AMD Radeon R9 M390X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon R9 M390X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile represent two distant eras of mobile graphics, separated by nearly eight years of architectural evolution. The data shows a clear generational gap: the RTX 4050 Mobile wins the only shared benchmark by a massive margin, yet the R9 M390X still holds a slightly higher overall percentile ranking. This creates an interesting split between raw compute capability and real-world benchmark performance, making the choice dependent on specific workloads.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile is the definitive winner in compute-heavy and modern rendering workloads. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 75,235 completely dwarfs the R9 M390X’s 16,951 — a 77.5% advantage. That single result tells the story: the RTX 4050 Mobile is built for modern APIs and parallel compute tasks. It also posts a Geekbench OpenCL score of 74,748, demonstrating strong general-purpose GPU compute. For any task that leverages Vulkan, OpenCL, or DirectX 12 Ultimate features, the RTX 4050 Mobile is the only sensible choice. Its PassMark G3D score of 14,423 further confirms its dominance in 3D rendering workloads.

The AMD Radeon R9 M390X, despite being end-of-life since 2015, claims victory in one specific metric: overall benchmark percentile. It sits at the 66th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the RTX 4050 Mobile’s 63rd percentile. Its average benchmark score of 20,662 also edges out the RTX 4050 Mobile’s 19,049. This is a narrow but real advantage driven by its two Geekbench scores — 24,373 in Metal and 16,951 in Vulkan — which are more balanced across different test suites. For legacy DirectX 9 and 10 workloads, the R9 M390X’s older architecture may hold its own, though no direct comparison data exists in the head-to-head results. In practice, the R9 M390X wins only in the narrow sense of having a higher aggregate percentile; everywhere else, the RTX 4050 Mobile is superior.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is enormous. The R9 M390X uses GCN 3.0 architecture on a 28 nm TSMC process, packing 5,000 million transistors into a 366 mm² die. The RTX 4050 Mobile uses Ada Lovelace on a 5 nm TSMC process, fitting 18,900 million transistors into just 159 mm². That means the RTX 4050 Mobile has nearly four times the transistor count in less than half the die area, giving it a transistor density of 118.9M per mm² versus 13.7M per mm² for the R9 M390X. This is a 8.7x density advantage, which explains the massive performance-per-watt difference.

The RTX 4050 Mobile also brings dedicated hardware the R9 M390X simply lacks: 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores. These enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS-style AI features, neither of which exist in the GCN 3.0 design. The R9 M390X has no such dedicated units. In terms of raw compute units, the RTX 4050 Mobile has 2,560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 48 ROPs, while the R9 M390X has 2,048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The R9 M390X actually has more TMUs, but the RTX 4050 Mobile more than compensates with higher clock speeds and newer architecture. The RTX 4050 Mobile boosts to 1,755 MHz versus the R9 M390X’s unspecified clocks, though the R9 M390X’s memory runs at 1,250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) compared to the RTX 4050 Mobile’s 2,000 MHz (16 Gbps effective).

Memory configurations also differ significantly. The R9 M390X uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 160.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4050 Mobile uses 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 96-bit bus, delivering 192.0 GB/s. Despite the narrower bus, the RTX 4050 Mobile has 20% more bandwidth thanks to faster memory. The RTX 4050 Mobile also supports PCIe 4.0 x8, while the R9 M390X is limited to PCIe 3.0 x16. API support is another differentiator: the RTX 4050 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the R9 M390X only reaches DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.2.170.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison available is Geekbench Vulkan, and it is not close. The RTX 4050 Mobile scores 75,235, while the R9 M390X scores 16,951. That is a delta of -77.5% for the R9 M390X, meaning the RTX 4050 Mobile is roughly 4.4x faster in this test. This is the single most important data point in this comparison. Vulkan is a modern, low-level API that scales well with architectural efficiency, and the Ada Lovelace architecture crushes GCN 3.0 here.

Beyond that head-to-head, the broader benchmark suites reinforce the trend. The RTX 4050 Mobile’s Geekbench OpenCL score of 74,748 is nearly identical to its Vulkan result, showing consistent compute performance across APIs. The R9 M390X’s best score is its Geekbench Metal result at 24,373, which is still far below the RTX 4050 Mobile’s OpenCL figure. In PassMark tests, the RTX 4050 Mobile shows strong DirectX 11 performance with a score of 130, but notably weaker DirectX 12 at 61 and DirectX 10 at 79. Its DirectX 9 score of 184 is its best legacy result. The R9 M390X has no PassMark data in the fact pack, so direct comparisons in those tests are impossible. The average benchmark score difference — 20,662 for the R9 M390X versus 19,049 for the RTX 4050 Mobile — is within 8%, but the RTX 4050 Mobile’s scores come from a much wider and more demanding test suite, making its lower average less meaningful.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher overall benchmark percentile?

