AMD Radeon Vega 11 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 Comparison

The benchmark data presents a clear split: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 and the AMD Radeon Vega 11 win in different application programming interfaces, with the NVIDIA card taking two of three head-to-head tests while the AMD integrated part claims the third. Overall average scores favor the AMD Radeon Vega 11, which posts an average of 14352 against the GTX 950’s 13189, placing the AMD part in the 56th percentile of all GPUs versus the NVIDIA card’s 53rd percentile. This makes the Radeon Vega 11 a more balanced performer across the tested workloads, but the GTX 950’s victories are substantial and point to specific API strengths.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest single-test margin belongs to the AMD Radeon Vega 11 in the Geekbench Metal test. There, the AMD part scores 17392 against the NVIDIA card’s 7172, a delta of -58.8% from the NVIDIA perspective. This is a dominant win, more than doubling the GTX 950’s output. The data indicates that in Metal-based workloads, the Radeon Vega 11 is in a completely different performance class.

However, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 strikes back decisively in the other two tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the GTX 950 scores 15662 versus the Radeon Vega 11’s 13392, a 17% advantage. The Vulkan test shows an even larger gap: the GTX 950 reaches 16734 while the Radeon Vega 11 manages 12273, giving NVIDIA a 36.3% lead. These are not marginal wins; they represent substantial performance advantages in compute and graphics workloads that leverage those APIs.

The aggregate picture is nuanced. While AMD wins the Metal test by a massive margin, NVIDIA’s wins in OpenCL and Vulkan are also large, and the two NVIDIA victories carry more combined benchmark weight. The average benchmark scores reflect this, with the AMD part’s higher average driven largely by its exceptional Metal showing. The head-to-head tally of 2 wins for NVIDIA and 1 for AMD matches the per-test results, but the average score suggests the AMD part is more consistent across the three tests, with less variance between its best and worst results.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Vega 11 is the clear choice for any workload that relies on the Metal API. Its score of 17392 is not just a win; it is a blowout that dwarfs the GTX 950’s 7172. This makes the AMD part preferable for applications and games that are optimized for Apple’s Metal framework, where the data shows it outperforms the NVIDIA card by nearly 60%.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950, conversely, dominates in OpenCL and Vulkan environments. The 17% lead in OpenCL and the 36.3% lead in Vulkan indicate that the GTX 950 is the stronger option for general-purpose GPU compute tasks and for Vulkan-based games and applications. Users running software that favors these cross-platform APIs will see a tangible performance benefit from the NVIDIA card.

For a mixed workload, the AMD Radeon Vega 11’s higher average score of 14352 suggests it is the more versatile of the two, even though it loses two of the three individual tests. The GTX 950’s wins are narrower in aggregate impact, while the AMD part’s single win is so large that it lifts the overall average. The percentile ranking also favors AMD, with 56th percentile versus 53rd, indicating that across the entire GPU landscape, the Radeon Vega 11 sits slightly higher in the performance distribution.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and manufacturing processes. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 uses the GM206 chip built on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 28 nm process. This is an older, larger node compared to the AMD Radeon Vega 11, which uses the Picasso chip with GCN 5.0 architecture, built by GlobalFoundries on a 12 nm process. The process advantage is significant, and the transistor density reflects it: AMD packs 23.5 million transistors per square millimeter versus NVIDIA’s 12.9 million.

The chip sizes are similar, with NVIDIA’s GM206 at 228 mm² and AMD’s Picasso at 210 mm², but the transistor counts tell a different story. NVIDIA’s chip contains 2,940 million transistors, while AMD’s Picasso holds 4,940 million. This higher transistor count on a smaller die with a more advanced node gives AMD a substantial density advantage, which likely contributes to its higher compute throughput in certain workloads.

Memory architecture is a fundamental divide. The GTX 950 has dedicated 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 105.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon Vega 11, as an integrated graphics processor, uses system shared memory with a bus width and bandwidth that are system dependent. This means the AMD part’s memory performance is entirely reliant on the host system’s RAM, whereas the NVIDIA card has its own dedicated, fixed-bandwidth memory pool.

