AMD Radeon 680M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains a single direct comparison between the AMD Radeon 680M and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile. That test is Geekbench OpenCL, a compute-oriented workload that measures raw parallel processing throughput.

The result is decisive in favor of the NVIDIA part. The RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52,998 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Radeon 680M scores 23,468. That is a delta of -55.7% for the AMD side, meaning the NVIDIA GPU delivers more than double the OpenCL compute score. The margin is substantial enough that the two products do not occupy the same performance tier in this specific test.

Looking at the broader database averages, the separation is even more pronounced. The Radeon 680M holds an average benchmark score of 15,270 across all recorded tests, placing it at the 57th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 3050 A Mobile, by contrast, has an average score of 8,746, which lands at the 44th percentile. This creates an interesting inversion: the NVIDIA part wins the one head-to-head test by a wide margin, yet its overall average score is far lower. The explanation lies in the benchmark sets. The RTX 3050 A Mobile's average is dragged down by several low DirectX and compute results from Passmark tests, including a DirectX 10 score of 61, a DirectX 11 score of 94, a DirectX 12 score of 55, and a DirectX 9 score of 152. Those low numbers pull its aggregate down despite a strong Passmark G3D score of 11,664 and a GPU compute score of 4,419.

The Radeon 680M has a smaller recorded benchmark set, but those scores are consistent. Beyond the Geekbench OpenCL result of 23,468, it also posts a Geekbench Vulkan score of 21,965 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 378. None of these are extreme outliers, which is why its average remains much higher than the NVIDIA part's.

The nearest rival data reinforces the positioning of each GPU. The Radeon 680M sits within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon RX 7600, and within 0.1% of both the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and the GTX 580. The RTX 3050 A Mobile, on the other hand, is effectively tied with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 (0% delta), within 0.7% of the NVIDIA Quadro P2200, and within 1.3% of older AMD professional parts. The delta values show that the RTX 3050 A Mobile competes with a much older performance class in aggregate terms, despite its single strong OpenCL showing.

The head-to-head data alone tells a simple story: in Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3050 A Mobile is the clear winner. But the aggregate picture is more complicated. The AMD part has a higher average score and a higher percentile ranking, which suggests that its performance is more balanced across different workload types. The NVIDIA part posts one exceptional compute number but struggles in several legacy DirectX benchmarks.

The Verdict

The data points to a split decision. For synthetic compute workloads, specifically Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is the stronger product. Its score of 52,998 is more than double the Radeon 680M's 23,468. Any application that relies heavily on OpenCL compute throughput would favor the NVIDIA part.

However, the Radeon 680M shows a higher average benchmark score of 15,270 versus 8,746 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, and it sits at the 57th percentile of all GPUs compared to the 44th percentile for the NVIDIA part. The AMD GPU also delivers stronger results in its other recorded tests, including a Geekbench Vulkan score of 21,965 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 378. The RTX 3050 A Mobile's Passmark results are inconsistent, with DirectX scores ranging from 55 to 152. Those low scores indicate that the NVIDIA part does not maintain its compute advantage across all API paths.

The choice depends on workload priority. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is the pick for OpenCL-heavy tasks. The Radeon 680M is the more consistently performing part across the recorded benchmark set. The NVIDIA GPU's production status is listed as end-of-life, while the AMD GPU remains active. The RTX 3050 A Mobile also has a later release date in the database, but the AMD part is the one still in production.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the only direct head-to-head benchmark in the database?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 52,998, compared to 23,468 for the AMD Radeon 680M, a delta of -55.7% for the AMD side.

Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?

A: The AMD Radeon 680M has an average benchmark score of 15,270, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile has an average of 8,746. The AMD part ranks at the 57th percentile of all GPUs; the NVIDIA part ranks at the 44th percentile.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each GPU in the database?

A: The Radeon 680M is within 0.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 and GTX 580, within 0.5% of the RTX 3050 OEM, and within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon RX 7600. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is within 0% of the GTX 460 v2, within 0.7% of the Quadro P2200, and within 1.3% of the AMD Radeon R9 M265X and Pro WX 5100.

Q: Does the RTX 3050 A Mobile have any weak benchmark results?

A: Yes. Its Passmark DirectX scores are low: 152 in DirectX 9, 94 in DirectX 11, 61 in DirectX 10, and 55 in DirectX 12. Its Passmark G3D score is 11,664 and GPU compute score is 4,419.

Q: What is the production status of each GPU?

A: The AMD Radeon 680M is listed as active, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is listed as end-of-life.

Q: What Vulkan score does the Radeon 680M record?

