AMD Radeon R9 M395X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a stark generational split. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile is the clear performance victor, decisively winning the only shared benchmark. The AMD Radeon R9 M395X, while showing a higher percentile ranking in the overall database, does so based on a legacy workload and a different set of tests. For any modern application, the RTX 5060 Mobile is the only choice from these two. The R9 M395X is an end-of-life product from 2015, while the RTX 5060 Mobile is an active product released in 2025. The benchmark results indicate the RTX 5060 Mobile is in a different performance class entirely, despite the R9 M395X having a higher average score in its own recorded tests.

The R9 M395X’s higher percentile (71 vs 67) and average benchmark score (25891 vs 22435) are misleading in this direct comparison. The R9 M395X’s score comes from a single OpenCL test, while the RTX 5060 Mobile’s average is drawn from a much broader suite, including DirectX 10, 11, 12, and 9 tests, where its scores are relatively low (119, 168, 87, and 203 respectively). This suggests the RTX 5060 Mobile’s average is dragged down by these legacy API tests, which do not reflect its modern capabilities. In the head-to-head OpenCL benchmark, the RTX 5060 Mobile is 81.6% ahead, a massive margin that overshadows the differences in aggregate scores.

For a user looking at the database numbers alone, the directive is simple: the RTX 5060 Mobile is the superior product for compute and modern graphics workloads. The R9 M395X is only relevant for someone specifically targeting a 2015-era system with a specific need for its legacy GCN 3.0 feature set. The RTX 5060 Mobile also does this with a lower thermal design power (45 W vs 75 W), making it more suitable for thinner, lighter laptops. The verdict is that the data strongly favors the newer NVIDIA part.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are separated by a full decade of architectural evolution. The AMD Radeon R9 M395X is built on the GCN 3.0 architecture, codenamed “Amethyst,” and is part of the “Gem System (R9 M300)” generation. It is fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC, with a transistor count of 5,000 million on a 366 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 13.7M / mm². In contrast, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile uses the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, based on the GB206 chip, and belongs to the “GeForce 50 Mobile” generation. It is manufactured on a much more advanced 5 nm process at the same foundry, packing 21,900 million transistors into a smaller 181 mm² die, resulting in a significantly higher density of 121.0M / mm².

The core configurations differ dramatically. The R9 M395X has 2048 shading units, 128 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation pipelines. The RTX 5060 Mobile has 3328 shading units, 104 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. While the R9 M395X has more TMUs, the RTX 5060 Mobile has far more shading units and ROPs. The NVIDIA part also introduces dedicated hardware that the AMD part lacks entirely: 26 ray tracing cores and 104 tensor cores. This is a fundamental feature difference, as the R9 M395X has no support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing or AI-driven tensor operations.

Memory technology also represents a generational leap. The R9 M395X uses 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 160.0 GB/s. The RTX 5060 Mobile uses 8 GB of the newer GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus, but its bandwidth is significantly higher at 384.0 GB/s. This is a 2.4x increase in bandwidth, which is critical for modern high-resolution textures and compute workloads. The bus interface also advances from PCIe 3.0 x16 on the AMD part to PCIe 5.0 x16 on the NVIDIA part. The API support reflects this too: the R9 M395X supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the RTX 5060 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, enabling features like mesh shaders and advanced ray tracing.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher raw compute throughput (FP32)?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile has a much higher FP32 performance at 9.684 TFLOPS, compared to the AMD Radeon R9 M395X’s 2.961 TFLOPS. This represents a more than threefold increase in raw shader compute.

Q: How do the memory subsystems compare?

A: Both have 8 GB of memory, but they use different types. The R9 M395X uses GDDR5 with a 256-bit bus and 160.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RTX 5060 Mobile uses GDDR7 with a 128-bit bus but achieves 384.0 GB/s. The RTX 5060 Mobile has 2.4 times the memory bandwidth.

Q: What are the power consumption differences?

A: The RTX 5060 Mobile has a lower thermal design power (TDP) of 45 W, whereas the R9 M395X has a TDP of 75 W. The newer NVIDIA part delivers significantly more performance while consuming less power.

Q: Does the R9 M395X support ray tracing?

A: No. The database lists no ray tracing cores for the AMD Radeon R9 M395X. The RTX 5060 Mobile, in contrast, is equipped with 26 ray tracing cores and 104 tensor cores for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads.

Q: What is the performance difference in the shared OpenCL benchmark?

A: In the geekbench_opencl test, the RTX 5060 Mobile scored 96969, while the R9 M395X scored 17829. The RTX 5060 Mobile is 81.6% ahead in this test, a dominant margin.

Q: Which GPU is more energy-efficient?