Compute resources also differ. NVIDIA fields 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. AMD counters with 704 shading units, 44 TMUs, but only 8 ROPs. The ROP count is a stark difference, with NVIDIA having four times as many. This likely explains why NVIDIA achieves a pixel rate of 38.02 GPixel/s versus AMD’s 11.20 GPixel/s, even though AMD’s texture rate of 61.60 GTexel/s slightly exceeds NVIDIA’s 57.02 GTexel/s.

Specification Differences

The clocks and power profiles are drastically different. The NVIDIA GTX 950 runs at a base clock of 1024 MHz with a boost of 1188 MHz, while the AMD Radeon Vega 11 has a much lower base clock of 300 MHz but boosts to 1400 MHz. This wider clock range for AMD reflects its integrated nature and power management. The TDP tells a similar story: NVIDIA’s card draws 90 W and requires a 250 W power supply with a 1x 6-pin connector, while AMD’s IGP consumes only 15 W and needs no power connectors.

Memory specifications are entirely system-dependent for AMD, listing "System Shared" for size, type, bus width, and bandwidth. NVIDIA’s dedicated memory is fixed at 2 GB GDDR5. The FP32 compute output is close, with AMD’s 1.971 TFLOPS slightly ahead of NVIDIA’s 1.825 TFLOPS. AMD also lists FP16 performance of 3.942 TFLOPS (2:1), while NVIDIA does not specify an FP16 figure.

The physical and interface specs diverge completely. NVIDIA’s card is a dual-slot, 202 mm (8 inches) long PCIe 3.0 x16 add-in board with display outputs including DVI, HDMI 2.0, and three DisplayPort 1.2 connections. AMD’s Vega 11 is an IGP with no slot width, no length, no power connectors, and motherboard-dependent display outputs. API support is similar, with both supporting DirectX 12 (12_1) and OpenGL 4.6, but NVIDIA supports Vulkan 1.4 while AMD lists Vulkan 1.3.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 11 has the higher average benchmark score at 14352, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950’s 13189.

Q: How large is the AMD’s lead in the Geekbench Metal test?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 11 scores 17392 in Geekbench Metal, which is 58.8% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950’s 7172 score.

Q: In which tests does the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 win?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 wins in Geekbench OpenCL with a 17% lead (15662 vs 13392) and in Geekbench Vulkan with a 36.3% lead (16734 vs 12273).

Q: What are the power consumption differences?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 has a TDP of 90 W and requires a 250 W power supply with a 1x 6-pin connector, while the AMD Radeon Vega 11 has a TDP of only 15 W and requires no power connectors.

Q: Do these GPUs have the same memory configuration?

A: No. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 has 2 GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory with 105.8 GB/s bandwidth, while the AMD Radeon Vega 11 uses system shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 11 ranks in the 56th percentile, which is higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950’s 53rd percentile.

The Verdict

The data supports a split decision based on the intended use case. For users working within the Metal API ecosystem, the AMD Radeon Vega 11 is the unambiguous choice. Its 17392 Metal score versus the GTX 950’s 7172 is a 58.8% advantage that cannot be overcome by any other metric. The AMD part also has the higher average score at 14352 and a better overall percentile ranking, making it the more consistent performer in this benchmark suite.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950, however, is the stronger pick for OpenCL and Vulkan workloads. Its 17% lead in OpenCL and 36.3% lead in Vulkan are decisive, and its 4x ROP advantage (32 vs 8) likely contributes to its much higher pixel rate of 38.02 GPixel/s. The dedicated 2 GB GDDR5 memory with fixed 105.8 GB/s bandwidth also provides predictable performance, unlike AMD’s system-dependent shared memory.

From a purely architectural standpoint, the AMD Radeon Vega 11 is the more advanced part, built on a 12 nm process versus 28 nm, with a higher transistor density (23.5M vs 12.9M per mm²) and more total transistors (4,940 vs 2,940 million). Its higher FP32 throughput (1.971 TFLOPS vs 1.825 TFLOPS) and FP16 capability further suggest a modern design. However, the NVIDIA card’s dedicated memory and higher ROP count make it more effective in certain rendering scenarios.

The verdict is that the AMD Radeon Vega 11 is the better overall GPU based on average score and percentile, and it is the only option for Metal-centric applications. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 is the better choice for Vulkan and OpenCL-specific tasks, where it delivers larger margins than AMD’s single win. Users prioritizing API-specific performance should pick accordingly; those wanting the best all-around average should lean toward the AMD Radeon Vega 11.