AMD Radeon RX 5300M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Comparison

# Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents a clear picture in the single common test available for both GPUs. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 50,038 points, while the AMD Radeon RX 5300M scores 36,529 points. That is a 27% delta in favor of NVIDIA, meaning the RTX 3050 Mobile finishes roughly a quarter ahead of its AMD rival in this compute-oriented workload. The magnitude of this gap is substantial enough to be felt in any OpenCL-accelerated application, from content creation tools to scientific computing tasks.

Context from the nearest-rival data reinforces NVIDIA's positioning. The RTX 3050 Mobile's average benchmark score of 33,170 places it in a tight cluster with the NVIDIA T550 Mobile (33,161, 0% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro 570 (33,207, -0.1%), the NVIDIA P104-100 (32,982, 0.6%), and the NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32,849, 1%). The RX 5300M, by contrast, averages 36,529 and sits near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X (36,530, 0% delta), the NVIDIA T1000 (36,289, 0.7%), the AMD Radeon PRO W6400 (37,157, -1.7%), and the AMD Radeon Pro Duo (35,860, 1.9%). Interestingly, the RX 5300M's single OpenCL score actually exceeds the RTX 3050 Mobile's average benchmark score by about 10%, yet in the head-to-head OpenCL test, NVIDIA wins decisively. This discrepancy suggests that the RTX 3050 Mobile's other benchmark results—the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 421 and the Geekbench Vulkan score of 49,051—drag its average down relative to its strong OpenCL showing.

The single head-to-head result is unambiguous, but it is also narrow. The data does not include a Vulkan comparison between these two specific GPUs, nor a DirectX 12 face-off. Still, the RTX 3050 Mobile's Vulkan score of 49,051 is within 2% of its OpenCL score, indicating consistent cross-API performance on NVIDIA's part. The RX 5300M has no corresponding Vulkan or DX12 entry in the dataset, so its capabilities in those APIs must be inferred from its architecture rather than measured directly.

# Where Each One Wins

For raw compute throughput, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is the clear winner. Its FP32 performance of 5.501 TFLOPS stands well above the AMD Radeon RX 5300M's 4.069 TFLOPS, a 35% advantage in raw shader math. This translates directly to the OpenCL benchmark result, where NVIDIA leads by 27%. For workloads that are heavily parallel and shader-bound—such as rendering, physics simulations, or GPGPU compute tasks—the RTX 3050 Mobile is the stronger choice.

The NVIDIA card also wins decisively on memory capacity and bandwidth. It packs 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth, versus the RX 5300M's 3 GB on a 96-bit bus at 168.0 GB/s. That is 33% more memory and 14% more bandwidth. For modern game textures or larger datasets in compute workloads, the extra gigabyte and the wider bus give NVIDIA a meaningful edge in scenarios where the RX 5300M might hit memory capacity limits or stall on bandwidth.

The RTX 3050 Mobile further distinguishes itself with dedicated hardware features that the RX 5300M simply lacks. NVIDIA's chip includes 16 ray-tracing cores and 64 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based features like DLSS. The AMD part has none of these—its specification lists no RT or tensor cores. In any application that leverages ray tracing or tensor-core-accelerated AI inference, the RTX 3050 Mobile is in a different league entirely.

Where the RX 5300M can claim advantages, they are narrower but real. Its pixel rate of 46.24 GPixel/s edges out NVIDIA's 42.98 GPixel/s, a 7.6% advantage in fill-rate-bound scenarios like heavy post-processing or high-resolution 2D compositing. The AMD card also has a higher texture rate at 127.2 GTexel/s versus 85.95 GTexel/s for NVIDIA—a 48% lead that could matter in texture-heavy workloads that are not shader-limited. However, these wins are unlikely to offset NVIDIA's dominant compute lead in most real-world applications. In terms of the GPUs' overall percentile rankings, the RX 5300M sits at the 80th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 3050 Mobile is at the 78th—a sign that AMD's part is slightly better positioned relative to the broader GPU landscape, even though it loses this specific head-to-head.

# Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectural generations. The AMD Radeon RX 5300M is built on RDNA 1.0, AMD's first-generation RDNA architecture, using the Navi 14 chip. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is based on the Ampere architecture, specifically the GA107 chip. These are not just different silicon designs; they represent different philosophies about how a mobile GPU should be structured.

The manufacturing processes differ markedly. AMD uses TSMC's 7 nm node, while NVIDIA uses Samsung's 8 nm node. Despite the node advantage in name, NVIDIA packs more transistors: 8,700 million versus AMD's 6,400 million. The die sizes tell a similar story—NVIDIA's GA107 measures 200 mm², while AMD's Navi 14 is 158 mm². Transistor density is close, with NVIDIA at 43.5M per mm² and AMD at 40.5M per mm², but NVIDIA's larger die allows for significantly more hardware resources.

