Radeon RX Vega 9 vs R9 M385X

#ad 
Buy on Amazon
VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 M385X and Radeon RX Vega 9, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 M385X
2015
4 GB GDDR5
5.17

RX Vega 9 outperforms R9 M385X by a small 7% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking620606
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiencyno data25.35
ArchitectureGCN 2.0 (2013−2017)Vega (2017−2020)
GPU code nameStratoVega Raven Ridge
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date5 May 2015 (9 years ago)26 October 2017 (7 years ago)

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores896576
Core clock speed1000 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1100 MHz1300 MHz
Number of transistors2,080 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nm14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data15 Watt
Texture fill rate61.60no data
Floating-point processing power1.971 TFLOPSno data
ROPs16no data
TMUs56no data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop sizelargeno data
Bus supportPCIe 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16no data

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5no data
Maximum RAM amount4 GBno data
Memory bus width128 Bitno data
Memory clock speed1500 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth76.8 GB/sno data
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsNo outputsno data
Eyefinity+-

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

FreeSync+-
HD3D+-
PowerTune+-
DualGraphics+-
ZeroCore+-
Switchable graphics+-

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectXDirectX® 1212_1
Shader Model6.3no data
OpenGL4.4no data
OpenCLNot Listedno data
Mantle+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

R9 M385X 5.17
RX Vega 9 5.55
+7.4%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

R9 M385X 5515
+25.9%
RX Vega 9 4380

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

R9 M385X 12453
RX Vega 9 12628
+1.4%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

R9 M385X 3405
+22.1%
RX Vega 9 2789

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

R9 M385X 22544
+17.1%
RX Vega 9 19255

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD28
+55.6%
18
−55.6%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−7.1%
14−16
+7.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
−20%
6−7
+20%
Battlefield 5 12−14
−15.4%
14−16
+15.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Far Cry 5 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
−14.3%
16−18
+14.3%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
−9.1%
35−40
+9.1%
Hitman 3 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
−6.1%
35−40
+6.1%
Metro Exodus 12−14
−75%
21
+75%
Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
−7.1%
14−16
+7.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 18−20
−11.1%
20−22
+11.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
−4.3%
45−50
+4.3%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−7.1%
14−16
+7.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
−20%
6−7
+20%
Battlefield 5 12−14
−15.4%
14−16
+15.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Far Cry 5 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
−14.3%
16−18
+14.3%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
−9.1%
35−40
+9.1%
Hitman 3 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
−6.1%
35−40
+6.1%
Metro Exodus 12−14
−33.3%
16
+33.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
−7.1%
14−16
+7.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 18−20
−11.1%
20−22
+11.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 41
+116%
18−20
−116%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
−4.3%
45−50
+4.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−7.1%
14−16
+7.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
−20%
6−7
+20%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Far Cry 5 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
−9.1%
35−40
+9.1%
Hitman 3 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
−6.1%
35−40
+6.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 18−20
−11.1%
20−22
+11.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+125%
8
−125%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
−4.3%
45−50
+4.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
−7.1%
14−16
+7.1%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 10−11
−10%
10−12
+10%
Far Cry New Dawn 8−9
−12.5%
9−10
+12.5%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 0−1 1−2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
−50%
3−4
+50%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 12−14
−25%
14−16
+25%
Hitman 3 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Metro Exodus 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5
−25%
5−6
+25%
Watch Dogs: Legion 30−35
−9.1%
35−40
+9.1%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
−33.3%
4−5
+33.3%
Hitman 3 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
−50%
12−14
+50%
Metro Exodus 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 4−5
−25%
5−6
+25%
Watch Dogs: Legion 1−2
−100%
2−3
+100%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider 0−1 0−1

This is how R9 M385X and RX Vega 9 compete in popular games:

  • R9 M385X is 56% faster in 1080p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R9 M385X is 125% faster.
  • in Hitman 3, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RX Vega 9 is 100% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • R9 M385X is ahead in 2 tests (3%)
  • RX Vega 9 is ahead in 51 test (75%)
  • there's a draw in 15 tests (22%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.17 5.55
Recency 5 May 2015 26 October 2017
Chip lithography 28 nm 14 nm

RX Vega 9 has a 7.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between Radeon R9 M385X and Radeon RX Vega 9.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon R9 M385X
Radeon R9 M385X
AMD Radeon RX Vega 9
Radeon RX Vega 9

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.5 4 votes

Rate Radeon R9 M385X on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.8 21 vote

Rate Radeon RX Vega 9 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.