AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in the majority of the recorded head-to-head benchmark comparisons?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT wins 8 of the 9 recorded head-to-head benchmark comparisons, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM wins only 1. The AMD card’s victories include all Passmark DirectX tests (9, 10, 11, and 12), the Passmark G2D and G3D tests, the Passmark GPU compute test, and the Geekbench Vulkan test.

Q: How does the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM manage to win any benchmark against the much larger RX 7900 XT?

A: The RTX 3050 OEM wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 60,740, versus 12,756 for the RX 7900 XT. That represents a 376.2% delta in favor of the NVIDIA card. This is the single largest percentage difference in the entire head-to-head set, indicating a workload where the NVIDIA architecture’s OpenCL execution is disproportionately strong.

Q: What do the average benchmark scores say about these two GPUs?

A: The RTX 3050 OEM has an average benchmark score of 15,199, while the RX 7900 XT has an average benchmark score of 13,745. Despite the RX 7900 XT winning most head-to-head tests, the RTX 3050 OEM’s higher average is driven almost entirely by its massive OpenCL score, which inflates its overall average relative to the AMD card.

Q: Where does each GPU rank among all GPUs in the database?

A: The RTX 3050 OEM sits in the 57th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 7900 XT sits in the 55th percentile. These are close percentile rankings, which is notable given the RX 7900 XT’s clear dominance in most specific DirectX and compute workloads.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card according to the database?

A: For the RTX 3050 OEM, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 7600 (0.2% delta), the AMD Radeon 680M (-0.5%), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 (-0.5%), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (-0.6%). For the RX 7900 XT, the nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon 660M (-0.5%), the NVIDIA RTX A2000 Mobile (-0.5%), the AMD Radeon RX 570X (-0.9%), and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (1.5%).

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT?

A: The launch MSRP of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is 899 USD. The RTX 3050 OEM has no recorded launch MSRP in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different architectural generations and foundries. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM is built on the GA106 chip using the Ampere architecture and an 8 nm process from Samsung. It packs 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT uses the Navi 31 chip with the RDNA 3.0 architecture, fabricated on a 5 nm process by TSMC. It contains 57,700 million transistors across a 529 mm² die, for a density of 109.1 million per square millimeter.

The compute layouts diverge sharply. The RTX 3050 OEM has 2,304 shading units, 72 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. It also includes 18 ray tracing cores and 72 tensor cores, reflecting NVIDIA’s approach to accelerating both ray tracing and AI workloads. The RX 7900 XT has 5,376 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. It has 84 ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, relying instead on its massive shader array for compute. The AMD card’s FP32 throughput is 51.48 TFLOPS versus 8.087 TFLOPS for the NVIDIA card, and the AMD card reaches 103.0 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio) versus 8.087 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1) for the NVIDIA card.

Memory subsystems are also starkly different. The RTX 3050 OEM uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128 bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 7900 XT uses 20 GB of GDDR6 on a 320 bit bus, delivering 800.0 GB/s. The clock strategies differ as well: the NVIDIA card has a base clock of 1515 MHz and a boost of 1755 MHz, while the AMD card has a base of 1387 MHz, a game clock of 2025 MHz, and a boost of 2394 MHz. The AMD card’s memory runs at 2500 MHz (20 Gbps effective), compared to 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the NVIDIA card.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is identical. The physical and power characteristics are not: the RTX 3050 OEM has a 130 W TDP and requires a 300 W suggested PSU, while the RX 7900 XT has a 300 W TDP and a 700 W suggested PSU. The NVIDIA card uses a single 8-pin power connector, the AMD card uses two 8-pin connectors. Both are dual-slot designs, but the AMD card is longer at 276 mm versus 242 mm for the NVIDIA card.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmark data splits the two GPUs into very different use-case profiles. The RTX 3050 OEM wins only the Geekbench OpenCL test, and that win is enormous: 60,740 versus 12,756. This suggests that for OpenCL-based compute workloads, particularly those that scale well with the NVIDIA architecture’s specific execution paths, the RTX 3050 OEM is disproportionately effective. It is not a general-purpose winner, but in that one narrow API workload it outperforms the RX 7900 XT by a factor of nearly 5.

The RX 7900 XT wins every other recorded test. It dominates the Passmark DirectX suite across all four versions: DirectX 9 (322 vs 137), DirectX 10 (158 vs 61), DirectX 11 (340 vs 86), and DirectX 12 (110 vs 58). These are consistent, wide margins that indicate strong rasterization performance across legacy and modern DX APIs. The RX 7900 XT also wins the Passmark G2D test (1232 vs 973), which measures 2D graphics and desktop composition, and the Passmark G3D test (29009 vs 11857), which is a broader 3D graphics aggregate.

For compute-heavy workloads beyond OpenCL, the RX 7900 XT wins the Passmark GPU compute test with 16,828 versus 5,779, a 65.7% delta. In the Geekbench Vulkan test, the RX 7900 XT scores 71,068 versus 57,103, a 19.7% delta. The pattern is clear: the RX 7900 XT is the stronger card for virtually all real-world gaming and general compute scenarios, while the RTX 3050 OEM has a single, anomalous OpenCL advantage that does not extend to any other API.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 3050 OEM uses an 8 nm Samsung process, while the RX 7900 XT uses a 5 nm TSMC process. The NVIDIA card has 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, the AMD card has 57,700 million on 529 mm². Transistor density is 43.5M/mm² for the RTX 3050 OEM and 109.1M/mm² for the RX 7900 XT.

