AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile come from different eras and different design philosophies, yet the database places them in overlapping performance territory, with average benchmark scores of 23061 and 19049 respectively. The recorded data shows the RTX 4050 Mobile winning every direct head-to-head comparison by a wide margin, but the RX 580 2048SP sits at the 68th percentile against all GPUs in the database versus the 4050 Mobile's 63rd, a gap that reflects the composition of their benchmark portfolios rather than a simple ranking. What follows is a field-by-field analysis of where these two products diverge and what the measurements actually indicate.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear generational divide. On the two tests where both GPUs have recorded results, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 4050 Mobile wins both, by 60.3% and 48.6% respectively. Those are not marginal wins; they represent nearly a doubling of compute throughput in the OpenCL workload.

The RX 580 2048SP nevertheless holds a higher average benchmark score, 23061 versus 19049, and a higher percentile ranking. That average is built on a smaller set of tests, and the head-to-head data makes the direct comparison unambiguous: where both cards were measured on the same workload, the Ada Lovelace part dominates. Buyers choosing purely on measured performance should prefer the RTX 4050 Mobile. The RX 580 2048SP's case rests on its broader memory interface and higher memory bandwidth, 224.0 GB/s against 192.0 GB/s, which can matter in workloads that saturate a narrow bus. It is also an end-of-life desktop card, while the 4050 Mobile is an active mobile-integrated product, so platform considerations largely decide this matchup before benchmarks do.

Architecture Differences

These GPUs could hardly be more architecturally distinct. The RX 580 2048SP is built on the Polaris 20 chip using GCN 4.0 architecture, fabricated at GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process, with 5,700 million transistors on a 232 mm² die for a density of 24.6M per mm². The RTX 4050 Mobile uses the AD107 chip on Ada Lovelace architecture, fabricated at TSMC on a 5 nm process, packing 18,900 million transistors into a smaller 159 mm² die at 118.9M per mm². That is roughly 4.8 times the transistor density, and it shows in everything downstream.

The core configurations reflect their generations. AMD's part has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. NVIDIA's has 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The RTX 4050 Mobile also carries hardware the Polaris card simply lacks: 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores. The RX 580 2048SP has no ray tracing or tensor hardware recorded.

Clocks and power tell the efficiency story. The RX 580 2048SP runs a 1168 MHz base and 1284 MHz boost against the 4050 Mobile's 1455 MHz base and 1755 MHz boost, and does so at a 150 W TDP versus 50 W. The NVIDIA card needs no power connector and is integrated into the platform (IGP), while the AMD card requires a single 8-pin connector, a dual-slot footprint, and a suggested 450 W system power supply. Physically the RX 580 2048SP measures 241 mm long; the mobile part has no recorded dimensions.

Memory subystems diverge sharply. The RX 580 2048SP pairs 4 GB of GDDR5 with a 256-bit bus and 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth, with memory running at 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective). The RTX 4050 Mobile pairs 6 GB of GDDR6 with a 96-bit bus and 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth, running at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The AMD card wins on interface width and bandwidth; the NVIDIA card wins on capacity and per-pin speed.

Software support also favors the newer card. The RTX 4050 Mobile reports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, against DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3 on the RX 580 2048SP. Both report OpenGL 4.6. The PCIe interfaces differ too: PCIe 3.0 x16 for the AMD desktop card, PCIe 4.0 x8 for the NVIDIA mobile part. Connectivity reflects their form factors, with the RX 580 2048SP offering 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0b, and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the 4050 Mobile's outputs are portable-device dependent.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the recorded head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile won both shared tests. It scored 74748 versus 29668 in Geekbench OpenCL, a 60.3% gap, and 75235 versus 38666 in Geekbench Vulkan, a 48.6% gap. The overall head-to-head record is 2 wins to 0.

Q: Why does the RX 580 2048SP have a higher average score and percentile, then?

A: Its average of 23061 and 68th percentile come from a different mix of recorded tests than the 4050 Mobile's 19049 average and 63rd percentile. Averages across dissimilar test sets are not direct comparisons; the shared head-to-head results are the reliable indicator.

Q: Does either GPU support ray tracing?

A: Only the RTX 4050 Mobile. It has 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores. The RX 580 2048SP has no RT or tensor hardware recorded.

Q: Which has more memory bandwidth?

