AMD Radeon 8050S vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Comparison

The AMD Radeon 8050S and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 represent opposite extremes of the GPU spectrum, and the benchmark data reflects a predictable but extreme performance gulf. In the two shared Geekbench tests, the RTX 4090 wins decisively, posting a 255,416 OpenCL score versus the 8050S’s 65,818, a 74.2% margin. The Vulkan test shows an even wider gap, with the RTX 4090 scoring 271,631 against 58,398, a 78.5% lead. Despite this, both cards occupy similar overall percentile rankings—the 8050S sits at the 89th percentile, while the RTX 4090 is at the 88th—because the average benchmark score calculation includes different test suites. The 8050S averages 62,108 across its two tests, while the RTX 4090 averages 60,347 across ten, many of which are legacy DirectX tests where it scores poorly. This creates a unique situation where the older, larger card appears statistically comparable to the new integrated part in aggregate metrics, despite being vastly faster in modern compute workloads.

The Verdict

The data dictates a clear split: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the only choice for users prioritizing raw compute performance, as it beats the AMD Radeon 8050S by 74.2% in OpenCL and 78.5% in Vulkan. With 24 GB of GDDR6X memory, a 384-bit bus, and 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, the RTX 4090 is designed for heavy lifting. Its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is over seven times the 8050S’s 11.47 TFLOPS, and its 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate dwarfs the 8050S’s 179.2 GPixel/s. However, this power comes at a physical cost: the RTX 4090 is a triple-slot, 304 mm long card with a 450 W TDP and requires an 850 W power supply, making it unsuitable for compact systems. The RTX 4090’s production status is "End-of-life," with a successor already announced.

The AMD Radeon 8050S is the pragmatic pick for a different audience entirely. As an integrated GPU (IGP) in the Strix Halo chip, it consumes just 55 W, requires no power connectors, and is described as "Portable Device Dependent" for display outputs. It fits in systems where a discrete card like the RTX 4090 physically cannot. Its 4 nm process node is smaller than the RTX 4090’s 5 nm node, and its 308 mm² die is roughly half the size of the 609 mm² AD102 chip. The 8050S’s average benchmark score of 62,108 actually edges out the RTX 4090’s 60,347 average, though this is skewed by the RTX 4090’s weak legacy DirectX results (e.g., 150 in Passmark DX12). For users building a thin-and-light laptop or a mini PC, the 8050S is the only viable option between the two. For anyone with space and power budget for a desktop tower, the RTX 4090’s compute dominance is unmatched.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4090 wins in every modern compute scenario. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 255,416 is 4x the 8050S’s 65,818. Its Vulkan score of 271,631 is 4.7x the 8050S’s 58,398. The RTX 4090 also wins in pure throughput metrics: 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 versus 11.47 TFLOPS, 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate versus 358.4 GTexel/s, and 443.5 GPixel/s pixel rate versus 179.2 GPixel/s. It has 16,384 shading units versus 2,048, 512 TMUs versus 128, and 176 ROPs versus 64. Its 512 tensor cores and 128 RT cores provide AI and ray tracing acceleration that the 8050S’s 32 RT cores cannot approach, though the 8050S does support DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, matching the RTX 4090’s API support.

The 8050S wins in efficiency and integration. Its 55 W TDP is a fraction of the RTX 4090’s 450 W. It is an IGP with no slot width, no power connectors, and no external dimensions—it lives entirely on the motherboard. The 8050S also wins on process node, using a 4 nm process versus the RTX 4090’s 5 nm, though the RTX 4090’s transistor count of 76,300 million dwarfs the 8050S’s unknown count. The 8050S’s boost clock of 2800 MHz is higher than the RTX 4090’s 2520 MHz boost, but the RTX 4090 compensates with far more execution units. In the average benchmark score comparison, the 8050S leads with 62,108 versus 60,347, but this is a statistical artifact of different test sets, not a real performance win.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies. The AMD Radeon 8050S uses the RDNA 3.5 architecture on a 4 nm TSMC process, built as part of the Strix Halo chip. It is part of the Navi Mobile (RX 8000M) generation and succeeds Polaris Mobile. The die measures 308 mm², and transistor count is listed as unknown. Its memory subsystem is entirely system-shared, meaning it uses the host system’s RAM for both capacity and bandwidth, which is "System Dependent." This explains its low 11.47 TFLOPS FP32 rate—it is constrained by shared memory bandwidth rather than dedicated VRAM. The 8050S has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, and 32 RT cores. It supports PCIe 5.0 x16, which is newer than the RTX 4090’s PCIe 4.0 x16, but this does little to compensate for the compute gap. Its base clock is 1295 MHz, boosting to 2800 MHz.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 uses the Ada Lovelace architecture on a 5 nm TSMC process, built around the AD102 chip. It is part of the GeForce 40-series and succeeds GeForce 30, with GeForce 50 as its successor. The die is 609 mm² with 76,300 million transistors, giving a density of 125.3M per mm². It has 16,384 shading units, 512 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 128 RT cores, and 512 tensor cores. Memory is 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). Base clock is 2235 MHz, boost is 2520 MHz. The RTX 4090’s FP32 and FP16 rates are both 82.58 TFLOPS, indicating 1:1 ratio execution. It uses a triple-slot cooler, measures 304 mm x 137 mm x 61 mm, and requires a 1x 16-pin power connector plus an 850 W PSU. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Key architectural differences: the 8050S is a unified-memory IGP with no dedicated VRAM, while the RTX 4090 has a massive 24 GB pool. The 8050S has a smaller node (4 nm vs 5 nm) but far fewer transistors and a smaller die. The RTX 4090 has 8x the shading units, 4x the TMUs, 2.75x the ROPs, and 4x the RT cores. The RTX 4090 also has dedicated tensor cores, which the 8050S lacks entirely. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API-level feature sets are identical.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon 8050S has an average benchmark score of 62,108, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 averages 60,347. However, this is misleading because the 8050S only has two Geekbench results, while the RTX 4090 includes ten tests, many of which are legacy Passmark DirectX 9/10/11/12 and G2D tests where it scores very low (e.g., 150 in DX12, 224 in DX10).

