AMD Radeon 860M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data delivers a decisive verdict: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile dominates the AMD Radeon 860M in every recorded test. The database includes two shared benchmarks, and the RTX 4050 Mobile wins both by substantial margins.

In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the AMD Radeon 860M scores 22,759, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile reaches 74,748. That is a 69.6% deficit for the AMD part, a massive gap that reflects the fundamental difference in compute throughput between these two mobile graphics solutions. The RTX 4050 Mobile delivers more than three times the OpenCL performance of the Radeon 860M.

The Vulkan results tell a similar story, though with a slightly narrower margin. The Radeon 860M posts 30,043, while the RTX 4050 Mobile scores 75,235. The delta sits at 60.1% in favor of NVIDIA. Even in Vulkan, which tends to favor AMD architectures in some desktop comparisons, the RTX 4050 Mobile remains far ahead.

There are no benchmark categories where the Radeon 860M records a win. The head-to-head table shows zero wins for AMD and two wins for NVIDIA. This is not a close contest; it is a one-sided comparison where the discrete-class NVIDIA solution consistently outperforms the integrated AMD graphics by a wide margin.

The average benchmark score further confirms the disparity. The Radeon 860M averages 26,401 across its recorded tests, while the RTX 4050 Mobile averages 19,049. This is an interesting inversion: despite winning both head-to-head tests, the RTX 4050 Mobile has a lower average score because its benchmark suite includes additional Passmark tests, several of which score low. The Passmark DirectX 9 test scores 184, DirectX 10 scores 79, DirectX 11 scores 130, and DirectX 12 scores 61. The Passmark G2D test scores 633, while the G3D test reaches 14,423 and the GPU compute test hits 5,947. These additional tests drag down the arithmetic average, even though the GPU is clearly faster in the shared Geekbench workloads.

Percentile rankings also differ. The Radeon 860M sits at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX 4050 Mobile sits at the 63rd percentile. This may seem counterintuitive given the head-to-head results, but it reflects the different distribution of scores within each product's nearest rival groups. The Radeon 860M's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce MX550 with an average score of 26,421 (a 0.1% difference), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 at 26,331 (0.3% ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary at 26,553 (0.6% ahead), and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 at 26,683 (1.1% ahead). The RTX 4050 Mobile's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 6600 at 19,036 (0.1% behind), the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 at 19,030 (0.1% behind), the NVIDIA Tesla K20m at 19,089 (0.2% ahead), and the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation at 18,954 (0.5% behind). In context, the Radeon 860M competes with lower-tier discrete GPUs, while the RTX 4050 Mobile's average is dragged down by its Passmark results.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and manufacturing processes. The AMD Radeon 860M uses the RDNA 3.5 architecture, built on a 4 nm process at TSMC. The chip is codenamed Krackan Point and belongs to the Navi III IGP generation for Strix Point Mobile. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile uses the Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process, also at TSMC. Its chip is AD107, part of the GeForce 40 Mobile generation.

The transistor counts and die sizes are only recorded for the NVIDIA part. The RTX 4050 Mobile contains 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 118.9 million per square millimeter. The Radeon 860M's transistor count and die size are listed as unknown in the database.

Clock speeds differ significantly. The Radeon 860M has a base clock of 600 MHz and a boost clock of 3000 MHz. The RTX 4050 Mobile has a base clock of 1455 MHz and a boost clock of 1755 MHz. The AMD part boosts much higher, but that does not compensate for the NVIDIA part's larger execution resources.

Shader configuration heavily favors NVIDIA. The Radeon 860M has 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 raster output units. The RTX 4050 Mobile has 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. That is five times the shader count, 2.5 times the TMUs, and three times the ROPs. The RTX 4050 Mobile also has 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores, while the Radeon 860M has 8 ray tracing cores and no recorded tensor core count.

Memory architecture is completely different. The Radeon 860M uses system shared memory, with its size, type, bus width, and bandwidth all system dependent. The RTX 4050 Mobile has 6 GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory on a 96-bit bus, delivering 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA memory clock is 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective data rate.

Pixel and texture rates reflect the resource advantage. The Radeon 860M achieves 48.00 GPixel/s and 96.00 GTexel/s. The RTX 4050 Mobile reaches 84.24 GPixel/s and 140.4 GTexel/s. Floating point performance shows a similar gap: the Radeon 860M delivers 3.072 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 (1:1), while the RTX 4050 Mobile delivers 8.986 TFLOPS in both FP32 and FP16 (1:1).

Power consumption is recorded as 15 W for the Radeon 860M and 50 W for the RTX 4050 Mobile. Both are listed as IGP slot width with no power connectors. Both use PCIe 4.0 x8 bus interfaces and have portable device dependent display outputs. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

The Verdict

The recorded data indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile is the faster GPU in every shared benchmark. The Geekbench OpenCL margin of 69.6% and the Vulkan margin of 60.1% are decisive. For any workload that relies on raw compute throughput, the RTX 4050 Mobile delivers roughly three times the performance of the Radeon 860M in OpenCL and 2.5 times in Vulkan.

