AMD Radeon RX 7800M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive sweep in favor of the AMD Radeon RX 7800M across all three shared benchmark tests. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile does not register a single win in the head-to-head comparison, with the AMD part taking all three tests by substantial margins.

In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the AMD Radeon RX 7800M scores 2994 points against 421 points for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile. That represents an 85.9% deficit for the NVIDIA part, meaning the AMD solution delivers roughly seven times the performance in this particular DirectX 12 workload. This is the largest relative gap between the two cards in any shared benchmark.

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows a smaller but still commanding lead for the AMD Radeon RX 7800M. The AMD card scores 120778 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile manages 50038 points. The delta here is 58.6%, indicating the AMD part is more than twice as fast in this compute-oriented benchmark. The OpenCL result reflects general-purpose GPU compute throughput, where the AMD card's larger execution resource pool becomes apparent.

Geekbench Vulkan follows a similar pattern. The AMD Radeon RX 7800M scores 126668 points, versus 49051 points for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile. The delta is 61.3%, again placing the AMD card at roughly 2.5 times the performance level of the NVIDIA solution. Vulkan results often scale with raw shading throughput and memory bandwidth, both areas where the AMD part holds a significant specification advantage.

Interpreting these numbers in context, the AMD Radeon RX 7800M does not just edge out the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile; it dominates across every measured workload. The smallest victory margin is 58.6%, which is already a massive performance gap. The largest margin, 85.9% in Steel Nomad, suggests that the AMD card is in a completely different performance tier. The database percentile data reinforces this: the AMD Radeon RX 7800M sits at the 73rd percentile against all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile sits at the 78th percentile. Despite the lower percentile ranking, the AMD card's raw benchmark scores are far higher, indicating that the percentile metric is influenced by the distribution of scores across the entire database rather than direct head-to-head performance.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the most benchmarks in the head-to-head comparison?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7800M wins all three shared tests: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, Geekbench OpenCL, and Geekbench Vulkan. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile records zero wins in the direct comparison.

Q: How large is the performance gap in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7800M scores 2994 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 421 points. The delta is 85.9% in favor of the AMD card, the largest relative difference across all shared benchmarks.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 33170 across its recorded tests. The AMD Radeon RX 7800M has an average score of 27883, which is lower despite winning every head-to-head test. This discrepancy arises because the AMD card's benchmark suite includes additional PassMark tests with low scores, pulling its average down.

Q: Which GPU has a higher percentile ranking against all GPUs?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile ranks at the 78th percentile against all GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 7800M ranks at the 73rd percentile. Despite the lower percentile, the AMD card decisively outperforms the NVIDIA card in every direct comparison.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 7800M have any benchmark where it scores below 100 points?

A: Yes. In the PassMark DirectX 10 test, the AMD Radeon RX 7800M scores 99 points, and in the PassMark DirectX 12 test it scores 89 points. These low scores are part of the PassMark suite, which the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile does not have recorded in its benchmark list.

Q: What is the closest rival to each GPU in the database?

A: For the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile, the closest rival is the NVIDIA T550 Mobile with an average score of 33161 and a delta of 0%. For the AMD Radeon RX 7800M, the closest rival is the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 with an average score of 27839 and a delta of 0.2%.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies and manufacturing processes. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile uses the GA107 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung with 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die. The transistor density works out to 43.5 million transistors per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 7800M uses the Navi 32 chip built on RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC with 28,100 million transistors on a 346 mm² die, yielding a density of 81.2 million transistors per square millimeter. The AMD chip more than triples the transistor count and nearly doubles the density, reflecting a newer and more advanced manufacturing node.

Clock speeds differ substantially. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1343 MHz. The AMD Radeon RX 7800M starts at 1295 MHz base, boosts to 2335 MHz, and has a game clock of 2145 MHz. The AMD card's boost clock is 992 MHz higher than the NVIDIA card's boost, a difference of roughly 74% at the top end.

Memory configurations are also completely different. The NVIDIA card carries 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, delivering 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth with memory clocked at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). The AMD card carries 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth with memory clocked at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). The AMD card offers triple the capacity and more than double the bandwidth.

Execution resources favor the AMD card heavily. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile has 2048 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operation units. It includes 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores. The AMD Radeon RX 7800M has 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 raster operation units. It includes 60 ray tracing cores and has no tensor cores listed. The AMD card has 87.5% more shading units, 275% more TMUs, and 200% more ROPs.

Pixel and texture rates follow the same trend. The NVIDIA card achieves 42.98 GPixel/s and 85.95 GTexel/s. The AMD card achieves 224.2 GPixel/s and 560.4 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 5.501 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card versus 35.87 TFLOPS for the AMD card, a 6.5x difference. FP16 throughput matches FP32 on both cards at a 1:1 ratio.

