NVIDIA GeForce 930MX

The NVIDIA GeForce 930MX is a Maxwell-based mobile GPU from the GeForce 900M generation, manufactured on TSMC’s 28 nm process. The GM108S die contains 1,020 million transistors on a 77 mm² die, with a transistor density of 13.2M per mm². It sits at the 6th percentile of the database, with an average benchmark score of 1302, and its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX A2000 12 GB, AMD Radeon R9 380, NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M, and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 Mobile.

Benchmark Performance

The 930MX’s average benchmark score of 1302 places it inside a very tight cluster of four nearest rivals. It is 0.5% below the RTX A2000 12 GB’s score of 1309, 0.8% below the GeForce GT 520M’s score of 1313, 0.7% above the Radeon R9 380’s score of 1293, and 1.3% above the Quadro RTX 3000 Mobile’s score of 1285. The four nearest rivals span from 1285 to 1313, and the 930MX lands in the middle of that range. In short, the database groups it with GPUs that are close in aggregate score, even though their architectures and intended markets differ.

Within its own benchmark set, the results are uneven. Geekbench OpenCL returns 5532, while Geekbench Vulkan returns 3967. In Passmark, the G3D score is 1285, the GPU compute score is 697, and the G2D score is 196. The direct API-specific Passmark results show a clear pattern: DirectX 9 scores 21, DirectX 10 scores 5, and both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 score 7. The DirectX 9 result is the highest of the four, which suggests the 930MX is comparatively stronger on legacy DirectX 9 workloads than on later DirectX paths in this benchmark.

The raw shading resources are modest. The chip contains 384 shading units, 24 texture mapping units, and 8 ROPs. FP32 throughput is 783.4 GFLOPS, texture rate is 24.48 GTexel/s, and pixel rate is 8.160 GPixel/s. Those figures align with a small GPU designed around a 17 W envelope rather than high-end desktop throughput. The benchmark data as a whole supports the same conclusion: this is a low-position part, but one that is closely matched in aggregate score to the specific rivals listed in the database.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The fact pack lists no RT cores and no tensor cores for the GeForce 930MX. That means hardware-accelerated ray tracing and tensor-based processing are not part of its feature set. The GPU’s API support includes DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The DirectX 12 entry is specifically at the 11_0 feature level, which is a lower feature level than later DirectX 12 hardware targets.

The 930MX is a Maxwell part, and its bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x8. Display outputs are listed as “Portable Device Dependent,” so the physical display connections are determined by the host portable system rather than by the GPU itself. Production status is end-of-life, and the release date is 2016-02-29. The predecessor is GeForce 800M and the successor is GeForce 10 Mobile, placing this chip near the end of the 900M generation.

Memory Subsystem

Memory is one of the clearest constraints for the 930MX. It ships with 2 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit memory bus. The memory clock is 900 MHz, with 1800 Mbps effective data rate, yielding 14.40 GB/s of bandwidth. That bandwidth figure is low by the standards of the database, and the 64-bit bus width limits the amount of data that can move between the GPU and frame buffer in a given cycle.

For high-resolution work, the memory subsystem is likely to be a bottleneck. A 2 GB frame buffer can hold only a limited amount of texture and geometry data, and 14.40 GB/s restricts how quickly that data can be fed to the shading units. The pixel rate of 8.160 GPixel/s and texture rate of 24.48 GTexel/s further indicate that the GPU is not designed for high-resolution rendering demands. The memory figures should be read as a warning to keep workloads small and to avoid large textures or high-resolution render targets.

Power and Cooling

The 930MX has a TDP of 17 W, which is a low power target. The power connector field is “None,” meaning the module does not require any supplementary PCIe power connector. The slot width is listed as “MXM Module,” so the physical integration is built around the MXM form factor. The suggested PSU field is null, so the database provides no power supply recommendation for this GPU.

The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x8. With no separate power connector and a 17 W TDP, the GPU is positioned for portable systems where the host platform supplies power. Because the slot width is an MXM module, cooling is tied to the host device’s thermal solution rather than to a standalone graphics card design. The low TDP means the thermal load is small, but the fact pack does not include an aftermarket cooler specification.

Who Should Consider It

The 930MX occupies the 6th percentile of all GPUs in the database, so it should be considered only for workloads that sit near the low end of the performance spectrum. The benchmark evidence is especially favorable for DirectX 9: the Passmark DirectX 9 score of 21 is three times the DirectX 10 score of 5 and exactly three times the DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 scores of 7. Users running older DirectX 9-based software are the most plausible fit for this GPU.

The OpenCL score of 5532 and Vulkan score of 3967 show some compute capability, but the 2 GB DDR3 memory and 14.40 GB/s bandwidth limit the size of usable data sets. The GPU is an end-of-life product released on 2016-02-29, and display outputs are portable-device dependent. This is not a GPU for high-resolution or heavy modern workloads; rather, it fits a notebook environment where legacy application support and low power draw matter more than raw frame rates.

FAQ

Q: What is the average benchmark score of the NVIDIA GeForce 930MX?

A: The average benchmark score is 1302, and the GPU sits at the 6th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: How does the GeForce 930MX compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The 930MX is 0.5% below the RTX A2000 12 GB’s 1309, 0.8% below the GeForce GT 520M’s 1313, 0.7% above the Radeon R9 380’s 1293, and 1.3% above the Quadro RTX 3000 Mobile’s 1285.

Q: Does the GeForce 930MX support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The fact pack lists no RT cores and no tensor cores for this GPU.

Q: What APIs does the GeForce 930MX support?

A: It supports DirectX 12 at the 11_0 feature level, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: How much memory bandwidth does the GeForce 930MX have?

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

Q: Does the GeForce 930MX require a separate power connector?

A: No. The power connector field is “None,” and the TDP is 17 W.