AMD Instinct MI308X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher FP32 floating-point throughput?

A: The AMD Instinct MI308X delivers 81.72 TFLOPS, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile reaches 4.813 TFLOPS. The AMD part is approximately 17 times higher in raw FP32 compute.

Q: What are the memory capacities and types of these two GPUs?

A: The AMD Instinct MI308X uses 192 GB of HBM3 memory on an 8192-bit bus, providing 5.32 TB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 192.0 GB/s.

Q: How do the process nodes compare?

A: The AMD Instinct MI308X is built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 153,000 million transistors on a 1017 mm² die. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile uses an 8 nm process at Samsung, with 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The AMD Instinct MI308X has no recorded benchmark scores and an average score of 0, placing it at the 50th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile has an average score of 8746, placing it at the 44th percentile.

Q: Which GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The AMD Instinct MI308X lists N/A for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan, indicating no standard graphics API support.

Q: What are the power requirements of each card?

A: The AMD Instinct MI308X has a TDP of 750 W and a suggested PSU of 1150 W, using an OAM Module slot. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile has a TDP of 45 W and is an IGP with no suggested PSU listed.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Instinct MI308X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile represent fundamentally different design philosophies. The AMD part is a datacenter accelerator built on CDNA 3.0 architecture with the Aqua Vanjaram chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It packs 153,000 million transistors into a 1017 mm² die, achieving a density of 150.4M transistors per mm². The NVIDIA part uses Ampere architecture with the GA106 chip, built on an 8 nm process at Samsung, containing 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die with a density of 43.5M per mm².

The compute resources differ dramatically. The AMD Instinct MI308X has 19,456 shading units and 1,216 texture mapping units, but no ROPs, RT cores, or tensor cores listed. Its pixel rate is 0 MPixel/s, confirming it is not designed for rasterization output. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile has 1,792 shading units, 56 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 14 RT cores, and 56 tensor cores, with a pixel rate of 42.98 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 75.21 GTexel/s.

Clock behavior also diverges. The AMD part has a base clock of 1000 MHz and a boost clock of 2100 MHz, with memory clocked at 1300 MHz (5.2 Gbps effective). The NVIDIA part runs at a base of 1065 MHz and a boost of 1343 MHz, with memory at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). Despite the lower boost clock, the NVIDIA card has a higher base clock, indicating a different power and thermal envelope.

The AMD Instinct MI308X is an OAM Module with no display outputs, no power connectors, and a 750 W TDP, requiring a 1150 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is an IGP with portable-device-dependent display outputs, no power connectors, and a 45 W TDP. The bus interfaces differ as well: PCIe 5.0 x16 for AMD versus PCIe 4.0 x8 for NVIDIA.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no head-to-head benchmark entries for these two GPUs. The AMD Instinct MI308X has an empty benchmark list and an average score of 0, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile has a set of recorded results. This absence of direct comparisons makes the recorded data for the NVIDIA part the only quantitative basis for analysis.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile achieves a Geekbench OpenCL score of 52,998, which is its strongest recorded result. In Passmark tests, the G3D score is 11,664, the GPU compute score is 4,419, and the 2D score is 526. Legacy DirectX tests show scores of 152 for DirectX 9, 94 for DirectX 11, 61 for DirectX 10, and 55 for DirectX 12. The average benchmark score of 8,746 places it at the 44th percentile of all GPUs.

Rival comparisons for the NVIDIA part show near parity with several GPUs. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 has an average score of 8,743, a delta of 0% versus the RTX 3050 A Mobile. The NVIDIA Quadro P2200 scores 8,686, 0.7% lower. The AMD Radeon R9 M265X scores 8,851, 1.2% higher, and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 scores 8,863, 1.3% higher. These margins are within a narrow band, indicating the RTX 3050 A Mobile sits in a crowded performance tier.

The AMD Instinct MI308X has no benchmark scores, no average score, and no nearest rivals in the database. Its percentile of 50 is a neutral placement, but without recorded measurements, its actual performance cannot be quantified against any other GPU. The data shows a complete lack of empirical results for this part.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every recorded specification field.

