AMD Radeon Vega 8 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M Comparison
AMD Radeon Vega 8
GeForce GTX 850M
PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
Analysis: AMD Radeon Vega 8 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M and AMD Radeon Vega 8 represent two very different approaches to mobile graphics: a dedicated discrete GPU from 2014 versus a 2018 integrated graphics processor. The benchmark data shows a narrow overall edge for the GTX 850M, with an average benchmark score of 9,302 compared to the Vega 8’s 9,221. This places the GTX 850M at the 46th percentile of all GPUs and the Vega 8 at the 45th, making them near-statistical peers in overall performance. The head-to-head results confirm this tight race, with the GTX 850M winning both shared tests.
Head-to-Head Benchmarks
The most decisive victory for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M comes in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where it scores 9,821 against the AMD Radeon Vega 8’s 8,822. That is an 11.3% advantage, the largest margin in any shared benchmark. This result is notable because OpenCL workloads often scale with raw shader throughput, and the GTX 850M’s 640 shading units and 1,154.6 GFLOPS of FP32 compute give it a tangible edge over the Vega 8’s 512 shading units and 1,126.4 GFLOPS. The GTX 850M also wins the Vulkan test, scoring 8,782 versus 8,134, an 8% lead. Vulkan is a lower-overhead API, and the data suggests the GTX 850M’s Maxwell architecture handles it more efficiently than the Vega 8’s GCN 5.0 design.
However, the AMD Radeon Vega 8 is not without its own strengths. The Vega 8 has a Geekbench Metal score of 10,706, a test the GTX 850M does not appear in. While this is not a direct comparison, it shows that the Vega 8 is capable of high performance in Apple’s Metal API, likely due to its newer architecture and driver maturity on that platform. In the shared tests, the Vega 8’s Vulkan score of 8,134 is only 7.4% behind the GTX 850M’s 8,782, which is a smaller gap than the OpenCL margin. This suggests that the Vega 8 closes the gap somewhat in Vulkan-specific workloads, even if it cannot overtake the discrete GPU.
The overall average benchmark scores are remarkably close: the GTX 850M averages 9,302 and the Vega 8 averages 9,221, a difference of just 0.9%. When comparing to their nearest rivals, the GTX 850M is 0.1% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 (9,294) and 0.3% ahead of the GTX 960 (9,273), while sitting 0.1% behind the AMD Radeon R7 M380 (9,313). The Vega 8, meanwhile, is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon 890M (9,210), 0.6% behind the GTX 960, and 0.8% behind the GTX 465. These tiny deltas confirm that both GPUs are clustered in the same performance tier, and the winner in any given workload will depend on the specific API and driver optimization rather than raw hardware superiority.
FAQ
Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?
A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M leads with an average score of 9,302, while the AMD Radeon Vega 8 trails at 9,221. This is a 0.9% difference in favor of the GTX 850M.
Q: How do the two GPUs compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test?
A: The GTX 850M wins decisively with a score of 9,821 versus the Vega 8’s 8,822, giving the NVIDIA part an 11.3% advantage in this compute-oriented workload.
Q: Does the AMD Radeon Vega 8 win any benchmark tests?
A: In the head-to-head tests available, the Vega 8 does not win either. The GTX 850M takes both the OpenCL and Vulkan tests. However, the Vega 8 does have a Geekbench Metal score of 10,706, which is not available for the GTX 850M.
Q: What is the percentile ranking difference between the two?
A: The GTX 850M sits at the 46th percentile of all GPUs, while the Vega 8 sits at the 45th percentile. This one-percentile difference reflects their near-identical average scores.
Q: How does the GTX 850M compare to its closest rival, the GTX 465?
A: The GTX 850M’s average score of 9,302 is 0.1% higher than the GTX 465’s 9,294, an effectively negligible difference in real-world performance.
Q: How does the Vega 8 compare to the GTX 960?
A: The Vega 8’s average score of 9,221 is 0.6% lower than the GTX 960’s 9,273, placing the integrated GPU slightly behind this discrete NVIDIA part.
Architecture Differences
The architectural gap between these two GPUs is substantial, reflecting four years of development and different design philosophies. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M uses the GM107 chip on the Maxwell architecture, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. This chip contains 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.6 million per mm². In contrast, the AMD Radeon Vega 8 uses the Raven chip on GCN 5.0, manufactured by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. The Raven chip is significantly larger and more complex, with 4,940 million transistors on a 210 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 23.5 million per mm².
The compute configurations differ notably as well. The GTX 850M has 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operations pipelines. The Vega 8 has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and only 8 ROPs. Despite having fewer shaders, the Vega 8’s FP32 throughput of 1,126.4 GFLOPS is remarkably close to the GTX 850M’s 1,154.6 GFLOPS, thanks to its higher boost clock of 1,100 MHz versus the GTX 850M’s unspecified memory clock. The Vega 8 also supports FP16 compute at 2.253 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, a feature the GTX 850M does not list.