The compute architecture diverges sharply. NVIDIA's Ampere design uses 2,048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, plus the dedicated 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores. AMD's RDNA 1.0 design, by contrast, has 1,408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no RT or tensor hardware. The shading unit count favors NVIDIA by 45%, but AMD compensates with 37.5% more TMUs, which explains the texture rate advantage. Both have the same 32 ROPs, yet AMD still manages a higher pixel rate due to its higher boost clock.

Clock behavior also reflects architectural differences. AMD's RX 5300M has a base clock of 1000 MHz, a boost clock of 1445 MHz, and a game clock of 1181 MHz. NVIDIA's RTX 3050 Mobile runs at a 1065 MHz base and 1343 MHz boost, with no game clock listed. AMD's higher boost clock, combined with its TMU advantage, drives those fill-rate wins. Memory clocks differ too: AMD runs its GDDR6 at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while NVIDIA runs at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). Yet NVIDIA still achieves higher bandwidth thanks to its wider 128-bit bus versus AMD's 96-bit bus.

A key architectural difference appears in FP16 throughput. AMD's RDNA 1.0 delivers 8.138 TFLOPS FP16 at a 2:1 ratio relative to FP32, meaning it can do twice the FP16 work per cycle. NVIDIA's Ampere delivers 5.501 TFLOPS FP16 at a 1:1 ratio, meaning no FP16 acceleration over FP32. For mixed-precision workloads that can exploit FP16, AMD has a theoretical advantage, though the raw FP32 lead of NVIDIA may still win out in practice.

API support also separates the two. NVIDIA supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while AMD only supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, but the DirectX 12 Ultimate certification means NVIDIA's part is ready for the latest DX12 features, including ray tracing and mesh shaders, which AMD's older architecture cannot claim.

# Specification Differences

The specification sheets reveal several fields where these two GPUs differ outright. Memory size: 3 GB on the RX 5300M versus 4 GB on the RTX 3050 Mobile. Memory bus width: 96-bit versus 128-bit. Memory bandwidth: 168.0 GB/s versus 192.0 GB/s. Shading units: 1,408 versus 2,048. TMUs: 88 versus 64. RT cores: none versus 16. Tensor cores: none versus 64. FP32 performance: 4.069 TFLOPS versus 5.501 TFLOPS. FP16 performance: 8.138 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 5.501 TFLOPS (1:1). TDP: 85 W versus 45 W.

The TDP difference is particularly notable. The RX 5300M draws 85 W, while the RTX 3050 Mobile is rated at just 45 W. That is an 89% higher power draw for the AMD part, yet it still loses in most performance metrics. This suggests NVIDIA's Ampere architecture delivers superior performance-per-watt in this comparison, a critical factor for mobile systems where thermal and battery constraints are paramount.

Other differing fields: process node (7 nm for AMD, 8 nm for NVIDIA), foundry (TSMC versus Samsung), transistor count (6,400 million versus 8,700 million), die size (158 mm² versus 200 mm²), transistor density (40.5M / mm² versus 43.5M / mm²), base clock (1000 MHz versus 1065 MHz), boost clock (1445 MHz versus 1343 MHz), memory clock (1750 MHz versus 1500 MHz), pixel rate (46.24 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s), texture rate (127.2 GTexel/s versus 85.95 GTexel/s), and DirectX support (12_1 versus 12 Ultimate). The bus interface is the same (PCIe 4.0 x8), as is the display output (portable device dependent), the power connector (none), and the production status (end-of-life). Neither GPU has a launch MSRP listed.

Release dates differ by roughly 18 months: the RX 5300M launched on 2019-11-12, while the RTX 3050 Mobile launched on 2021-05-10. Their predecessors also differ—AMD's is Polaris Mobile, NVIDIA's is GeForce 20 Mobile—but neither has a listed successor. The slot width for NVIDIA is listed as "IGP," while AMD's is not specified.

# FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in OpenCL compute?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 50,038 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 27% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 5300M's 36,529.

Q: Does the AMD card have any ray tracing capabilities?

A: No. The RX 5300M's specifications list no RT cores, whereas the RTX 3050 Mobile includes 16 RT cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Q: How do their memory configurations compare?

A: The RX 5300M has 3 GB of GDDR6 on a 96-bit bus with 168.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3050 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has higher power consumption?

A: The RX 5300M is rated at 85 W TDP, while the RTX 3050 Mobile is rated at 45 W TDP—an 89% higher draw for the AMD part.

Q: Are they from the same manufacturing node?

A: No. The RX 5300M uses TSMC's 7 nm process, while the RTX 3050 Mobile uses Samsung's 8 nm process. The RTX 3050 Mobile has more transistors (8,700 million versus 6,400 million) and a larger die (200 mm² versus 158 mm²).

Q: What is the percentile ranking of each GPU?

A: The RX 5300M is at the 80th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 3050 Mobile is at the 78th percentile. Despite losing the head-to-head OpenCL test, the AMD part is ranked slightly higher overall.