A: Based on the data, the RTX 5060 Mobile is far more efficient. It has a 45 W TDP and produces nearly 5.7 times the OpenCL score (96969 vs 17829) of the R9 M395X, which has a 75 W TDP.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification. The process node is a key difference: 28 nm for the AMD Radeon R9 M395X versus 5 nm for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile. The transistor count is 5,000 million for the AMD chip and 21,900 million for the NVIDIA chip, with die sizes of 366 mm² and 181 mm², respectively. This results in a transistor density of 13.7M / mm² for AMD and 121.0M / mm² for NVIDIA.

Clock speeds are recorded differently. The R9 M395X has no base or boost clock listed, only a memory clock of 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The RTX 5060 Mobile has a base clock of 952 MHz, a boost clock of 1455 MHz, and a memory clock of 1500 MHz (24 Gbps effective). The shading units differ (2048 vs 3328), as do TMUs (128 vs 104) and ROPs (32 vs 48). The RTX 5060 Mobile uniquely has 26 ray tracing cores and 104 tensor cores, features absent from the AMD part.

Pixel and texture rates also show the NVIDIA part's advantage: 69.84 GPixel/s and 151.3 GTexel/s for the RTX 5060 Mobile, compared to 23.14 GPixel/s and 92.54 GTexel/s for the R9 M395X. FP32 and FP16 performance are both 2.961 TFLOPS for the AMD card, while the NVIDIA card achieves 9.684 TFLOPS in both. The TDP is 75 W for the AMD card and 45 W for the NVIDIA card. The AMD card uses an MXM Module slot width, while the NVIDIA card is an IGP. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 for AMD and PCIe 5.0 x16 for NVIDIA. The production status is "End-of-life" for the AMD and "Active" for the NVIDIA. Release dates are May 4, 2015 for the AMD and May 19, 2025 for the NVIDIA. The AMD predecessor is "Solar System" and its successor is "Polaris Mobile"; the NVIDIA predecessor is "GeForce 40 Mobile" with no successor listed.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only shared benchmark in the database is geekbench_opencl, and the result is a landslide. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile scored 96969, while the AMD Radeon R9 M395X scored 17829. The delta is -81.6% from the perspective of the AMD card, meaning the NVIDIA card is significantly faster. This is not a marginal win; it is a dominant performance gap that defines the comparison.

Looking at the broader database scores for each card provides more context. The R9 M395X only has a geekbench_metal score of 33953 and the geekbench_opencl score of 17829, giving it an average of 25891. Its nearest rival, the AMD FirePro W7100, has an average score of 25856 (0.1% slower), and the AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT is 0.5% faster with a score of 26011. This places the R9 M395X in a specific performance tier, but it is a tier based on older compute APIs.

The RTX 5060 Mobile has a much more extensive benchmark profile. Its average score of 22435 is lower than the R9 M395X's, but this is due to the inclusion of low scores in legacy DirectX tests. For example, it scores 119 in passmark_directx_10, 168 in passmark_directx_11, and 87 in passmark_directx_12. However, its modern compute scores are far higher, with a geekbench_vulkan score of 96451 and a geekbench_opencl score of 96969. Its passmark_g3d score is 18852, and its passmark_gpu_compute score is 7607. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 3013.5. These numbers show a GPU that excels in modern APIs but is not optimized for legacy DirectX 9 or 10 workloads, which explains its lower average relative to the R9 M395X.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R9 M395X wins in one specific area: the aggregate database percentile. Its 71st percentile versus the RTX 5060 Mobile's 67th percentile indicates that in the full database of all GPUs, it ranks higher. This is a statistical artifact of the benchmark suite, however. The R9 M395X’s wins are confined to the geekbench_metal test (33953), a test the RTX 5060 Mobile does not have a recorded score for. In the only direct comparison, it loses by a massive margin. Therefore, the R9 M395X "wins" only in the sense of having a higher average score based on a limited, legacy test set.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Mobile wins in every practical category. It wins the head-to-head OpenCL test by 81.6%. It wins on raw compute, with 9.684 TFLOPS versus 2.961 TFLOPS. It wins on memory bandwidth, with 384.0 GB/s versus 160.0 GB/s. It wins on pixel rate (69.84 GPixel/s vs 23.14 GPixel/s) and texture rate (151.3 GTexel/s vs 92.54 GTexel/s). It wins on power efficiency, with higher performance at a lower 45 W TDP versus 75 W. It wins on modern feature support, with dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores that the AMD card completely lacks.

The use-case split is clear. The R9 M395X is only relevant for a system that requires a specific legacy graphics feature set from the GCN 3.0 era, such as a 2015-era laptop that needs a compatible MXM module replacement. It has no future-proofing for modern games or compute. The RTX 5060 Mobile is the choice for any modern workload: gaming, content creation, or AI-accelerated tasks. Its Vulkan 1.4 and DirectX 12 Ultimate support, combined with its tensor cores, make it suitable for tasks that leverage these technologies. The data indicates that for any new purchase, the RTX 5060 Mobile is the only logical option.