• Process node: 5 nm (TSMC) for AMD, 8 nm (Samsung) for NVIDIA.
• Transistors: 153,000 million for AMD, 12,000 million for NVIDIA.
• Die size: 1017 mm² for AMD, 276 mm² for NVIDIA.
• Base clock: 1000 MHz for AMD, 1065 MHz for NVIDIA.
• Boost clock: 2100 MHz for AMD, 1343 MHz for NVIDIA.
• Memory clock: 1300 MHz (5.2 Gbps effective) for AMD, 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for NVIDIA.
• Memory size: 192 GB for AMD, 4 GB for NVIDIA.
• Memory type: HBM3 for AMD, GDDR6 for NVIDIA.
• Bus width: 8192 bit for AMD, 128 bit for NVIDIA.
• Memory bandwidth: 5.32 TB/s for AMD, 192.0 GB/s for NVIDIA.
• Shading units: 19,456 for AMD, 1,792 for NVIDIA.
• TMUs: 1,216 for AMD, 56 for NVIDIA.
• ROPs: 0 for AMD, 32 for NVIDIA.
• RT cores: not listed for AMD, 14 for NVIDIA.
• Tensor cores: not listed for AMD, 56 for NVIDIA.
• Pixel rate: 0 MPixel/s for AMD, 42.98 GPixel/s for NVIDIA.
• Texture rate: 2,553.6 GTexel/s for AMD, 75.21 GTexel/s for NVIDIA.
• FP32: 81.72 TFLOPS for AMD, 4.813 TFLOPS for NVIDIA.
• FP16: 81.72 TFLOPS (1:1) for AMD, 4.813 TFLOPS (1:1) for NVIDIA.
• TDP: 750 W for AMD, 45 W for NVIDIA.
• Slot width: OAM Module for AMD, IGP for NVIDIA.
• Suggested PSU: 1150 W for AMD, not listed for NVIDIA.
• Bus interface: PCIe 5.0 x16 for AMD, PCIe 4.0 x8 for NVIDIA.
• Display outputs: No outputs for AMD, Portable Device Dependent for NVIDIA.
• DirectX support: N/A for AMD, 12 Ultimate (12_2) for NVIDIA.
• OpenGL support: N/A for AMD, 4.6 for NVIDIA.
• Vulkan support: N/A for AMD, 1.4 for NVIDIA.
• Production status: not listed for AMD, End-of-life for NVIDIA.
• Release date: 2023-12-05 for AMD, 2023-12-31 for NVIDIA.

The Verdict

The recorded data points to two completely separate product categories. The AMD Instinct MI308X is a server accelerator with massive memory capacity, enormous bandwidth, and high FP32 throughput, but it has no display output, no graphics API support, and no benchmark results in the database. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is a mobile graphics processor with standard API support, display capability, and a full set of benchmark scores.

For compute-oriented tasks that require large memory capacity and bandwidth, the AMD Instinct MI308X offers 192 GB of HBM3 with 5.32 TB/s, figures that dwarf the NVIDIA part's 4 GB and 192.0 GB/s. Its FP32 and FP16 throughput of 81.72 TFLOPS is over 17 times that of the NVIDIA card. However, the absence of any benchmark scores means the database cannot confirm real-world performance for the AMD part.

For graphics workloads and standard API support, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is the only viable option. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD part lists N/A for all three. The NVIDIA card also has ROPs and RT cores, enabling rasterization and ray tracing, features entirely absent from the AMD accelerator.

The power envelope reinforces this split. The AMD part requires 750 W with a 1150 W suggested PSU, while the NVIDIA part runs at 45 W. The AMD card is an OAM Module with no display outputs; the NVIDIA card is an IGP with portable-device-dependent outputs.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Instinct MI308X wins on raw compute and memory resources. Its 81.72 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, 192 GB HBM3 memory, 8192-bit bus, and 5.32 TB/s bandwidth are the standout figures. The texture rate of 2,553.6 GTexel/s exceeds the NVIDIA part by a factor of roughly 34. The 153,000 million transistors and 1017 mm² die indicate a purpose-built accelerator for data-intensive workloads.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile wins on graphics functionality and practical usability. It has a full graphics pipeline with 32 ROPs and 14 RT cores, plus 56 tensor cores. It supports modern graphics APIs and has a pixel rate of 42.98 GPixel/s. Its benchmark scores, including 52,998 in Geekbench OpenCL and 11,664 in Passmark G3D, provide empirical evidence of its performance. The 45 W TDP makes it suitable for portable devices, while the AMD part requires datacenter-level power delivery.

The AMD Instinct MI308X holds the advantage for memory-bound and compute-bound tasks that can use its massive HBM3 pool and high bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile holds the advantage for any task that requires display output, standard graphics APIs, or ray tracing. The data shows no overlap in their intended usage domains.