AMD Radeon R9 M395X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The data in this comparison is decisively one-sided. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile is a modern, active-generation laptop GPU built on a 5 nm process with Blackwell 2.0 architecture. The AMD Radeon R9 M395X is an end-of-life mobile part from 2015, built on 28 nm GCN 3.0. Their average benchmark scores reflect the generational gap: the RTX 5070 Mobile averages 29,928 points across all recorded tests, while the R9 M395X averages 25,891. That is a 15.6% gap in average score, and in the one test where both chips were measured with the same API (Geekbench OpenCL), the NVIDIA part leads by 585.6%.

Who should pick which? Strictly from the data, the RTX 5070 Mobile is the only rational choice for any modern workload. It sits at the 75th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the R9 M395X sits at the 71st percentile, but that percentile similarity is misleading. The R9 M395X reaches its percentile largely through legacy driver optimization and its lone Metal benchmark, not through competitive modern performance. The RTX 5070 Mobile has nine recorded benchmark scores across DirectX 9, 10, 11, 12, OpenCL, Vulkan, compute, and 2D tests. The R9 M395X has only two recorded scores: Geekbench Metal and Geekbench OpenCL. For any current gaming, compute, or productivity task, the RTX 5070 Mobile is the clear pick. The R9 M395X might still function in an older laptop, but the data shows no scenario where it wins.

Architecture Differences

The architecture gap is enormous. The RTX 5070 Mobile uses NVIDIA's Blackwell 2.0 architecture on a chip called GB206, fabricated by TSMC on a 5 nm process. It packs 21,900 million transistors into a 181 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 121.0 million per square millimeter. The R9 M395X uses AMD's GCN 3.0 architecture on a chip called Amethyst, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 28 nm process. It contains 5,000 million transistors across a 366 mm² die, with a transistor density of just 13.7 million per square millimeter. So the RTX 5070 Mobile has over four times the transistor count in roughly half the silicon area, and its density is nearly nine times higher.

The memory systems also differ fundamentally. The RTX 5070 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128 bit bus, with memory clocked at 1500 MHz (24 Gbps effective) and a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. The R9 M395X uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256 bit bus, with memory clocked at 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) and a bandwidth of 160.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA part delivers 2.4 times the memory bandwidth despite half the bus width, thanks to the newer memory standard.

Feature-wise, the RTX 5070 Mobile includes 36 RT cores and 144 tensor cores, which the R9 M395X lacks entirely. The NVIDIA part supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The AMD part only supports DirectX 12 (12_0), Vulkan 1.2.170, and OpenGL 4.6. The RTX 5070 Mobile connects via PCIe 5.0 x16, while the R9 M395X uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The NVIDIA part is an IGP (integrated into the laptop board) with no power connectors, running at a 50 W TDP. The AMD part is an MXM module with no power connectors, running at a 75 W TDP. The production status tells the story: the RTX 5070 Mobile is active, the R9 M395X is end-of-life.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the recorded benchmarks, the RTX 5070 Mobile wins every head-to-head comparison. The only directly comparable test is Geekbench OpenCL, where the NVIDIA part scores 122,238 versus 17,829 for the AMD part, a 585.6% advantage. That is not a marginal win; it is a generational obliteration.

The RTX 5070 Mobile also has a full suite of DirectX benchmarks that the R9 M395X simply lacks. It scores 214 in Passmark DirectX 9, 192 in DirectX 11, 129 in DirectX 10, and 93 in DirectX 12. The R9 M395X has no recorded DirectX scores at all, meaning it cannot even be evaluated for legacy or modern DirectX games in this database. The RTX 5070 Mobile posts 8,279 in Passmark GPU compute, 20,355 in Passmark G3D, and 896 in Passmark G2D. The R9 M395X has none of these scores.

The R9 M395X does have one unique result: a Geekbench Metal score of 33,953. This is its only recorded win condition, and it applies only to Apple's Metal API, which is not relevant to the Windows or general GPU comparison here. Even that score does not make the AMD part competitive, because the RTX 5070 Mobile has no Metal score to compare, and Metal is not a cross-vendor benchmark for NVIDIA parts in this database. In practical terms, the R9 M395X wins nowhere. The RTX 5070 Mobile wins everywhere the data can measure.

FAQ

Q: Is the RTX 5070 Mobile really more than five times faster than the R9 M395X?

A: In the only directly comparable benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5070 Mobile scores 122,238 against 17,829 for the R9 M395X, a 585.6% difference. That is more than a fivefold advantage, though this single test reflects compute performance rather than gaming framerates.

Q: Does the R9 M395X have any advantage in memory bandwidth?

A: No. The R9 M395X has a wider 256 bit bus, but its GDDR5 memory delivers only 160.0 GB/s. The RTX 5070 Mobile uses a narrower 128 bit bus with GDDR7, delivering 384.0 GB/s, which is 2.4 times higher.

Q: Which GPU supports newer graphics APIs?

A: The RTX 5070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. The R9 M395X supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Q: Does the R9 M395X support ray tracing or tensor operations?

A: No. The R9 M395X has no RT cores and no tensor cores. The RTX 5070 Mobile has 36 RT cores and 144 tensor cores.