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4090 in Vulkan?

A: The RTX 4090 scores 271,631 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 78.5% higher than the 8050S’s 58,398. This is the largest performance delta between the two cards in any shared test.

Q: Can the Radeon 8050S be installed in a desktop tower?

A: Yes, but only as an integrated part of the Strix Halo chip. It has no slot width, no power connectors, and no physical dimensions listed—it is an IGP that occupies no expansion slot. It communicates via PCIe 5.0 x16, but is "Portable Device Dependent" for display outputs, meaning it is designed for laptops or mini PCs rather than desktop graphics card slots.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of dedicated GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth. The 8050S has no dedicated memory; it uses system-shared memory, with size, type, bus width, and bandwidth all listed as "System Shared" or "System Dependent."

Q: Which card has a higher boost clock?

A: The Radeon 8050S boosts to 2800 MHz, which is higher than the RTX 4090’s 2520 MHz boost clock. Despite this, the RTX 4090 is far faster due to its 8x higher shading unit count (16,384 vs 2,048).

Q: Is the RTX 4090 still in production?

A: No. The RTX 4090 has a production status of "End-of-life," with its successor (GeForce 50) already listed. The Radeon 8050S, by contrast, has an "Active" production status and was released on January 5, 2025, while the RTX 4090 was released on September 19, 2022.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data is stark, with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 winning both recorded tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4090 scores 255,416 against the AMD Radeon 8050S’s 65,818, a deltaPct of -74.2% for the 8050S. This means the RTX 4090 is approximately 3.9x faster in OpenCL compute workloads. The gap is even wider in Geekbench Vulkan: the RTX 4090 posts 271,631, while the 8050S manages only 58,398, a -78.5% delta. The RTX 4090 is roughly 4.7x faster in Vulkan.

These results align with the raw specification differences. The RTX 4090’s 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is 7.2x the 8050S’s 11.47 TFLOPS. Its texture rate of 1,290.2 GTexel/s is 3.6x higher than the 8050S’s 358.4 GTexel/s, and its pixel rate of 443.5 GPixel/s is 2.5x the 8050S’s 179.2 GPixel/s. The RTX 4090’s 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth, fed by 24 GB of GDDR6X, provides a massive advantage over the 8050S’s system-shared memory, whose bandwidth is entirely dependent on the host system’s RAM configuration.

Looking at the nearest rivals, the 8050S’s average score of 62,108 places it just 0.3% above the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896) and 2.5% below the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56 (63,693). Meanwhile, the RTX 4090’s average of 60,347 is essentially tied with the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326, 0% delta) and 2.9% above the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657). This is a curious inversion: the RTX 4090’s average is dragged down by its single-digit scores in Passmark DirectX 9 (397), DX10 (224), DX11 (326), and DX12 (150), plus a 1,299 in G2D. The 8050S has no such legacy tests in its benchmark set, so its average reflects only its strong Geekbench scores.

In terms of percentile rankings, the 8050S sits at the 89th percentile against all GPUs, while the RTX 4090 is at the 88th. This suggests that, in the aggregate database, the 8050S outperforms a slightly larger fraction of all GPUs than the RTX 4090 does—again, a result of the different test suites. The RTX 4090’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223 is not matched by any 8050S test, so that metric cannot be directly compared. The 8050S’s best result is its 65,818 OpenCL score, which is still only 25.8% of the RTX 4090’s OpenCL score. For any workload using Vulkan or OpenCL, the RTX 4090 is the definitive winner, while the 8050S is competitive only in power efficiency and physical footprint.