AMD Radeon R7 M260

The AMD Radeon R7 M260 is a mobile graphics processor built on the GCN 3.0 architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 28 nm process. It integrates 1,550 million transistors into a 125 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.4M per mm². Launched on June 10, 2014, this part is now end-of-life, with a successor in Polaris Mobile. It belongs to the Gem System (R7 M200) generation, succeeding the Solar System lineup. The chip is codenamed Topaz. Benchmark data places it at the 25th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 4630. The GPU runs at a base clock of 940 MHz and a boost clock of 980 MHz, while memory operates at 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective). The 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 8 ROPs are typical for a low-end part.

Power and Cooling — TDP, PSU recommendation, connector requirements

The FACT PACK lists no TDP, PSU recommendation, or power connector specifications for the R7 M260. The only power-related detail is the bus interface: PCIe 3.0 x8. This absence means system integrators must rely on the laptop's power delivery design. The 28 nm process and 1,550 million transistors suggest a modest power draw, but without a TDP number, any specific wattage would be speculative. The die size of 125 mm² and transistor density of 12.4M/mm² are consistent with a low-power part. No slot width or cooler dimensions are given, so users should assume a basic thermal solution. The end-of-life status implies that replacement parts may be scarce. The lack of power connector data means that auxiliary power is not documented. The PCIe 3.0 x8 interface is narrower than the full x16 lane width, which may affect data transfer rates, but no benchmark data is provided to quantify this. For a mobile GPU, the thermal solution is typically integrated into the laptop chassis, and the absence of a TDP figure is common in this segment.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set — RT/tensor cores, API support from facts

The R7 M260 has no dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores; the FACT PACK lists neither. This means hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based features such as DLSS are absent. The GPU supports DirectX 12 (12_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. Compute capabilities include FP32 and FP16 at 752.6 GFLOPS each, with a 1:1 ratio. The 384 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 8 ROPs produce a pixel rate of 7.840 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 23.52 GTexel/s. These numbers indicate a GPU designed for conventional rendering, not for ray tracing or machine learning workloads. The GCN 3.0 architecture is used, but no specific feature details beyond the API list are provided. The lack of tensor cores means that any AI-accelerated features are not available. The 1:1 FP16 ratio is noteworthy, as many GPUs of this era offered reduced FP16 throughput, but here the performance is identical to FP32.

Who Should Consider It

With a 25th percentile ranking and an average benchmark score of 4630, the R7 M260 sits firmly in the low-end segment. Its nearest rivals—the Radeon R5 M320, Quadro M3000M, GeForce GTX 970M, and Radeon R5 M230—are all within a 0.7% to -0.5% performance delta, meaning the R7 M260 is essentially a peer of these parts. The 2 GB DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus provides only 14.40 GB/s of bandwidth, which will limit texture loading and high-resolution performance. The 752.6 GFLOPS of FP32 compute is enough for light gaming, older titles, or multimedia tasks, but not for modern AAA games at high settings. The Vulkan score of 5294 suggests that the GPU can handle Vulkan-based games with lower overhead, while the OpenCL score of 3965 indicates more modest compute performance. Users considering this GPU should target lower resolutions and modest detail settings. It is not suitable for high-resolution gaming. Because the GPU is end-of-life, it is only relevant for legacy systems or as a temporary solution. The base clock of 940 MHz and boost of 980 MHz are modest, and the 8 ROPs will limit fill-rate-bound scenes. The 24 TMUs and 384 shading units provide a baseline for simple 3D workloads, but the overall performance is constrained by the memory subsystem.

FAQ

Q: Does the R7 M260 support DirectX 12?

A: Yes, it supports DirectX 12 (12_0) as listed in the API specifications.

Q: Does it have ray tracing?

A: No, the FACT PACK lists no ray tracing cores or tensor cores, so hardware ray tracing is absent.

Q: What is the memory configuration?

A: It has 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 14.40 GB/s.

Q: How does it compare to the Radeon R5 M320?

A: The average benchmark scores are 4630 and 4629 respectively, with a delta of 0%, meaning they are effectively identical.

Q: What is the production status?

A: The GPU is end-of-life, released on June 10, 2014.

Q: What are the clock speeds?

A: Base clock is 940 MHz, boost is 980 MHz, and memory runs at 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective).

Benchmark Performance

The R7 M260's average benchmark score is 4630, placing it at the 25th percentile of all GPUs. In Geekbench, it scores 3965 in OpenCL and 5294 in Vulkan. The Vulkan score exceeds the OpenCL score, indicating that the driver stack handles Vulkan more efficiently. Relative to its nearest rivals, the R7 M260 is exactly on par with the AMD Radeon R5 M320 (0% delta, score 4629). It trails the NVIDIA Quadro M3000M by 0.1% (score 4635) and the GeForce GTX 970M by 0.5% (score 4655). It leads the Radeon R5 M230 by 0.7% (score 4596). These deltas show that the R7 M260 is essentially a peer of these four GPUs, with performance differences well under 1%. The 25th percentile ranking confirms that it sits below the majority of GPUs in the database. The boost clock of 980 MHz and 384 shading units produce an FP32 throughput of 752.6 GFLOPS, which is modest. The pixel rate of 7.840 GPixel/s and texture rate of 23.52 GTexel/s are also low. In comparison, the nearest rivals have average scores ranging from 4596 to 4655, a narrow spread, underscoring how close these GPUs are in performance. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 5294 is notably higher than the OpenCL score of 3965, suggesting that Vulkan drivers are better optimized. The average score of 4630 is identical to the R5 M320's 4629 within rounding, making them effectively indistinguishable.

Memory Subsystem

The memory subsystem is a major constraint for the R7 M260. It uses 2 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of only 14.40 GB/s. This is low even for a 2014 mobile GPU. The memory clock is 900 MHz, with an effective data rate of 1800 Mbps. With 8 ROPs and 24 TMUs, the pixel rate is 7.840 GPixel/s and the texture rate is 23.52 GTexel/s. The 64-bit bus width limits the amount of data that can be transferred per clock, and the DDR3 type is slower than GDDR5, which is common in higher-end parts. For modern games, 14.40 GB/s of bandwidth will cause significant bottlenecks at higher resolutions. The 2 GB capacity is adequate for older titles but may be insufficient for games with high-resolution texture packs. The low bandwidth also affects the GPU's ability to handle anti-aliasing and high dynamic range rendering. In summary, the memory subsystem is the weakest link in this GPU's design. The transistor density of 12.4M/mm² and die size of 125 mm² do not compensate for the narrow memory interface. The effective memory speed of 1800 Mbps is a result of the 900 MHz clock, and the 64-bit bus halves the theoretical bandwidth compared to a 128-bit design. For a GPU with only 8 ROPs, the pixel rate of 7.840 GPixel/s is expected, but the texture rate of 23.52 GTexel/s is also constrained by the memory bandwidth.