Memory capacity differs by 12 GB: the RTX 3050 OEM has 8 GB, the RX 7900 XT has 20 GB. Bus width is 128 bit versus 320 bit, and bandwidth is 224.0 GB/s versus 800.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card has 2,304 shading units, 72 TMUs, and 32 ROPs; the AMD card has 5,376 shading units, 336 TMUs, and 192 ROPs. The RTX 3050 OEM has 18 ray tracing cores and 72 tensor cores; the RX 7900 XT has 84 ray tracing cores and no tensor cores.

Clocks are higher on the AMD card in boost and game frequencies: the RX 7900 XT boosts to 2394 MHz with a 2025 MHz game clock, while the RTX 3050 OEM boosts to 1755 MHz. The base clock is higher on the NVIDIA card (1515 MHz vs 1387 MHz). Pixel rate is 56.16 GPixel/s for the RTX 3050 OEM and 459.6 GPixel/s for the RX 7900 XT. Texture rate is 126.4 GTexel/s versus 804.4 GTexel/s. FP32 is 8.087 TFLOPS versus 51.48 TFLOPS. FP16 is 8.087 TFLOPS (1:1) versus 103.0 TFLOPS (2:1).

TDP is 130 W for the NVIDIA card and 300 W for the AMD card. The RTX 3050 OEM uses one 8-pin connector and a 300 W suggested PSU; the RX 7900 XT uses two 8-pin connectors and a 700 W suggested PSU. The bus interface is PCIe 4.0 x8 for the NVIDIA card and PCIe 4.0 x16 for the AMD card. Display outputs differ: the RTX 3050 OEM has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RX 7900 XT has 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C. The RTX 3050 OEM is 242 mm long and 112 mm high; the RX 7900 XT is 276 mm long, 110 mm high, and 51 mm wide.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data reveals one massive outlier and a series of consistent AMD victories. The Geekbench OpenCL test is the only win for the RTX 3050 OEM, and it is by far the largest delta in either direction: 60,740 versus 12,756, a 376.2% advantage. This is a striking anomaly, given that the same NVIDIA card loses every other test, and it suggests that OpenCL on this Ampere part has a very specific performance profile that does not translate to other APIs.

Every other head-to-head test goes to the RX 7900 XT. The largest single delta is in Passmark DirectX 11, where the AMD card scores 340 versus 86, a 74.7% advantage. That is followed by Passmark GPU compute (16,828 vs 5,779, a 65.7% delta) and Passmark DirectX 10 (158 vs 61, a 61.4% delta). The Passmark G3D test shows a 59.1% delta (29,009 vs 11,857), and the DirectX 9 test shows a 57.5% delta (322 vs 137).

Smaller but still decisive margins appear in DirectX 12 (110 vs 58, a 47.3% delta) and the Passmark G2D test (1232 vs 973, a 21% delta). The closest AMD win is in Geekbench Vulkan, where the RX 7900 XT scores 71,068 versus 57,103, a 19.7% delta. Even that “close” result is a substantial margin, and it underscores that the RX 7900 XT’s Vulkan performance is clearly ahead, just not as far ahead as in the DirectX and compute tests.

The overall win count is 8 to 1 in favor of the RX 7900 XT. The average benchmark scores, however, tell a different story: the RTX 3050 OEM averages 15,199, while the RX 7900 XT averages 13,745. That inversion is entirely attributable to the OpenCL outlier, which boosts the NVIDIA card’s average despite its losses elsewhere. The percentile rankings are similarly close: 57th for the RTX 3050 OEM and 55th for the RX 7900 XT.

The Verdict

The data presents a clear split between a narrow compute specialist and a broad general-purpose performer. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM should be selected by users whose workloads are dominated by OpenCL compute, based on its 376.2% advantage in that single test. For any other recorded workload, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the superior choice.

The RX 7900 XT wins every DirectX test, including the modern DirectX 12 path, and it wins the Vulkan test by a 19.7% margin. It also wins the Passmark GPU compute test by 65.7%, which means its compute advantage is not limited to gaming. The RTX 3050 OEM’s OpenCL win is real but isolated; it does not carry over to Vulkan or any Passmark test.

For gaming, the RX 7900 XT is the obvious pick. Its DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 scores are 74.7% and 47.3% higher, respectively, and its G3D score is 59.1% higher. The RTX 3050 OEM’s 57th percentile ranking and its nearest rivals (RX 7600, RTX 2060) indicate it is a mid-range part, while the RX 7900 XT’s nearest rivals include the RX 9070 XT, positioning it in a higher performance class despite its lower average score.

The average benchmark scores are misleading in this comparison. The RTX 3050 OEM’s higher average (15,199 vs 13,745) is driven by one anomalous result. Users should not interpret that average as general superiority. The percentile rankings, which are nearly identical (57 vs 55), also obscure the RX 7900 XT’s dominance in the majority of tests.

The only scenario where the RTX 3050 OEM is the right choice is a workstation or compute environment that specifically relies on OpenCL and where the 130 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU are constraints that the RX 7900 XT’s 300 W TDP and 700 W suggested PSU cannot satisfy. In that narrow context, the NVIDIA card’s performance is unmatched. Everywhere else, the RX 7900 XT’s 8-to-1 win record and its consistent margins across DirectX, Vulkan, and compute make it the data-backed recommendation.