A: The AMD Radeon 680M records a Geekbench Vulkan score of 21,965 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 378.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every core specification. The AMD Radeon 680M uses 768 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile uses 1,792 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA part has nearly double the shader count and more TMUs, though both have identical ROP counts.

Clock speeds diverge sharply. The AMD GPU runs at a base clock of 2000 MHz and a boost clock of 2200 MHz. The NVIDIA GPU runs at a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1343 MHz. Despite the lower clocks, the NVIDIA part achieves higher raw FP32 throughput: 4.813 TFLOPS versus 3.379 TFLOPS for the AMD part. The AMD GPU has a higher pixel rate (70.40 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s) and a higher texture rate (105.6 GTexel/s versus 75.21 GTexel/s), which is notable given its lower FP32 figure.

Memory configurations are fundamentally different. The Radeon 680M uses system-shared memory, with its size, type, bus width, and bandwidth all listed as system dependent. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 4 GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA part also has a fixed memory clock of 1500 MHz, whereas the AMD part's memory clock is listed as system shared.

The FP16 capabilities differ in ratio. The AMD GPU delivers 6.758 TFLOPS FP16 at a 2:1 ratio relative to FP32. The NVIDIA GPU delivers 4.813 TFLOPS FP16 at a 1:1 ratio. The NVIDIA part includes 14 ray tracing cores and 56 tensor cores; the AMD part includes 12 ray tracing cores and no tensor cores.

Both GPUs share the same PCIe 4.0 x8 bus interface, DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) support, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.4, and display outputs listed as portable device dependent. The TDP values are close: 50 W for the AMD part and 45 W for the NVIDIA part. Both are listed as IGP slot width with no power connectors.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon 680M is built on RDNA 2.0 architecture, using the Rembrandt+ chip, and is part of the Navi II IGP generation for Rembrandt Mobile. It is manufactured on a 6 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the Ampere architecture with the GA106 chip, part of the GeForce 30 Mobile generation, and is manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung.

The process node difference is significant. TSMC's 6 nm node allows AMD to pack 13,100 million transistors into a 208 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 63.0 million transistors per mm². Samsung's 8 nm node gives NVIDIA 12,000 million transistors on a larger 276 mm² die, with a density of 43.5 million per mm². The AMD chip is smaller and denser, while the NVIDIA chip is larger but less dense.

Ray tracing hardware exists on both, but the NVIDIA part has more of it: 14 ray tracing cores versus 12. The NVIDIA part also has 56 tensor cores, which the AMD part lacks entirely. Tensor cores are a defining feature of the Ampere architecture, and their absence on the RDNA 2.0 part is a structural difference, not just a numerical one.

The production statuses differ. The AMD part is active, with a predecessor listed as Vega II IGP and a successor as Navi III IGP. The NVIDIA part is end-of-life, with a predecessor listed as GeForce 20 Mobile and no successor recorded. The release dates in the database place the AMD GPU earlier (January 2023) and the NVIDIA GPU later (December 2023), but the NVIDIA part is already discontinued.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile wins in OpenCL compute. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 52,998 is more than double the Radeon 680M's 23,468. For any workload that scales with raw compute shader throughput, the NVIDIA part holds a decisive advantage. Its higher shader count (1,792 versus 768), higher FP32 throughput (4.813 TFLOPS versus 3.379 TFLOPS), and dedicated 4 GB GDDR6 memory with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth support this result. The tensor cores and 14 ray tracing cores add capabilities the AMD part cannot match.

The AMD Radeon 680M wins on consistency and aggregate positioning. Its average benchmark score of 15,270 is 74.6% higher than the NVIDIA part's 8,746. Its 57th percentile ranking versus the 44th percentile for the NVIDIA part confirms that the AMD GPU sits higher in the overall distribution. The AMD part also posts strong Vulkan performance (21,965) and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 378, while the NVIDIA part's Passmark DirectX results are uniformly low. The AMD part has a higher pixel rate (70.40 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s) and texture rate (105.6 GTexel/s versus 75.21 GTexel/s), which could benefit rasterization-bound scenarios despite the lower FP32 figure.

The data supports a workload-based split. OpenCL compute favors NVIDIA. Balanced performance across multiple API paths favors AMD. The NVIDIA part is end-of-life, while the AMD part remains active. The Radeon 680M also draws a slightly higher TDP of 50 W versus 45 W for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, but both are integrated-class parts with no power connectors. The RTX 3050 A Mobile's single dominant score does not compensate for its weak DirectX results in the aggregate, making the Radeon 680M the more reliable all-around performer in the recorded data.