The Radeon 860M's advantages are limited to efficiency and integration. It consumes 15 W versus 50 W, and it uses system shared memory rather than dedicated VRAM. That makes it suitable for thin-and-light systems where power draw and space are constrained. But the performance gap is too large for the AMD part to be considered a direct competitor in GPU-heavy tasks.

The RTX 4050 Mobile also brings dedicated 6 GB GDDR6 memory with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth, eliminating the system memory sharing bottleneck that affects the Radeon 860M. The NVIDIA GPU has more shading units, more ray tracing cores, more tensor cores, and higher pixel and texture rates. The only category where the AMD part wins is clock speed, with a 3000 MHz boost versus 1755 MHz, but the benchmark results show that this does not translate into performance.

The percentile difference (72nd for AMD versus 63rd for NVIDIA) should not be read as AMD being the better overall product. The percentile reflects each GPU's position relative to its own nearest rival cluster, and the Radeon 860M's rivals are all lower-tier parts like the MX550 and RTX 5060, while the RTX 4050 Mobile's rivals include the RX 6600 and RTX 2000 Ada Generation. The head-to-head benchmarks are the authoritative comparison, and they favor NVIDIA without exception.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile scores 74,748 versus 22,759 for the AMD Radeon 860M, a 69.6% advantage.

Q: How does the Vulkan performance compare?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile scores 75,235 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the Radeon 860M scores 30,043, giving NVIDIA a 60.1% lead.

Q: What memory configurations do the two GPUs use?

A: The Radeon 860M uses system shared memory with system dependent bandwidth. The RTX 4050 Mobile uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 96-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the power consumption figures?

A: The Radeon 860M is rated at 15 W, while the RTX 4050 Mobile is rated at 50 W.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile has 2560 shading units, compared to 512 on the Radeon 860M.

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

A: The Radeon 860M averages 26,401 across its tests, while the RTX 4050 Mobile averages 19,049 due to its additional Passmark benchmark results.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile wins in every measured compute benchmark. In Geekbench OpenCL, it outperforms the Radeon 860M by 69.6%. In Geekbench Vulkan, it leads by 60.1%. It also wins on memory bandwidth with 192.0 GB/s dedicated GDDR6 versus system shared memory, on shader throughput with 2560 units versus 512, on pixel rate with 84.24 GPixel/s versus 48.00 GPixel/s, and on texture rate with 140.4 GTexel/s versus 96.00 GTexel/s. For any application that stresses GPU compute, ray tracing, or tensor workloads, the RTX 4050 Mobile is the clear choice.

The AMD Radeon 860M wins on power efficiency and integration. Its 15 W TDP is one-third of the RTX 4050 Mobile's 50 W. It uses system shared memory, which eliminates the need for separate VRAM allocation and simplifies system design. Its boost clock of 3000 MHz is higher than the NVIDIA part's 1755 MHz, though the benchmark data shows this does not compensate for the execution resource gap. The Radeon 860M also carries an older predecessor designation of Navi II IGP and sits at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, which places it above the RTX 4050 Mobile's 63rd percentile in the overall distribution. However, that percentile ordering is not reflected in direct comparisons.

Specification Differences

| Specification | AMD Radeon 860M | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | RDNA 3.5 | Ada Lovelace |

| Process node | 4 nm | 5 nm |

| Transistors | unknown | 18,900 million |

| Die size | unknown | 159 mm² |

| Base clock | 600 MHz | 1455 MHz |

| Boost clock | 3000 MHz | 1755 MHz |

| Memory size | System Shared | 6 GB |

| Memory type | System Shared | GDDR6 |

| Memory bus | System Shared | 96 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | System Dependent | 192.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 512 | 2560 |

| TMUs | 32 | 80 |

| ROPs | 16 | 48 |

| Ray tracing cores | 8 | 20 |

| Tensor cores | Not recorded | 80 |

| Pixel rate | 48.00 GPixel/s | 84.24 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 96.00 GTexel/s | 140.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 3.072 TFLOPS | 8.986 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 3.072 TFLOPS (1:1) | 8.986 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 15 W | 50 W |

| Release date | 2025-02-28 | 2023-01-02 |

| Predecessor | Navi II IGP | GeForce 30 Mobile |

| Successor | Not recorded | GeForce 50 Mobile |

| Percentile | 72 | 63 |

| Average benchmark score | 26,401 | 19,049 |

The specification table shows that the RTX 4050 Mobile holds the advantage in nearly every compute-related field, while the Radeon 860M counters with a smaller power envelope and a more recent release date. Both GPUs share the same PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, the same API support (DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, Vulkan 1.4), and the same IGP slot width with no power connectors. The RTX 4050 Mobile was released on 2023-01-02 and is succeeded by the GeForce 50 Mobile, while the Radeon 860M was released on 2025-02-28 and has no recorded successor.