Q: Which GPU is more power efficient?

A: The RTX 5070 Mobile has a 50 W TDP, while the R9 M395X has a 75 W TDP. The NVIDIA part delivers far higher performance at lower power, according to the recorded scores.

Q: Is the R9 M395X still in production?

A: No. The R9 M395X is marked as end-of-life, with a release date from 2015. The RTX 5070 Mobile is marked as active, with a 2025 release date.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only true head-to-head benchmark in the database is Geekbench OpenCL, and it is not close. The RTX 5070 Mobile scores 122,238, while the R9 M395X scores 17,829. The delta is 585.6% in favor of the NVIDIA part. That means for every point the AMD GPU scores, the NVIDIA GPU scores roughly 6.86 points. This is a compute-heavy workload, and the RTX 5070 Mobile's 13.13 TFLOPS of FP32 performance against the R9 M395X's 2.961 TFLOPS explains the gap, a 4.4 times raw compute advantage.

Beyond that single test, the RTX 5070 Mobile has a full benchmark profile. Its Passmark G3D score of 20,355 places it in a performance tier that the R9 M395X cannot approach, since the AMD part has no G3D score. Its Passmark GPU compute score of 8,279 similarly has no AMD counterpart. The DirectX results tell a story of broad compatibility: 214 in DirectX 9, 192 in DirectX 11, 129 in DirectX 10, and 93 in DirectX 12. These are not stellar numbers individually, but they cover the full legacy-to-modern range, whereas the R9 M395X has no DirectX coverage at all.

The average benchmark scores also separate the two. The RTX 5070 Mobile averages 29,928 across its nine tests. Its nearest rivals include the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti at 29,945 (0.1% ahead), the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 29,783 (0.5% behind), the Radeon RX 6800 at 30,095 (0.6% behind), and the Radeon RX 6700 at 30,433 (1.7% behind). That places the RTX 5070 Mobile squarely in desktop-class performance territory, within 2% of several high-end desktop cards.

The R9 M395X averages 25,891 across its two tests. Its nearest rivals include the FirePro W7100 at 25,856 (0.1% behind), the FirePro D700 at 25,842 (0.2% behind), the Radeon RX 6750 XT at 26,011 (0.5% behind), and the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile at 25,740 (0.6% behind). That is a strange grouping, because the R9 M395X's average is inflated by its Metal score, which likely benefits from Apple-specific optimizations. In the OpenCL test, which is the fair comparison, the R9 M395X is nowhere near any of those rivals.

The percentile rankings look similar at first glance: 75th for the RTX 5070 Mobile, 71st for the R9 M395X. But the RTX 5070 Mobile achieves its percentile across a broad range of modern APIs, while the R9 M395X relies on a single Metal result. If you remove the Metal score and consider only OpenCL, the R9 M395X's average would be far below 25,891, and its percentile would drop accordingly. The head-to-head data confirms this: one test, one winner, with a 585.6% margin.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification.

Process and silicon: The RTX 5070 Mobile uses a 5 nm TSMC process with 21,900 million transistors on a 181 mm² die. The R9 M395X uses a 28 nm TSMC process with 5,000 million transistors on a 366 mm² die. Transistor density is 121.0M per mm² versus 13.7M per mm².

Clocks: The RTX 5070 Mobile has a base clock of 907 MHz and a boost clock of 1425 MHz. The R9 M395X has no recorded base or boost clocks. Memory clock is 1500 MHz (24 Gbps effective) for the NVIDIA part, versus 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) for the AMD part.

Memory: Both have 8 GB, but the RTX 5070 Mobile uses GDDR7 on a 128 bit bus with 384.0 GB/s bandwidth. The R9 M395X uses GDDR5 on a 256 bit bus with 160.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Compute units: The RTX 5070 Mobile has 4608 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The R9 M395X has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA part also has 36 RT cores and 144 tensor cores; the AMD part has no RT or tensor cores.

Pixel and texture rates: The RTX 5070 Mobile achieves 68.40 GPixel/s and 205.2 GTexel/s. The R9 M395X achieves 23.14 GPixel/s and 92.54 GTexel/s.

FP32 and FP16: The RTX 5070 Mobile delivers 13.13 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1). The R9 M395X delivers 2.961 TFLOPS in both (1:1).

Power and form factor: The RTX 5070 Mobile has a 50 W TDP, is an IGP with no power connectors, and uses PCIe 5.0 x16. The R9 M395X has a 75 W TDP, is an MXM module with no power connectors, and uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

APIs: The RTX 5070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The R9 M395X supports DirectX 12 (12_0), Vulkan 1.2.170, and OpenGL 4.6.

Release and status: The RTX 5070 Mobile was released in 2025 and is active. The R9 M395X was released in 2015 and is end-of-life, with a successor listed as Polaris Mobile.

Every specification difference points the same way. The RTX 5070 Mobile is not just a newer GPU; it is a fundamentally different class of silicon, with more than four times the transistors, 2.4 times the memory bandwidth, 4.4 times the FP32 throughput, and full ray tracing and tensor support. The R9 M395X is a legacy part whose only recorded advantages are a wider memory bus and a lower transistor count, neither of which helps in practice. The data leaves no ambiguity.