A: The AMD Radeon R9 M390X sits at the 66th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile sits at the 63rd percentile. This is a narrow 3-percentage-point gap in favor of the older card.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4050 Mobile in Vulkan?

A: In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the RTX 4050 Mobile scores 75,235 versus the R9 M390X’s 16,951, which is a 77.5% advantage for the NVIDIA card.

Q: Does the R9 M390X have ray tracing support?

A: No. The R9 M390X has no ray tracing cores, while the RTX 4050 Mobile includes 20 dedicated RT cores and 80 tensor cores for AI-accelerated features.

Q: What are the memory bandwidth differences?

A: The R9 M390X delivers 160.0 GB/s from 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus. The RTX 4050 Mobile delivers 192.0 GB/s from 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 96-bit bus, giving it a 20% bandwidth advantage despite the narrower interface.

Q: Which GPU is more power-efficient?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile has a 50 W TDP, while the R9 M390X has a 75 W TDP. The RTX 4050 Mobile delivers dramatically higher performance while consuming 33% less power.

Q: Are these GPUs comparable in transistor technology?

A: No. The R9 M390X uses a 28 nm process with 5,000 million transistors on a 366 mm² die. The RTX 4050 Mobile uses a 5 nm process with 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die, representing a massive density improvement.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification. The process node separates them by three generations: 28 nm for AMD versus 5 nm for NVIDIA. Transistor counts are 5,000 million versus 18,900 million, and die sizes are 366 mm² versus 159 mm². The R9 M390X has a transistor density of 13.7M per mm², while the RTX 4050 Mobile achieves 118.9M per mm². Clock speeds differ substantially: the RTX 4050 Mobile has a base clock of 1,455 MHz and a boost of 1,755 MHz, while the R9 M390X has no listed base or boost clocks. Memory clocks are 1,250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) for the R9 M390X versus 2,000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) for the RTX 4050 Mobile.

Memory size, type, bus width, and bandwidth all differ: 4 GB GDDR5 on 256-bit at 160.0 GB/s versus 6 GB GDDR6 on 96-bit at 192.0 GB/s. Shading units are 2,048 versus 2,560; TMUs are 128 versus 80; ROPs are 32 versus 48. The RTX 4050 Mobile adds 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores; the R9 M390X has none. Pixel rate is 23.14 GPixel/s versus 84.24 GPixel/s, texture rate is 92.54 GTexel/s versus 140.4 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance is 2.961 TFLOPS versus 8.986 TFLOPS. TDP is 75 W versus 50 W. The R9 M390X uses an MXM Module slot, while the RTX 4050 Mobile is an IGP. Bus interfaces are PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x8. DirectX support is 12 (12_0) versus 12 Ultimate (12_2), and Vulkan is 1.2.170 versus 1.4. Production status is end-of-life versus active. Release dates are 2015-05-04 versus 2023-01-02. The R9 M390X has no launch MSRP listed, and neither does the RTX 4050 Mobile.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile is the superior GPU in nearly every measurable way. It delivers 3x the FP32 performance (8.986 TFLOPS versus 2.961 TFLOPS), 3.6x the pixel rate, 1.5x the texture rate, and 20% more memory bandwidth. It dominates the only head-to-head benchmark with a 77.5% lead in Vulkan. It adds hardware ray tracing and tensor cores, supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, and does all of this while consuming 25 W less power. Anyone choosing a GPU for modern gaming, content creation, or compute workloads should pick the RTX 4050 Mobile without hesitation.

The R9 M390X’s only advantages are its higher percentile ranking (66th versus 63rd) and its higher average benchmark score (20,662 versus 19,049). These are narrow margins driven by a limited test suite. The R9 M390X also has more TMUs (128 versus 80) and a wider memory bus (256-bit versus 96-bit), which could theoretically benefit certain texture-heavy legacy workloads. For a system that must run older DirectX 9 or 10 titles on vintage software, the R9 M390X might still function adequately. But the RTX 4050 Mobile’s superiority in every modern benchmark, its lower power draw, and its active production status make it the only rational choice for any current or future workload. The R9 M390X belongs in a museum, not a modern gaming laptop.