Memory is where the two diverge most sharply. The GTX 850M has 2 GB of dedicated DDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 32.03 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega 8 uses system shared memory, with no dedicated VRAM; its bus width and bandwidth are system dependent. This means the GTX 850M has predictable, dedicated memory performance, while the Vega 8’s memory behavior varies with the host system’s RAM configuration. The GTX 850M also has a discrete power envelope of 45 W TDP, while the Vega 8 draws only 25 W, making it far more power-efficient in absolute terms.
API support shows a generational difference. The GTX 850M supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Vega 8 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3. The Vega 8’s higher DirectX feature level (12_1 versus 11_0) indicates better support for newer DirectX 12 features, even though the GTX 850M has a newer Vulkan version. Both are end-of-life products, with the GTX 850M releasing in March 2014 and the Vega 8 in February 2018.
The Verdict
The data points to a narrow but consistent victory for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M in the tests where both GPUs are present. The GTX 850M wins both OpenCL and Vulkan head-to-head benchmarks, with margins of 11.3% and 8% respectively. Its average benchmark score of 9,302 is higher than the Vega 8’s 9,221, and its 46th percentile ranking is one point above the Vega 8’s 45th. For users who need maximum compute performance in OpenCL or Vulkan workloads, the GTX 850M is the clear choice based on this data.
However, the AMD Radeon Vega 8 is not a poor performer. Its Metal score of 10,706 suggests it excels in Apple-centric environments, and its 25 W TDP makes it significantly more power-efficient than the GTX 850M’s 45 W. The Vega 8’s system shared memory architecture means it can leverage fast system RAM, potentially exceeding the GTX 850M’s fixed 32.03 GB/s bandwidth in ideal configurations, though this is system dependent. For users who prioritize low power consumption, newer DirectX 12 feature support, or Metal compatibility, the Vega 8 has clear advantages.
The verdict is context-dependent. In pure benchmark performance, the GTX 850M wins. In power efficiency and modern API features, the Vega 8 takes the lead. Neither GPU offers a dominant advantage over the other, and the 0.9% average score difference is within the noise of real-world variation. The GTX 850M is the better choice for dedicated compute tasks, while the Vega 8 is the better choice for power-constrained or Metal-based systems.
Specification Differences
The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification category. The GTX 850M is built on a 28 nm process at TSMC, while the Vega 8 uses a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The GTX 850M’s GM107 chip contains 1,870 million transistors on a 148 mm² die, while the Vega 8’s Raven chip contains 4,940 million transistors on a 210 mm² die. Transistor density is 12.6 million per mm² for the GTX 850M versus 23.5 million per mm² for the Vega 8.
The GTX 850M has 640 shading units, 40 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, while the Vega 8 has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. Pixel rate is 14.43 GPixel/s for the GTX 850M versus 8.800 GPixel/s for the Vega 8, though texture rates are closer at 36.08 GTexel/s versus 35.20 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 1,154.6 GFLOPS for the GTX 850M versus 1,126.4 GFLOPS for the Vega 8, while the Vega 8 adds FP16 support at 2.253 TFLOPS with no FP16 listing for the GTX 850M.
Memory configurations are fundamentally different. The GTX 850M has 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus with 32.03 GB/s bandwidth. The Vega 8 uses system shared memory for both capacity and type, with system-dependent bandwidth. The GTX 850M has a 45 W TDP versus the Vega 8’s 25 W TDP. Both are IGP slot width with no power connectors. The GTX 850M uses a PCIe 3.0 x16 bus interface, while the Vega 8 is integrated directly into the system. Display outputs are portable device dependent for the GTX 850M and motherboard dependent for the Vega 8. The GTX 850M supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Vega 8 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3; both support OpenGL 4.6.
Where Each One Wins
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M wins in raw compute throughput and dedicated memory bandwidth. Its 32.03 GB/s of dedicated VRAM bandwidth is fixed and predictable, unlike the Vega 8’s system-dependent memory performance. The GTX 850M’s 11.3% OpenCL advantage and 8% Vulkan advantage make it the better choice for compute-heavy applications like OpenCL-based rendering or Vulkan games. Its higher pixel rate of 14.43 GPixel/s, more than 1.6 times the Vega 8’s 8.800 GPixel/s, suggests better fill-rate performance for high-resolution rendering. The GTX 850M also has double the ROPs (16 versus 8), which can improve performance in games that are fill-rate limited.
The AMD Radeon Vega 8 wins in power efficiency and modern feature support. Its 25 W TDP is nearly half the GTX 850M’s 45 W, making it far better suited for thin-and-light laptops where thermal and power budgets are tight. The Vega 8’s DirectX 12 (12_1) support is a full feature level above the GTX 850M’s DirectX 12 (11_0), enabling more advanced DirectX 12 effects. Its FP16 capability at 2.253 TFLOPS is an advantage for workloads that can use half-precision math, and the 14 nm process with higher transistor density (23.5M per mm² versus 12.6M per mm²) indicates a more modern, efficient design. The Vega 8 also has a higher boost clock of 1,100 MHz, and its Metal score of 10,706 shows strong performance in Apple’s ecosystem. For users building an ultra-portable system or working primarily in Metal-based applications, the Vega 8 is the superior choice.