NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti vs NVIDIA GeForce MX350 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark between these two cards is Geekbench OpenCL, and it tells a clear story. The GTX 560 Ti scores 10,690, while the MX350 scores 8,689. That is a delta of -18.7% for the MX350, meaning the older Fermi card is roughly 19% faster in raw compute throughput. This is a substantial gap, and it flips the expected narrative of newer-is-better. The MX350 cannot catch the GTX 560 Ti in this test, and the margin is not a rounding error — it is a decisive win for the 2011 card.

However, the MX350 has a second benchmark result that the GTX 560 Ti lacks: a Geekbench Vulkan score of 13,077. The absence of a Vulkan score for the GTX 560 Ti is itself informative, as the Fermi architecture predates Vulkan support entirely. This means the MX350 has a distinct compatibility advantage in modern APIs, even if it loses the raw OpenCL race. The data does not show how these two would compare under Vulkan, but the MX350’s ability to run the test at all is a point in its favor.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the MX350’s average score across all tests is 10,883, while the GTX 560 Ti averages 10,690. This is a narrow difference of about 1.8%, but it flips the head-to-head result. The Vulkan score boosts the MX350’s average above the GTX 560 Ti’s single OpenCL result. So while the GTX 560 Ti wins the specific OpenCL test, the MX350 wins the aggregate. This creates an interesting tension: one card is faster in a legacy API, the other is more balanced across modern workloads.

Both cards sit at the 49th percentile among all GPUs, meaning they are statistically equivalent in overall standing. The nearest rivals for each reinforce this parity. The MX350’s closest competitor, the AMD Radeon RX 550, scores 11,075, just 1.7% higher. The GTX 560 Ti’s nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K2200, scores 10,761, which is 0.7% higher. Neither card is far from its peers, and neither has a meaningful performance cushion. The MX350 is 1.5% behind the GTX 1650 SUPER, while the GTX 560 Ti is 0.6% ahead of the RX 6600S. These are all deltaPct values within a couple of points, suggesting both cards are clustered in a tight performance band.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is generational. The MX350 uses the GP107S chip on a 14 nm process from Samsung, while the GTX 560 Ti uses the GF114 chip on a 40 nm process from TSMC. That is a massive process node difference — 14 nm vs 40 nm — which explains why the MX350 has a transistor density of 25.0M per mm² compared to the GTX 560 Ti’s 5.9M per mm². The MX350 packs 3,300 million transistors into a 132 mm² die, while the GTX 560 Ti fits 1,950 million transistors into a much larger 332 mm² die. The MX350 is smaller, denser, and far more efficient in manufacturing terms.

The architectures themselves are from different eras: the MX350 is Pascal, while the GTX 560 Ti is Fermi 2.0. Pascal is a more modern design with better instruction scheduling and power management. The MX350 has 640 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, whereas the GTX 560 Ti has 384 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The GTX 560 Ti has more texture units and ROPs, which helps it in fill-rate-bound tasks, but the MX350 has more than 60% more shading units. This is a classic trade-off: the MX350 has more compute cores, but they run at lower clocks and with a narrower memory bus.

Clock speeds also diverge. The MX350 has a base clock of 1354 MHz and a boost of 1468 MHz, while the GTX 560 Ti has no base or boost clock listed — only a memory clock of 1002 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The MX350’s higher core clock gives it a per-core throughput advantage, but the GTX 560 Ti compensates with more texture and pixel processing hardware. The pixel rate tells this story: the MX350 achieves 23.49 GPixel/s, while the GTX 560 Ti achieves 13.17 GPixel/s. The MX350 is 78% faster in pixel throughput. Texture rate is closer: 46.98 GTexel/s for the MX350 vs 52.67 GTexel/s for the GTX 560 Ti, a 12% advantage for the older card.

Memory is another chasm. The MX350 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 64-bit bus, yielding 56.06 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 560 Ti has only 1024 MB of GDDR5, but on a 256-bit bus, yielding 128.3 GB/s — more than double the bandwidth. This is a huge difference. The GTX 560 Ti can feed its cores far more quickly, which matters in high-resolution textures and memory-heavy scenes. The MX350’s narrower bus is a bottleneck, even though it has more VRAM capacity.

Power consumption reflects the process node gap. The MX350 draws 20 W and requires no power connectors. The GTX 560 Ti draws 170 W and needs two 6-pin connectors. That is an 8.5x difference in TDP. The MX350 is clearly designed for portability and low-power systems, while the GTX 560 Ti is a desktop card that expects a 450 W PSU. The GTX 560 Ti is also a dual-slot card with a 229 mm length, whereas the MX350 has no listed dimensions and its display outputs are described as "Portable Device Dependent" — indicating it is meant for laptops, not desktop towers.

FAQ

Q: Which card has better raw compute performance in OpenCL?

A: The GTX 560 Ti. It scores 10,690 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the MX350 scores 8,689. That is an 18.7% lead for the GTX 560 Ti.

Q: Does the MX350 support Vulkan?

