AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile compare to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE in average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 7203, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE scores 6389. This places the Vega 8 Mobile about 12.7% higher overall, and it ranks in the 39th percentile of all GPUs versus the 37th percentile for the GTX 460 SE.

Q: Which GPU wins in the OpenCL benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 7435 against 6389 for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE, a delta of 16.4% in favor of the AMD part.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The GTX 460 SE uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, yielding 108.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega 8 Mobile has no dedicated memory; it uses system shared memory with a system-dependent bandwidth.

Q: What is the power draw difference between the two?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile has a TDP of 25 W, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE has a TDP of 150 W. The GTX 460 SE also requires two 6-pin power connectors and a suggested 450 W power supply, whereas the Vega 8 Mobile needs no power connectors.

Q: Which GPU has a higher pixel fill rate?

A: The AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile achieves 8.808 GPixel/s, which is higher than the GTX 460 SE's 7.800 GPixel/s. The AMD part also leads in texture rate with 35.23 GTexel/s versus 31.20 GTexel/s.

Q: What API support differs between the two?

A: Both support DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.6, but the Vega 8 Mobile supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3, while the GTX 460 SE supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and has no Vulkan listing in the database.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile is built on GCN 5.0 architecture using the Raven-M chip, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The die measures 210 mm² and contains 4,940 million transistors, yielding a transistor density of 23.5 million per square millimeter. This is a modern integrated graphics processor (IGP) designed for portable devices, with the bus interface listed as IGP and display outputs dependent on the host device.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE uses the Fermi architecture with the GF104 chip, manufactured on a 40 nm process at TSMC. Its die is larger at 332 mm² but packs fewer transistors, 1,950 million, resulting in a much lower density of 5.9 million per square millimeter. This is a discrete dual-slot card with a PCIe 2.0 x16 interface and display outputs of 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a.

The compute resource allocation differs substantially. The Vega 8 Mobile has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 8 ROPs. The GTX 460 SE has 288 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This means NVIDIA's card has more texture and pixel processing hardware, but AMD's IGP has more than 77% more shading units.

Clock behavior also contrasts. The Vega 8 Mobile has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 1101 MHz, with system shared memory. The GTX 460 SE has no base or boost clock listed, but its memory runs at 850 MHz (3.4 Gbps effective). The Vega 8 Mobile's FP32 throughput is 1,127.4 GFLOPS and it supports FP16 at 2.255 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the GTX 460 SE manages 748.8 GFLOPS and has no FP16 capability.

The production timelines are far apart: the GTX 460 SE launched in November 2010 as part of the GeForce 400 generation, while the Vega 8 Mobile arrived in January 2019 as part of the Vega IGP (Raven Ridge-M) generation. Both are now end-of-life products, but the Vega 8 Mobile's predecessor is GCN 3.0 IGP and its successor is Navi II IGP, whereas the GTX 460 SE's predecessor is GeForce 200 and its successor is GeForce 500.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is clear: the AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE in the only shared benchmark test. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Vega 8 Mobile scores 7435 against 6389, a 16.4% advantage. The average scores reinforce this, with 7203 versus 6389. The AMD part also ranks higher in the overall GPU percentile, at 39 versus 37.

For users needing a low-power integrated solution, the Vega 8 Mobile is the only choice, as it consumes 25 W versus 150 W and requires no power connectors or external power supply. Its system shared memory approach simplifies integration into laptops and compact devices. The GTX 460 SE, by contrast, demands a 450 W power supply and dual 6-pin connectors, making it unsuitable for portable or power-constrained builds.

However, the GTX 460 SE offers dedicated GDDR5 memory with 108.8 GB/s of bandwidth and a 256-bit bus, which can be advantageous in memory-bound scenarios where system shared memory might become a bottleneck. It also has more ROPs (32 versus 8) and TMUs (48 versus 32), suggesting stronger raw pixel and texture throughput in certain workloads, despite its lower overall compute score.