Power consumption is a major differentiator. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile has a TDP of 45 W, while the AMD Radeon RX 7800M has a TDP of 180 W. This fourfold difference in power envelope explains much of the performance gap. The NVIDIA card uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, while the AMD card uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Both are IGP form factors with no power connectors listed and portable device dependent display outputs.

Release timing differs as well. The NVIDIA card launched on 2021-05-10 and is now end-of-life, while the AMD card launched on 2024-09-10 and remains active. The AMD card's predecessor is listed as Polaris Mobile, while the NVIDIA card's predecessor is GeForce 20 Mobile.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous. The AMD Radeon RX 7800M wins every head-to-head test against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile by margins ranging from 58.6% to 85.9%. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the AMD card scores 2994 versus 421 for the NVIDIA card. In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD card scores 120778 versus 50038. In Geekbench Vulkan, the AMD card scores 126668 versus 49051.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile does hold a higher percentile ranking at 78% versus 73%, and its average benchmark score of 33170 exceeds the AMD card's 27883. However, these aggregate metrics are misleading in a direct comparison because the AMD card's PassMark tests include several low scores. The head-to-head results are the only true apples-to-apples comparison, and they favor the AMD card completely.

The performance gap is rooted in fundamental architectural differences. The AMD card uses a 5 nm process with 28,100 million transistors versus 8,700 million on the NVIDIA card. It has 3840 shading units versus 2048, 240 TMUs versus 64, 96 ROPs versus 32, and 60 ray tracing cores versus 16. Memory bandwidth is 432.0 GB/s versus 192.0 GB/s. FP32 throughput is 35.87 TFLOPS versus 5.501 TFLOPS. These are not incremental improvements; they represent a generational leap in capability.

The cost of that performance is power. The AMD card consumes 180 W versus 45 W for the NVIDIA card. Any system integrating the AMD Radeon RX 7800M must account for a much larger thermal and power budget. For users prioritizing raw performance above all else, the AMD card is the clear choice based on the recorded data. For users constrained by power or thermal limits, the NVIDIA card offers a far more efficient solution, though its performance is dramatically lower.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile | AMD Radeon RX 7800M |

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

| Process Node | 8 nm (Samsung) | 5 nm (TSMC) |

| Transistors | 8,700 million | 28,100 million |

| Die Size | 200 mm² | 346 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 43.5M / mm² | 81.2M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1065 MHz | 1295 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1343 MHz | 2335 MHz |

| Game Clock | Not specified | 2145 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) | 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) |

| Memory Size | 4 GB GDDR6 | 12 GB GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 128 bit | 192 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 192.0 GB/s | 432.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 2048 | 3840 |

| TMUs | 64 | 240 |

| ROPs | 32 | 96 |

| Ray Tracing Cores | 16 | 60 |

| Tensor Cores | 64 | Not specified |

| Pixel Rate | 42.98 GPixel/s | 224.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 85.95 GTexel/s | 560.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 5.501 TFLOPS | 35.87 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | 5.501 TFLOPS (1:1) | 35.87 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 45 W | 180 W |

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

| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |

| Release Date | 2021-05-10 | 2024-09-10 |

| Predecessor | GeForce 20 Mobile | Polaris Mobile |

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 7800M wins in every measured performance category. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it leads by 85.9%. In Geekbench OpenCL, it leads by 58.6%. In Geekbench Vulkan, it leads by 61.3%. Its pixel rate of 224.2 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s makes it the clear choice for high-resolution rendering. Its texture rate of 560.4 GTexel/s versus 85.95 GTexel/s gives it an overwhelming advantage in texture-heavy scenes. Its FP32 throughput of 35.87 TFLOPS versus 5.501 TFLOPS makes it far faster for compute workloads. Its 12 GB memory capacity versus 4 GB allows it to handle larger datasets and higher-resolution textures without spilling to system memory. Its 432.0 GB/s bandwidth versus 192.0 GB/s ensures those larger memory pools are fed quickly.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile wins in power efficiency. Its 45 W TDP is one quarter of the AMD card's 180 W TDP. For thermally constrained laptops or systems where battery life matters, the NVIDIA card is the only viable choice among the two. Its transistor density of 43.5M / mm² is lower than the AMD card's 81.2M / mm², but the overall power draw is far more modest. The NVIDIA card also carries 64 tensor cores, which the AMD card does not list, suggesting potential advantages in AI-accelerated workloads that rely on tensor core instructions. Its 8 nm Samsung process, while older, has a proven track record in mobile deployments.

The AMD Radeon RX 7800M is the choice for users who need maximum frame rates and compute performance and have the power budget to support it. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is the choice for users who prioritize low power consumption and thermal headroom, accepting a much lower performance ceiling in exchange. The recorded data shows no middle ground: the AMD card wins every performance test decisively, while the NVIDIA card wins the efficiency comparison just as clearly.