A: The RX 580 2048SP, with 224.0 GB/s across a 256-bit bus. The RTX 4050 Mobile delivers 192.0 GB/s across a 96-bit bus, though it holds a larger 6 GB buffer of faster GDDR6 versus 4 GB of GDDR5.

Q: Are these products still in production?

A: No and yes. The RX 580 2048SP is listed as end-of-life, released 2018-10-14. The RTX 4050 Mobile is active, released 2023-01-02.

Q: How do their theoretical compute figures compare?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile reaches 8.986 TFLOPS FP32 against 5.259 TFLOPS for the RX 580 2048SP. Both report 1:1 FP16 throughput at the same figure as their FP32 result.

Specification Differences

| Field | RX 580 2048SP | RTX 4050 Mobile |

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

| Manufacturer | AMD | NVIDIA |

| Chip | Polaris 20 | AD107 |

| Architecture | GCN 4.0 | Ada Lovelace |

| Generation | Polaris (RX 500) | GeForce 40 Mobile |

| Process node | 14 nm | 5 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

| Transistors | 5,700 million | 18,900 million |

| Die size | 232 mm² | 159 mm² |

| Transistor density | 24.6M / mm² | 118.9M / mm² |

| Base / boost clock | 1168 / 1284 MHz | 1455 / 1755 MHz |

| Memory | 4 GB GDDR5, 256-bit, 224.0 GB/s | 6 GB GDDR6, 96-bit, 192.0 GB/s |

| Memory speed | 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) | 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) |

| Shading units | 2048 | 2560 |

| TMUs / ROPs | 128 / 32 | 80 / 48 |

| RT / tensor cores | None | 20 / 80 |

| Pixel rate | 41.09 GPixel/s | 84.24 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 164.4 GTexel/s | 140.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 5.259 TFLOPS | 8.986 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 150 W | 50 W |

| Form factor | Dual-slot, 241 mm, 1x 8-pin | IGP, no power connector |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | Not applicable |

| Bus | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| DirectX / Vulkan | 12 (12_0) / 1.3 | 12 Ultimate (12_2) / 1.4 |

| Release date | 2018-10-14 | 2023-01-02 |

| Status | End-of-life | Active |

| Series | Not listed | GeForce 40-series |

| Predecessor / successor | Arctic Islands / Vega | GeForce 30 Mobile / GeForce 50 Mobile |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Only two tests appear in both GPUs' recorded results, and the RTX 4050 Mobile swept them.

Geekbench OpenCL is the most lopsided result: 74748 for the RTX 4050 Mobile against 29668 for the RX 580 2048SP, a 60.3% delta in NVIDIA's favor. That gap aligns with the raw compute figures, since the 4050 Mobile's 8.986 TFLOPS FP32 is 71% higher on paper than the Polaris card's 5.259 TFLOPS. The compute benchmark confirms the architecture advantage carries into real workloads, not just specification sheets.

Geekbench Vulkan narrows the gap but does not close it: 75235 versus 38666, a 48.6% win for the Ada Lovelace part. Interestingly, the RX 580 2048SP performs better in Vulkan than in OpenCL relative to its rival, which is consistent with its GCN design and its higher memory bandwidth of 224.0 GB/s helping in graphics-oriented workloads even against a much newer competitor.

Context from each card's rival set sharpens the picture. The RX 580 2048SP's average of 23061 sits within a fraction of a percent of the Intel Arc B580 (23021, 0.2%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23172, -0.5%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (22895, 0.7%), and the NVIDIA P106-100 (23249, -0.8%). The RTX 4050 Mobile's 19049 clusters equally tightly around the AMD Radeon RX 6600 (19036, 0.1%), the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19030, 0.1%), the NVIDIA Tesla K20m (19089, -0.2%), and the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation (18954, 0.5%). Both cards occupy well-defined neighborhoods in the database, but the direct measurements are decisive: 2 wins for the RTX 4050 Mobile, 0 for the RX 580 2048SP, with no shared test favoring the Polaris card.

Where the older hardware retains an edge is in specific throughput metrics and memory interface: a higher texture rate (164.4 versus 140.4 GTexel/s), more bandwidth (224.0 versus 192.0 GB/s), and a wider bus (256-bit versus 96-bit). The 4050 Mobile counters with double the pixel rate (84.24 versus 41.09 GPixel/s), more ROPs (48 versus 32), a larger and faster memory buffer, and one third the power draw. The benchmark record, however, is unambiguous, and it belongs to the newer card.