GPixel/s and 48.00 GTexel/s for the R9 M380.

Clock speeds are closer than other specs would suggest: the RTX 3060 Mobile has a base of 900 MHz and boost of 1425 MHz, while the R9 M380 has a base of 900 MHz and boost of 1000 MHz. However, the massive difference in shading units means the FP32 compute is 10.94 TFLOPS for the RTX 3060 Mobile versus 1.536 TFLOPS for the R9 M380. The RTX 3060 Mobile also has FP16 at 10.94 TFLOPS (1:1), while the R9 M380 has no recorded FP16 data.

Memory architecture reinforces the gap. The RTX 3060 Mobile uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, with 1750 MHz memory clock and 14 Gbps effective, yielding 336.0 GB/s bandwidth. The R9 M380 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, with 1500 MHz memory clock and 6 Gbps effective, yielding 96.00 GB/s bandwidth. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RTX 3060 Mobile versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for the R9 M380.

The RTX 3060 Mobile has a recorded TDP of 80 W, while the R9 M380 has no TDP data. The RTX 3060 Mobile has no power connectors (portable device dependent), while the R9 M380 has no recorded power connector information. The RTX 3060 Mobile was released on 2021-01-11, while the R9 M380 was released on 2015-05-04. The former is end-of-life, as is the latter, but the RTX 3060 Mobile’s successor is unlisted, while the R9 M380’s successor is Polaris Mobile.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher compute performance in OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile scores 79,483 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 532.6% higher than the AMD Radeon R9 M380’s score of 12,565.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon R9 M380 support ray tracing?

A: No. The R9 M380 has no RT cores recorded in the database, while the RTX 3060 Mobile has 30 RT cores.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference between these two GPUs?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile has 336.0 GB/s bandwidth with 6 GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, whereas the R9 M380 has 96.00 GB/s with 4 GB GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus.

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 18,159, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. The R9 M380 has an average score of 15,521, placing it in the 58th percentile.

Q: Are these GPUs still in production?

A: Both are end-of-life. The RTX 3060 Mobile was released on 2021-01-11, and the R9 M380 was released on 2015-05-04.

Q: Which GPU supports newer DirectX features?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the R9 M380 supports DirectX 12 (12_0).

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct head-to-head benchmark in the database is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is overwhelming. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile scores 79,483, while the AMD Radeon R9 M380 scores 12,565. The delta is 532.6%, meaning the RTX 3060 Mobile is more than six times faster in this compute test. This is the single most informative data point in the comparison.

To contextualize this, consider the nearest rivals for each GPU. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Pro 5700 (average score 18,189, delta -0.2%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER (18,093, delta 0.4%), the AMD Radeon RX 460 (18,373, delta -1.2%), and the Intel Arc A770M (18,383, delta -1.2%). The RTX 3060 Mobile’s average score of 18,159 sits almost exactly in the middle of this group, within 1.2% of all four rivals. This indicates that in its own performance class, the RTX 3060 Mobile is well-balanced, neither dominating nor being dominated by comparable parts.

The R9 M380’s nearest rivals are quite different. Its average score of 15,521 is nearly identical to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (15,548, delta -0.2%), a GPU from a much higher tier in its own time. It is also within 1% of the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 (15,679, delta -1%), and it beats the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (15,290, delta 1.5%) and the GeForce GTX 580 (15,283, delta 1.6%). This is an odd grouping: the R9 M380, a mobile part from 2015, is scoring comparably to desktop parts from 2010 (GTX 580) and 2019 (RTX 2060). This suggests the R9 M380’s average score is dragged down by its limited benchmark set, which only includes two tests.

In the head-to-head, the RTX 3060 Mobile also has a broader benchmark footprint. Its Passmark DirectX 9 score of 146 is the highest among its DirectX scores, while its DirectX 12 score of 58 is the lowest. This pattern is typical for a GPU that excels in legacy API paths but is less optimized for the newest API in certain workloads. The R9 M380 has no such data, so any comparison of API-specific performance beyond OpenCL is impossible from the recorded facts.

The texture and pixel rates further illustrate the gap. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s texture rate of 171.0 GTexel/s is 3.56 times the R9 M380’s 48.00 GTexel/s. Its pixel rate of 68.40 GPixel/s is 4.28 times the R9 M380’s 16.00 GPixel/s. These ratios are consistent with the core count disparity (3,840 versus 768 shading units, a 5:1 ratio) and confirm that the RTX 3060 Mobile is not merely faster per clock but fundamentally more parallel.

The memory subsystem also tells a story. The RTX 3060 Mobile’s 336.0 GB/s bandwidth is 3.5 times the R9 M380’s 96.00 GB/s. With 6 GB versus 4 GB of VRAM, the RTX 3060 Mobile can handle larger textures and higher resolutions without spilling to system memory. The 192-bit bus versus 128-bit bus is a structural advantage that persists regardless of memory clock.

In summary, the head-to-head data is one-sided but conclusive. The RTX 3060 Mobile wins the only shared benchmark by a factor of six, and its architectural specifications (cores, bandwidth, process node) all point in the same direction. The R9 M380’s only consolation is its Metal score of 18,476, which exceeds its OpenCL score, but no RTX 3060 Mobile Metal data exists for comparison. For any user choosing between these two, the recorded data leaves no room for ambiguity: the RTX 3060 Mobile is the only reasonable choice for modern workloads.