AMD Radeon R9 M395X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile and the AMD Radeon R9 M395X represent two distinct eras of mobile graphics, separated by nearly eight years of architectural evolution. The benchmark data shows a decisive performance gap, with the RTX 4070 Mobile delivering a 512.5% higher score in the only shared test, yet the comparison reveals more than just raw speed—it highlights fundamental shifts in GPU design, manufacturing, and feature support. The R9 M395X, now end-of-life, holds a respectable 71st percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX 4070 Mobile sits at the 73rd percentile, but the actual performance delta between these two specific parts is anything but close.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The sole common benchmark between these two GPUs is Geekbench OpenCL, and the results are stark. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile scores 109,197 points, while the AMD Radeon R9 M395X manages 17,829 points. This translates to a 512.5% advantage for the RTX 4070 Mobile, a margin that effectively places the older AMD part in a different performance class altogether. To put this in context, the RTX 4070 Mobile’s average benchmark score of 27,435 places it within 0.5% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 (27,565) and essentially tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (27,425), according to the nearestRivals data. The R9 M395X, with an average score of 25,891, sits just 0.1% above the AMD FirePro W7100 (25,856) and 0.2% above the AMD FirePro D700 (25,842), showing it competes with workstation-class parts from its generation.

The OpenCL result is the only head-to-head data point, but it is decisive. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s score is more than six times higher than the R9 M395X’s, which is consistent with the massive generational leap in compute throughput. The R9 M395X does have a Geekbench Metal score of 33,953, but the RTX 4070 Mobile has no Metal result in the data, so a direct comparison on that API is not possible. The available evidence, however, strongly indicates that any compute-heavy workload would favor the NVIDIA part by a wide margin, as the OpenCL test alone demonstrates a five-fold-plus difference in raw execution capability.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures, which explains the performance gulf. The RTX 4070 Mobile uses the AD106 chip based on NVIDIA’s Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. This chip contains 22,900 million transistors on a 188 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.8 million per square millimeter. The R9 M395X, in contrast, uses the Amethyst chip based on AMD’s GCN 3.0 architecture, built on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. This older chip houses 5,000 million transistors on a much larger 366 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of just 13.7 million per square millimeter—an order of magnitude lower than the newer part.

The core configurations differ dramatically. The RTX 4070 Mobile features 4,608 shading units, 144 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 48 raster output units (ROPs). It also includes 36 dedicated ray tracing cores and 144 tensor cores, which are entirely absent from the R9 M395X. The AMD part offers 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. In terms of pixel throughput, the RTX 4070 Mobile achieves 81.36 GPixel/s versus 23.14 GPixel/s for the R9 M395X. Texture fill rates are 244.1 GTexel/s versus 92.54 GTexel/s. Floating-point performance (FP32) is 15.62 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA part versus 2.961 TFLOPS for the AMD part—a ratio of over 5:1, matching the OpenCL benchmark delta.

Memory subsystems also diverge. The RTX 4070 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth at an effective speed of 16 Gbps. The R9 M395X also has 8 GB of memory, but it is GDDR5 on a wider 256-bit bus, providing only 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth at 5 Gbps effective. The newer GDDR6 standard and higher clock speeds more than compensate for the narrower bus. The RTX 4070 Mobile supports PCIe 4.0 x8, while the R9 M395X uses PCIe 3.0 x16. API support also differs: the RTX 4070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6, while the R9 M395X is limited to DirectX 12 (12_0), Vulkan 1.2.170, and OpenGL 4.6. Ray tracing and tensor cores on the NVIDIA part enable features that the AMD architecture cannot execute at all.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4070 Mobile wins decisively in every measurable category from the data. Its 512.5% OpenCL advantage means it is the clear choice for compute-intensive applications like GPU-accelerated rendering, machine learning inference (thanks to tensor cores), or any workload that leverages DirectX 12 Ultimate features. Its higher pixel rate (81.36 vs 23.14 GPixel/s) and texture rate (244.1 vs 92.54 GTexel/s) make it superior for modern gaming at high resolutions and detail settings. The presence of ray tracing cores means it can handle real-time ray-traced effects, something the R9 M395X cannot do at all. The RTX 4070 Mobile’s 73rd percentile ranking among all GPUs, with an average score of 27,435, places it in the upper mid-range of current hardware, comparable to a desktop RTX 3090.

The R9 M395X, while decisively slower, does have a few attributes worth noting. Its 71st percentile ranking and average score of 25,891 show that, despite its age, it remains competitive with some modern mid-range parts—it is only 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT (26,011) according to nearestRivals. Its 256-bit memory bus, while slower in bandwidth (160.0 GB/s), might offer better latency characteristics in certain legacy workloads, though the data does not provide evidence for this. The R9 M395X also has a lower TDP of 75 W compared to the RTX 4070 Mobile’s 115 W, making it more power-efficient in absolute terms, though this comes with drastically lower performance. For users running older DirectX 11 or OpenGL applications that do not exploit modern features, the R9 M395X could still provide playable performance, but it would struggle with any modern title that uses DirectX 12 Ultimate or ray tracing.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile than the AMD Radeon R9 M395X in compute workloads?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RTX 4070 Mobile scores 109,197 points versus 17,829 points for the R9 M395X, a 512.5% advantage.

Q: Do both GPUs support ray tracing?

A: No. The RTX 4070 Mobile has 36 dedicated ray tracing cores, while the R9 M395X has no ray tracing cores listed in its specifications.

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

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile has 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth using GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, while the R9 M395X has 160.0 GB/s using GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile has a transistor density of 121.8 million per square millimeter on a 5 nm process, compared to 13.7 million per square millimeter for the R9 M395X on a 28 nm process.

Q: Are these GPUs comparable in overall performance ranking?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile sits at the 73rd percentile of all GPUs with an average score of 27,435, while the R9 M395X is at the 71st percentile with an average score of 25,891. Despite similar percentiles, the head-to-head OpenCL test shows a five-fold performance gap.

Q: What are the power consumption figures for each GPU?

A: The RTX 4070 Mobile has a TDP of 115 W, while the R9 M395X has a TDP of 75 W.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile | AMD Radeon R9 M395X |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | GCN 3.0 |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 22,900 million | 5,000 million |

| Die Size | 188 mm² | 366 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 121.8M / mm² | 13.7M / mm² |

| Shading Units | 4,608 | 2,048 |

| TMUs | 144 | 128 |

| ROPs | 48 | 32 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 36 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 144 | None |

| Clock Speed (Base/Boost) | 1395 MHz / 1695 MHz | Not specified |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 256.0 GB/s | 160.0 GB/s |

| Pixel Rate | 81.36 GPixel/s | 23.14 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 244.1 GTexel/s | 92.54 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 15.62 TFLOPS | 2.961 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 115 W | 75 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.2.170 |

| Slot Width | IGP | MXM Module |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2023-01-02 | 2015-05-04 |