AMD Radeon Vega 8 vs NVIDIA GeForce MX350 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a split decision between the NVIDIA GeForce MX350 and the AMD Radeon Vega 8, with each GPU claiming one benchmark victory. The contests took place in Geekbench's OpenCL and Vulkan workloads, and the margins tell very different stories about the two architectures.

In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon Vega 8 posted a score of 8822, while the NVIDIA GeForce MX350 trailed at 8689. The delta of 1.5% in favor of the Vega 8 places this as a narrow win. For context, that 1.5% gap is comparable to the difference between the MX350 and its nearest rivals. The database shows the MX350 sitting within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon Pro 450 and 1.1% of the NVIDIA Quadro K2200, while the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER leads it by 1.5%. In other words, the OpenCL result here is essentially a statistical tie within the expected variance band of GPUs in this performance tier.

The Vulkan test is where the NVIDIA part separates itself decisively. The MX350 scored 13077, against 8134 for the Vega 8, a 60.8% advantage. This is not a marginal edge but a dominant one. The MX350's Vulkan result demonstrates a level of API efficiency and compute throughput that the Vega 8 cannot approach. To frame this in the database's terms, the Vega 8's average benchmark score of 9221 places it at the 45th percentile of all GPUs, while the MX350's average of 10883 sits at the 49th percentile. The Vulkan delta alone accounts for nearly the entire difference in their aggregate standing.

Looking at the overall averages, the MX350 holds a clear aggregate lead: 10883 versus 9221 for the Vega 8. That is roughly a 18% difference in average benchmark score, driven almost entirely by the Vulkan result. The OpenCL contest being nearly flat suggests that raw compute throughput is similar, but the software stack and driver-level optimizations for Vulkan give NVIDIA a substantial edge in that specific API workload.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce MX350, with an average of 10883 across its recorded benchmarks, versus 9221 for the AMD Radeon Vega 8. This places the MX350 at the 49th percentile of all GPUs, while the Vega 8 sits at the 45th percentile.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in Vulkan performance?

A: The MX350 is 60.8% faster in the Geekbench Vulkan test, scoring 13077 against 8134 for the Vega 8. This is the largest margin recorded in the head-to-head data.

Q: Is the Radeon Vega 8 competitive in any compute workload?

A: Yes, in Geekbench OpenCL the Vega 8 edges out the MX350 by 1.5%, scoring 8822 versus 8689. This is a narrow margin and the only benchmark where the AMD part takes the lead.

Q: What does the 1.5% OpenCL delta mean in practical terms?

A: It is a negligible difference. For comparison, the MX350's nearest rivals show deltas of 0.7%, 1.1%, and 1.5% in the same direction, meaning the OpenCL gap here is within the noise of GPU-to-GPU variance in this performance class.

Q: How does the MX350's Vulkan score compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The MX350's Vulkan score of 13077 contributes to an average of 10883, which places it within 1.5% of the GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER and 1.7% of the AMD Radeon RX 550, both of which have slightly higher averages.

Q: Does the Vega 8 have a Metal benchmark recorded?

A: Yes, the Vega 8 shows a Geekbench Metal score of 10706. The MX350 has no Metal benchmark in the database, as Metal is an Apple API and the NVIDIA part is not used in that ecosystem.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon Vega 8 wins in compute-style workloads that resemble OpenCL's execution model. Its 1.5% edge in that test, while small, indicates that the GCN 5.0 architecture can hold its own in general-purpose compute when the API is not heavily optimized for one vendor. The Vega 8's higher shading unit count relative to its clock speed appears to balance out, though the database does not confirm a raw throughput advantage.

The NVIDIA GeForce MX350 wins decisively in Vulkan scenarios. The 60.8% margin suggests that the Pascal architecture, combined with NVIDIA's driver stack, delivers substantially better performance in modern, low-level graphics APIs. For gaming or GPU-accelerated tasks that leverage Vulkan, the MX350 is the clear choice.

The aggregate picture reinforces this split. The MX350's average score is higher, but the Vega 8's OpenCL result shows it is not a universally inferior part. Users who prioritize OpenCL-based compute might find the Vega 8 adequate, while those who need Vulkan performance should not consider the AMD part.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every hardware specification recorded in the database. The MX350 uses a 64-bit memory bus with 2 GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory, providing 56.06 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega 8 has no dedicated memory, instead relying on system shared memory with bandwidth that is system dependent.

The MX350 has 640 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The Vega 8 has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The pixel rate reflects this difference: the MX350 outputs 23.49 GPixel/s, while the Vega 8 manages 8.800 GPixel/s. Texture rate is closer, with the MX350 at 46.98 GTexel/s versus 35.20 GTexel/s for the Vega 8.

Floating-point performance also diverges. The MX350 delivers 1.879 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the Vega 8 delivers 1,126.4 GFLOPS (or 1.126 TFLOPS). In FP16, the roles reverse: the Vega 8 achieves 2.253 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the MX350 lists 29.36 GFLOPS with a 1:64 ratio, indicating minimal FP16 support.

Power draw is similar, with the MX350 rated at 20 W and the Vega 8 at 25 W, though the Vega 8 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with no slot width, while the MX350 is a discrete chip with portable device dependent outputs.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap is significant. The MX350 is built on NVIDIA's Pascal architecture, fabricated by Samsung on a 14 nm process. The chip is codenamed GP107S and contains 3,300 million transistors on a 132 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 25.0M per mm². It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The Vega 8 uses AMD's GCN 5.0 architecture, fabricated by GlobalFoundries also on a 14 nm process. The chip is codenamed Raven and packs 4,940 million transistors on a 210 mm² die, for a density of 23.5M per mm². It supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, one version behind the NVIDIA part.

The Vega 8 is an integrated GPU, part of the Raven Ridge generation, with a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 1100 MHz. The MX350 runs at a base clock of 1354 MHz and a boost of 1468 MHz. The memory situation is a fundamental architectural difference: the MX350 has dedicated GDDR5, while the Vega 8 uses system shared memory with no fixed bandwidth.

The Vega 8 has a predecessor listed as GCN 3.0 IGP and a successor as Vega II IGP, while the MX350 has no recorded predecessor or successor. Both are end-of-life products, with the MX350 released in February 2020 and the Vega 8 released in February 2018.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear recommendation based on workload. For Vulkan-based applications, the NVIDIA GeForce MX350 is the only rational choice. Its 60.8% lead in the Vulkan benchmark is the single largest margin in the head-to-head comparison, and its average score of 10883 places it four percentile points above the Vega 8 in the global GPU distribution.

For OpenCL-centric tasks, the choice is less definitive. The AMD Radeon Vega 8 wins by 1.5%, but that is a margin within the noise of comparable GPUs. The MX350's nearest rivals show similar deltas, suggesting the OpenCL result does not represent a meaningful advantage for either part.

The MX350 also holds the edge in raw specifications that matter for gaming: higher pixel rate, higher texture rate, higher FP32 compute, and dedicated memory with known bandwidth. The Vega 8's advantages are limited to FP16 throughput and a marginally lower TDP rating, though the latter is offset by its reliance on system memory.

The verdict is straightforward: the MX350 is the stronger GPU for general use, particularly in Vulkan scenarios. The Vega 8 is only preferable when the software stack is OpenCL-only and the system memory bandwidth is sufficient, as its shared memory architecture makes performance dependent on the host platform. For any user prioritizing modern graphics APIs, the MX350's 60.8% Vulkan advantage is decisive.