AMD Radeon RX 590 GME vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Comparison

# NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile vs AMD Radeon RX 590 GME

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile and AMD Radeon RX 590 GME represent two distinct approaches to GPU design, separated by architecture, process node, and intended use case. The RTX 3050 Mobile is an 8nm Ampere part designed for laptops, while the RX 590 GME is a 14nm Polaris desktop card from an earlier generation. Their benchmark profiles diverge sharply: the AMD card wins 2 of 3 head-to-head tests, yet the NVIDIA card holds a higher average benchmark score (33170 vs 32601) and a slightly better percentile ranking (78 vs 77). This unusual split reflects their very different strengths—the RX 590 GME dominates in raw rasterization tests, while the RTX 3050 Mobile excels in compute-oriented workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 33170 on average, which is 1.7% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME’s 32601. Both sit near the 77-78th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: How do they compare in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME wins decisively, scoring 1001 versus the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 421. This represents a 57.9% lead for the AMD card, the largest margin in any benchmark between them.

Q: Which GPU performs better in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 50038, which is 37.9% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 590 GME’s 36294. This is the NVIDIA card’s only head-to-head victory.

Q: What about Vulkan performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME scores 60508 in Geekbench Vulkan, beating the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile’s 49051 by 18.9%.

Q: How do their memory configurations differ?

A: The RTX 3050 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 590 GME has 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has higher TDP?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME has a 175 W TDP, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is rated at 45 W—a difference of 130 W.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectural lineages. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile uses the GA107 chip built on Ampere architecture, manufactured by Samsung on an 8 nm process. It packs 8,700 million transistors into a 200 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME uses the Polaris 20 chip based on GCN 4.0, built by GlobalFoundries on a 14 nm process. It contains 5,700 million transistors across a larger 232 mm² die, with a lower density of 24.6 million per square millimeter.

Feature support diverges significantly. The RTX 3050 Mobile includes 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI workloads—features entirely absent from the RX 590 GME, which lists no RT or tensor cores. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the AMD card supports DirectX 12 (12_0) and Vulkan 1.3. Both offer OpenGL 4.6.

Shader resources also differ. The RX 590 GME has 2304 shading units, 144 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 3050 Mobile has 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Despite fewer TMUs, the NVIDIA card’s higher clock efficiency is evident in its texture rate: 85.95 GTexel/s versus 204.5 GTexel/s for the AMD card—the latter benefiting from its larger TMU count and higher clocks.

The interface and power delivery reflect their different form factors. The RTX 3050 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8, is an IGP (integrated graphics package) with no power connectors, and is portable-device dependent for display outputs. The RX 590 GME uses PCIe 3.0 x16, is a dual-slot card measuring 241 mm (9.5 inches), requires a single 8-pin power connector, and offers 1x HDMI 2.0b plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. Its suggested PSU is 450 W.

The Verdict

The data paints a clear picture of two GPUs optimized for opposite ends of the performance spectrum. The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME is the stronger choice for traditional gaming rasterization workloads. It wins the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test by 57.9% and the Geekbench Vulkan test by 18.9%, and it offers double the memory (8 GB vs 4 GB) with 33.3% more bandwidth (256.0 GB/s vs 192.0 GB/s). The higher texture rate (204.5 GTexel/s vs 85.95 GTexel/s) and pixel rate (45.44 GPixel/s vs 42.98 GPixel/s) further cement its lead in fill-rate-bound scenarios.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is the better pick for compute-heavy applications. Its 37.9% lead in Geekbench OpenCL demonstrates superior general-purpose compute performance, likely aided by its tensor cores and newer architecture. It also achieves this with dramatically lower power consumption: 45 W TDP versus 175 W, making it suitable for thin-and-light laptops where the RX 590 GME’s dual-slot, 8-pin-powered desktop design is simply not an option.

For users who prioritize raw frame rates in DirectX 12 and Vulkan titles, the RX 590 GME is the data-backed winner. For those who need OpenCL compute performance or require a mobile form factor with minimal power draw, the RTX 3050 Mobile is the only viable choice. The 78th versus 77th percentile ranking is essentially a tie, but the benchmark split shows they win in different arenas.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile | AMD Radeon RX 590 GME |

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

| Architecture | Ampere | GCN 4.0 |

| Process Node | 8 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | GlobalFoundries |

| Transistors | 8,700 million | 5,700 million |

| Die Size | 200 mm² | 232 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 43.5M / mm² | 24.6M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1065 MHz | 1257 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1343 MHz | 1420 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) | 2000 MHz (8 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 4 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 192.0 GB/s | 256.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 2304 |

| TMUs | 64 | 144 |

| ROPs | 32 | 32 |

| RT Cores | 16 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 64 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 42.98 GPixel/s | 45.44 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 85.95 GTexel/s | 204.5 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 5.501 TFLOPS | 6.543 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 5.501 TFLOPS (1:1) | 6.543 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 45 W | 175 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | None | 450 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX Support | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_0) |

| Vulkan Support | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Release Date | 2021-05-10 | 2020-03-08 |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The three head-to-head benchmarks reveal a stark performance split between the two GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 590 GME takes two of three tests, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile wins one—yet the margin of victory tells the full story.

In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RX 590 GME delivers a score of 1001 versus the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 421. That 57.9% delta is the largest gap in any comparison for either card. This test likely stresses raw shading and texture throughput, where the AMD card’s 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 6.543 TFLOPS FP32 performance provide a substantial advantage over the NVIDIA card’s 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 5.501 TFLOPS. The RX 590 GME’s 256-bit memory bus and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth also help feed its higher fill rates.

The Geekbench Vulkan test shows the RX 590 GME winning again, scoring 60508 against 49051—an 18.9% lead. Vulkan’s low-level API often benefits from wider memory buses and higher raw compute throughput, both of which favor the AMD design. The RX 590 GME’s 45.44 GPixel/s pixel rate and 204.5 GTexel/s texture rate further support this result.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile’s sole victory comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 50038 versus 36294—a 37.9% margin. This is notable because OpenCL workloads often exercise compute units and memory access patterns differently than graphics APIs. The RTX 3050 Mobile’s 64 tensor cores and Ampere architecture’s improved compute efficiency likely drive this result. Its 5.501 TFLOPS FP32 output is lower than the AMD card’s 6.543 TFLOPS, yet it still wins decisively, suggesting architectural efficiency overraw throughput. The NVIDIA card’s 8 nm process and higher transistor density (43.5M / mm² vs 24.6M / mm²) may contribute to better compute scheduling.

The win/loss tally stands at 1 win for NVIDIA and 2 wins for AMD. However, the average benchmark scores tell a different story: the RTX 3050 Mobile averages 33170 while the RX 590 GME averages 32601, a 1.7% edge for NVIDIA. This discrepancy arises because the NVIDIA card’s OpenCL score of 50038 is significantly higher than the RX 590 GME’s OpenCL score of 36294, while the AMD card’s wins in Steel Nomad and Vulkan are relatively smaller in absolute terms when averaged across all tests. The percentile ranking reflects this near-parity, with NVIDIA at 78 and AMD at 77.

Looking at nearest rivals, the RTX 3050 Mobile sits within 1% of the NVIDIA T550 Mobile, AMD Radeon Pro 570, NVIDIA P104-100, and NVIDIA T600 Mobile. The RX 590 GME’s nearest rivals include the AMD FirePro S9300 X2, AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, AMD FirePro S10000, and NVIDIA T600 Mobile, with deltas ranging from -0.8% to 0.7%. Both cards are firmly mid-pack performers, with the RX 590 GME showing slightly closer competition at its tier.