AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE Comparison

The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE are two graphics processors from different eras, built on fundamentally different architectures and design philosophies. The Vega 10 Mobile is a modern integrated graphics processor (IGP) from 2019, while the GTX 460 SE is a discrete desktop card from 2010. Despite their generational gap, benchmark data places them in a similar performance tier, with the AMD part holding a slight edge. The following analysis details their architectural differences, performance characteristics, and specification deltas based exclusively on the provided data.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the available benchmark?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile scores 6476, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE scores 6389. This gives the AMD part a 1.4% performance lead.

Q: How do these GPUs compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile is 0.1% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M5000M (6481) and 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell (6407). The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE is exactly tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M (6389) and is 0.3% behind the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell.

Q: What are the key architectural differences between the two?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile uses the GCN 5.0 architecture on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, featuring 4,940 million transistors on a 210 mm² die. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE uses the Fermi architecture on a 40 nm process at TSMC, with 1,950 million transistors on a larger 332 mm² die.

Q: What is the difference in memory configuration?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile uses System Shared memory, meaning its memory size, type, bus width, and bandwidth are dependent on the host system. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE has a dedicated 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 108.8 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has higher power requirements?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE has a TDP of 150 W and requires two 6-pin power connectors with a suggested PSU of 450 W. The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile has a TDP of just 10 W and requires no power connectors, as it is an IGP.

Q: What is the production status of these GPUs?

A: Both the AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE are listed as End-of-life products. The AMD part was released on 2019-01-07, while the NVIDIA part was released on 2010-11-14.

Architecture Differences

The foundational architectures of these two GPUs could not be more different. The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile is based on GCN 5.0, built on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. This modern process allows for a transistor count of 4,940 million packed into a 210 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 23.5M per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE, in contrast, uses the older Fermi architecture on a 40 nm process at TSMC. It packs 1,950 million transistors onto a much larger 332 mm² die, yielding a lower transistor density of 5.9M per mm².

The compute configurations diverge significantly. The AMD part features 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units (TMUs), and only 8 render output units (ROPs). The NVIDIA part has 288 shading units, a higher count of 48 TMUs, and significantly more ROPs at 32. These numbers reflect different design intents: the Vega 10 Mobile is optimized for shader throughput in a low-power envelope, while the GTX 460 SE has a more balanced setup with stronger pixel-pushing capability.

The memory subsystems are entirely different in nature. The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile relies on System Shared memory, meaning its memory size, type, bus width, and bandwidth are all dependent on the host laptop's configuration. This is a hallmark of integrated graphics, where the GPU shares system RAM. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE, being a discrete card, has its own dedicated 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering a fixed 108.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The AMD part's memory clock is listed as "System Shared," while the NVIDIA part operates at 850 MHz with 3.4 Gbps effective speed.

The feature sets also differ. The AMD part supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The NVIDIA part supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but has no Vulkan support listed. Neither GPU has ray tracing cores or tensor cores. The AMD part's pixel rate is 10.41 GPixel/s and texture rate is 52.04 GTexel/s, while the NVIDIA part achieves 7.800 GPixel/s and 31.20 GTexel/s, respectively. In floating-point performance, the AMD part delivers 1.665 TFLOPS FP32 and 3.331 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), whereas the NVIDIA part delivers 748.8 GFLOPS FP32 and no FP16 support.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data shows a single head-to-head comparison, which the AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile wins. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD part scores 6476 against the NVIDIA's 6389, a 1.4% advantage. This makes the AMD part the clear winner in general compute workloads as measured by this test. The AMD part's higher FP32 throughput of 1.665 TFLOPS versus 748.8 GFLOPS likely contributes to this victory, as OpenCL heavily exercises shader and compute units. The AMD part also has the advantage of a much newer architecture with higher transistor density, which can lead to better instruction-level efficiency.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE, while losing the single benchmark, has its own theoretical wins in specific areas. Its memory subsystem is dedicated and fixed at 108.8 GB/s, which is not dependent on system configuration like the AMD part's System Shared memory. For users with a system that has slow RAM, the NVIDIA part would have a predictable, consistent memory bandwidth. Additionally, the NVIDIA part has 32 ROPs compared to the AMD's 8, suggesting it could have an advantage in fill-rate-limited scenarios, such as high-resolution rendering with heavy alpha blending, despite its lower overall pixel rate of 7.800 GPixel/s. The NVIDIA part's dual-slot design and 2x 6-pin power connectors indicate it was designed for sustained, high-power desktop operation, whereas the AMD part is a low-power IGP intended for mobile efficiency.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets for these two GPUs show stark contrasts across nearly every field. The most obvious difference is in power: the AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile has a TDP of 10 W, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE has a TDP of 150 W. This is a 15x difference in power draw, reflecting the IGP versus discrete design philosophy. The AMD part requires no power connectors and is an IGP slot width, while the NVIDIA part requires 2x 6-pin connectors and takes up a dual-slot width.

The process nodes differ by generations: 14 nm for AMD versus 40 nm for NVIDIA. This leads to the transistor count difference of 4,940 million versus 1,950 million, and die size of 210 mm² versus 332 mm². The transistor densities are 23.5M per mm² for AMD and 5.9M per mm² for NVIDIA. The shading unit counts are 640 for AMD versus 288 for NVIDIA, while TMU counts are 40 for AMD versus 48 for NVIDIA, and ROP counts are 8 for AMD versus 32 for NVIDIA.

Memory is a major separator. The AMD part uses System Shared memory for size, type, bus width, and bandwidth, making it entirely system-dependent. The NVIDIA part has a fixed 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 108.8 GB/s bandwidth and a memory clock of 850 MHz (3.4 Gbps effective). The AMD part has no base clock listed but a boost clock of 1301 MHz, while the NVIDIA part has no base or boost clocks listed. In terms of API support, the AMD part supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, while the NVIDIA part supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, with no Vulkan support. The bus interface is IGP for AMD and PCIe 2.0 x16 for NVIDIA. The display outputs are "Portable Device Dependent" for AMD, while the NVIDIA part has 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a. The NVIDIA part has a physical length of 210 mm (8.3 inches), while the AMD part has no listed dimensions. The NVIDIA part has a suggested PSU of 450 W, while the AMD part has none.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test. In this test, the AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile scores 6476, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE scores 6389. This results in a delta of 1.4% in favor of the AMD part. This is a narrow margin, indicating that despite the massive architectural and generational differences, the two GPUs perform at nearly the same level in this particular compute workload.

Looking at how these scores place them among their peers provides additional context. The AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile's score of 6476 places it 0.1% behind the NVIDIA Quadro M5000M (6481) and 0.3% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M (6493). It is 0.6% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (6513) and 1.1% ahead of the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell (6407). This shows the Vega 10 Mobile is clustered tightly with mid-range mobile GPUs from several generations.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE's score of 6389 places it in a similar cluster, but with different rivals. It is exactly tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M (6389), 0.3% behind the NVIDIA RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell (6407), and 0.9% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 (6330). It is also 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon R7 M350 (6327). The fact that both GPUs share a 37th percentile ranking versus all GPUs reinforces that they are in the same performance tier, with the AMD part holding a slight but measurable edge in this specific test. The win count reflects this: the AMD part has 1 win, and the NVIDIA part has 0 wins.