A: Yes, the MX350 has a Geekbench Vulkan score of 13,077. The GTX 560 Ti has no Vulkan score listed, and its API support does not include Vulkan, only DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and no Vulkan entry.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The GTX 560 Ti, with 128.3 GB/s on a 256-bit bus. The MX350 has 56.06 GB/s on a 64-bit bus. The GTX 560 Ti has more than double the bandwidth.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The MX350 has an average benchmark score of 10,883, while the GTX 560 Ti averages 10,690. The MX350 is about 1.8% higher, driven by its Vulkan result.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The MX350 has a TDP of 20 W with no power connectors. The GTX 560 Ti has a TDP of 170 W and requires two 6-pin connectors and a 450 W PSU. The MX350 uses 8.5x less power.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The MX350 has 640 shading units, while the GTX 560 Ti has 384. The MX350 has 66% more shading units, though the GTX 560 Ti has more TMUs (64 vs 32) and ROPs (32 vs 16).

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The MX350 uses a 14 nm process from Samsung, while the GTX 560 Ti uses 40 nm from TSMC. Transistor counts are 3,300 million vs 1,950 million, and die size is 132 mm² vs 332 mm². The MX350’s density is 25.0M per mm², the GTX 560 Ti’s is 5.9M per mm².

Core configuration: the MX350 has 640 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The GTX 560 Ti has 384 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Clock speeds: the MX350 runs at 1354 MHz base and 1468 MHz boost. The GTX 560 Ti has no base or boost clock listed. Memory: the MX350 has 2 GB GDDR5 on a 64-bit bus at 56.06 GB/s. The GTX 560 Ti has 1024 MB GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus at 128.3 GB/s. Memory clock: 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective) for the MX350 vs 1002 MHz (4 Gbps effective) for the GTX 560 Ti.

Pixel rate is 23.49 GPixel/s for the MX350 vs 13.17 GPixel/s for the GTX 560 Ti. Texture rate is 46.98 GTexel/s vs 52.67 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 1.879 TFLOPS for the MX350 vs 1,263.4 GFLOPS for the GTX 560 Ti. The MX350 also has FP16 of 29.36 GFLOPS (1:64), while the GTX 560 Ti has no FP16 listing.

Power and physical: the MX350 has a 20 W TDP, no power connectors, and no slot width. The GTX 560 Ti has a 170 W TDP, two 6-pin connectors, is dual-slot, and is 229 mm long. Bus interface: PCIe 3.0 x4 for the MX350 vs PCIe 2.0 x16 for the GTX 560 Ti. Display outputs: the MX350 is "Portable Device Dependent," while the GTX 560 Ti has 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a.

API support: the MX350 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 560 Ti supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but no Vulkan. Release dates are 2020-02-09 for the MX350 and 2011-01-24 for the GTX 560 Ti. The GTX 560 Ti has a launch MSRP of 249 USD, while the MX350 has none listed.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 560 Ti wins in raw OpenCL compute, memory bandwidth, and texture throughput. Its 128.3 GB/s bandwidth is 2.3x higher than the MX350’s 56.06 GB/s, which makes it better suited for memory-heavy workloads. Its texture rate of 52.67 GTexel/s edges out the MX350’s 46.98 GTexel/s, so it will handle filtered texture operations slightly better. The GTX 560 Ti also has more ROPs (32 vs 16), which helps in fill-rate-bound scenarios, though its pixel rate is lower due to clock differences.

The MX350 wins in shading unit count, pixel rate, FP32 compute, and power efficiency. Its 640 shading units give it a 66% advantage over the GTX 560 Ti’s 384. Its pixel rate of 23.49 GPixel/s is 78% higher, meaning it can drive more pixels per second despite the narrower bus. FP32 of 1.879 TFLOPS is 49% higher than the GTX 560 Ti’s 1,263.4 GFLOPS. The MX350 also has a Vulkan score of 13,077, which the GTX 560 Ti cannot match because it lacks Vulkan support. And at 20 W vs 170 W, the MX350 is dramatically more efficient.

The Verdict

The data points to two different use cases rather than a single winner. For legacy compute workloads, especially OpenCL, the GTX 560 Ti is the choice — it leads by 18.7% in that specific test and offers more than double the memory bandwidth. If the task involves large textures or memory-bound operations, the GTX 560 Ti’s 256-bit bus is a decisive advantage.

For modern applications and portable systems, the MX350 is the better fit. It supports Vulkan, which the GTX 560 Ti does not, and its average benchmark score of 10,883 is higher than the GTX 560 Ti’s 10,690. Its 2 GB VRAM doubles the GTX 560 Ti’s 1 GB, which matters for modern game texture budgets, even if the bus width limits throughput. The MX350’s 20 W TDP means it can run without power connectors, making it viable for thin laptops, whereas the GTX 560 Ti requires a desktop PSU rated for 450 W.

The percentile ranking is identical at 49, and the nearest rivals are all within a few percentage points. This is a statistical tie in overall standing. But the tie breaks on workload: the GTX 560 Ti for raw speed in legacy APIs, the MX350 for modern API support, efficiency, and better average scores. The GTX 560 Ti’s launch MSRP was 249 USD, but that is historical context — the card is end-of-life, as is the MX350. Neither card is new, but the MX350 is nine years newer, and that shows in its feature set and power profile. If you need Vulkan or low power, choose the MX350. If you need raw OpenCL bandwidth and texture throughput, the GTX 560 Ti remains a capable option, though its 170 W draw and dual-slot size are significant drawbacks.