The data suggests the Vega 8 Mobile is the better all-around performer in compute benchmarks, while the GTX 460 SE retains strengths in memory bandwidth and fixed-function rasterization hardware. For modern applications and API support, the Vega 8 Mobile's Vulkan 1.3 and DirectX 12_1 support give it a forward-looking edge over the GTX 460 SE's DirectX 12 (11_0) and no Vulkan support.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE |

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

| Architecture | GCN 5.0 | Fermi |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 40 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 4,940 million | 1,950 million |

| Die Size | 210 mm² | 332 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 23.5M / mm² | 5.9M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 300 MHz | Not listed |

| Boost Clock | 1101 MHz | Not listed |

| Memory Size | System Shared | 1024 MB |

| Memory Type | System Shared | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | System Shared | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | System Dependent | 108.8 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 512 | 288 |

| TMUs | 32 | 48 |

| ROPs | 8 | 32 |

| Pixel Rate | 8.808 GPixel/s | 7.800 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 35.23 GTexel/s | 31.20 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 1,127.4 GFLOPS | 748.8 GFLOPS |

| FP16 | 2.255 TFLOPS (2:1) | Not listed |

| TDP | 25 W | 150 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 2x 6-pin |

| Suggested PSU | Not listed | 450 W |

| Bus Interface | IGP | PCIe 2.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a |

| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 (11_0) |

| Vulkan | 1.3 | Not listed |

| Launch Date | 2019-01-07 | 2010-11-14 |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains exactly one head-to-head benchmark between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile scored 7435, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 SE scored 6389. This represents a 16.4% advantage for the AMD part, and it is the sole win recorded for either GPU in this comparison.

The average benchmark scores tell a similar story. The Vega 8 Mobile averages 7203 across all recorded tests, while the GTX 460 SE averages 6389, a gap of 814 points or roughly 12.7%. This average places the Vega 8 Mobile in the 39th percentile of all GPUs, just above the GTX 460 SE's 37th percentile.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each card adds context to these scores. The Vega 8 Mobile's closest competitor is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, which scores 7222, a -0.3% delta. The GTX 560 SE is nearly tied at 7171, and the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 scores 7170. Even the GTX 970, a much higher-tier card, scores only 7157, placing it 0.6% behind the Vega 8 Mobile in this particular benchmark set.

The GTX 460 SE's nearest rivals show a different competitive landscape. It ties exactly with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M at 6389, has a -0.3% delta against the RTX PRO 5000 72 GB Blackwell at 6407, and leads the AMD Radeon Pro WX 4100 by 0.9% and the AMD Radeon R7 M350 by 1%. Notably, the GTX 460 SE's average score places it in similar company to much newer and more specialized GPUs, suggesting its legacy compute performance remains competitive in synthetic benchmarks.

The performance per watt is a stark differentiator. The Vega 8 Mobile delivers its 7203 average score within a 25 W TDP, whereas the GTX 460 SE requires 150 W for its 6389 average. This means the AMD IGP achieves roughly 288 points per watt versus about 43 points per watt for the NVIDIA card, a sixfold efficiency advantage. For any power-constrained application, the data overwhelmingly favors the Vega 8 Mobile.

In terms of raw throughput, the Vega 8 Mobile also leads in FP32 compute with 1,127.4 GFLOPS versus 748.8 GFLOPS, a 50.5% advantage. Its FP16 capability adds another dimension, offering 2.255 TFLOPS for workloads that can use reduced precision. The GTX 460 SE has no FP16 support in the database, limiting its usefulness in modern AI or compute tasks that leverage half-precision arithmetic.

The GTX 460 SE's advantages appear in memory architecture. Its 108.8 GB/s of dedicated bandwidth on a 256-bit bus is substantially higher than the Vega 8 Mobile's system-dependent shared memory, which could theoretically bottleneck in memory-heavy scenarios. The NVIDIA card also has 32 ROPs versus 8, giving it 4x the pixel output capacity, and 48 TMUs versus 32, a 50% advantage in texture units. However, these hardware advantages do not translate into higher benchmark scores in the recorded data, as the Vega 8 Mobile still wins the OpenCL test by 16.4%.