AMD Radeon PRO W7500 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM Comparison

The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM are both 8 GB graphics cards aimed at different segments, and the benchmark data reveals a clear split in their capabilities. Across nine head-to-head tests, the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 claims seven victories, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM takes two, resulting in a decisive overall advantage for the workstation-focused AMD card.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most significant margin of victory for the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 comes in the DirectX 9 test, where it scores 200 against the NVIDIA's 137, a 46% advantage. This is followed closely by the DirectX 11 benchmark, where the AMD card's score of 125 is 45.3% higher than the RTX 3050 OEM's 86. These legacy API results suggest the Radeon PRO W7500 has notably stronger drivers for older workloads, which can be critical in professional environments running established software.

In the Vulkan API, the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 again demonstrates its dominance, posting a score of 68,634 compared to the NVIDIA's 57,103, a 20.2% lead. This is a modern, low-overhead API, and the substantial gap indicates the AMD architecture handles it more efficiently. The 2D performance test also favors the AMD card, with a score of 1,174 versus 973, a 20.7% difference that points to better desktop and compositing performance.

The overall 3D performance metric, Passmark G3D, shows the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 ahead with 13,368 points against 11,857 for the NVIDIA, a 12.7% win. The compute-focused Passmark GPU Compute test is closer, with the AMD card winning 5,910 to 5,779, a modest 2.3% margin. The AMD card also edges out the NVIDIA in DirectX 10, scoring 65 to 61, a 6.6% advantage.

However, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM secures its wins in two specific areas. Its most notable victory is in DirectX 12, where it scores 58 against the AMD's 46, a 20.7% margin. This is a significant reversal, suggesting NVIDIA's architecture has an edge in the most modern graphics API. The NVIDIA card also wins the Geekbench OpenCL test, scoring 60,740 against the AMD's 58,213, a 4.2% lead, indicating a slight advantage in general-purpose compute tasks as measured by that specific benchmark.

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark results paint a clear picture of distinct use cases. The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 is the stronger performer in legacy and cross-platform graphics APIs. Its massive leads in DirectX 9 and DirectX 11, combined with a 20.2% advantage in Vulkan, make it the superior choice for applications that rely on these APIs. The 20.7% win in the 2D test also makes it a better fit for multi-monitor productivity setups and tasks that involve heavy 2D rendering.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, conversely, has a specific strength in DirectX 12, where its 20.7% lead is its most defining characteristic. For modern games and applications built primarily around DirectX 12, the NVIDIA card holds a clear performance advantage. Its win in Geekbench OpenCL also suggests it may be better suited for certain compute workloads, though the Passmark GPU Compute result tells a different story, indicating that performance in this area is highly dependent on the specific test methodology.

For compute tasks in general, the results are mixed. The AMD card wins Passmark GPU Compute by 2.3%, but loses Geekbench OpenCL by 4.2%. This suggests neither card has a universal compute advantage, and the specific software and driver optimizations will be the deciding factor. The AMD card's overwhelming wins in DirectX 9, 10, and 11 make it the clear choice for a broad range of professional and legacy software, while the NVIDIA card's DirectX 12 performance makes it more appealing for advanced gaming and applications that have fully transitioned to that API.

The Verdict

The data points to two very different buyers. The AMD Radeon PRO W7500, with its 59th percentile ranking among all GPUs and average benchmark score of 16,415, is the more well-rounded performer of the two. Its seven wins out of nine tests, including decisive victories in Vulkan and older DirectX versions, make it the recommended choice for professional workstations running CAD, DCC, or other software that may not be optimized for the latest APIs. The card's 6 nm process node and 70 W TDP also indicate a highly efficient design, making it suitable for single-slot, low-power systems.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, which sits at the 57th percentile with an average score of 15,199, is a more specialized option. Its 20.7% win in DirectX 12 is its primary selling point. Users whose workload is exclusively or predominantly DirectX 12-based, such as modern gaming or specific next-generation professional applications, should favor the NVIDIA card. Its dual-slot design and 130 W TDP are notably higher than the AMD card, but the performance in its strongest area is undeniable.

Ultimately, the choice is not about which card is "better," but which one fits the target software environment. The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 is the safer, more versatile choice for a general professional workload, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM is the specialist for DirectX 12-centric tasks. The AMD card is also the current production model, whereas the NVIDIA card is end-of-life, which is a further consideration for long-term availability.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher overall average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 has the higher average benchmark score at 16,415, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM's 15,199.

Q: In which benchmark does the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM have its largest lead over the AMD Radeon PRO W7500?

A: The NVIDIA card has its largest lead in the DirectX 12 test, where its score of 58 is 20.7% higher than the AMD card's score of 46.

Q: What is the single largest performance delta between the two cards in any benchmark?

A: The largest delta is in the Passmark DirectX 9 test, where the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 scores 200, which is 46% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM's score of 137.

Q: How do the two cards compare in the Vulkan graphics API?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 is significantly faster in Vulkan, scoring 68,634 compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM's 57,103, a 20.2% advantage.

Q: Are there any benchmarks where the scores are very close?

A: Yes, the Passmark GPU Compute test is close, with the AMD Radeon PRO W7500 winning by just 2.3% (5,910 vs 5,779).

Q: What are the process nodes for each card?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 is built on a 6 nm process at TSMC, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM uses an 8 nm process at Samsung.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures. The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 is based on the RDNA 3.0 architecture, using the Navi 33 chip, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM is based on the Ampere architecture, using the GA106 chip. This architectural divergence leads to significant differences in their core configurations. The NVIDIA card has more shading units (2,304) compared to the AMD card (1,792), but the AMD card has more texture mapping units (112 vs 72) and double the render output units (64 vs 32). The AMD card also has more ray tracing cores (28 vs 18), while the NVIDIA card features 72 tensor cores, which the AMD card lacks entirely.

The manufacturing processes also differ substantially. The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 is fabricated on a 6 nm process at TSMC, resulting in a die size of 204 mm² and a transistor count of 13,300 million. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM uses an 8 nm process at Samsung, which leads to a larger die size of 276 mm² but a slightly lower transistor count of 12,000 million. This translates to a significantly higher transistor density for the AMD chip at 65.2M / mm², compared to the NVIDIA's 43.5M / mm².

Memory configurations are similar in capacity but differ in speed. Both cards have 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus. However, the AMD card's memory runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), providing a bandwidth of 256.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card's memory runs at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), resulting in a lower bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s. This gives the AMD card a 14.3% memory bandwidth advantage.

Compute capabilities also reflect the architectural differences. The AMD Radeon PRO W7500 achieves 12.19 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 24.37 TFLOPS of FP16 performance (2:1 ratio). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM, in contrast, achieves 8.087 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1 ratio). The AMD card also has higher pixel and texture rates (108.8 GPixel/s and 190.4 GTexel/s) compared to the NVIDIA card (56.16 GPixel/s and 126.4 GTexel/s). The power profiles are also divergent, with the AMD card rated at 70 W TDP and the NVIDIA card at 130 W TDP. The AMD card is a single-slot design with no power connectors, while the NVIDIA card is a dual-slot design requiring a single 8-pin connector.