AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Comparison

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile come from different eras and different design philosophies, but the recorded benchmark data puts them close enough in overall database standing to warrant a direct comparison. The Vega 56 sits in the 81st percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 37507, while the RTX 3050 Mobile sits in the 78th percentile at 33170. Those aggregate numbers suggest parity. The direct head-to-head results tell a very different story.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only test where both GPUs appear in the database is 3DMark Steel Nomad (DirectX 12), and it is a rout. The RX Vega 56 scores 1501; the RTX 3050 Mobile scores 421. That is a 256.5 percent advantage for the Vega 56, a margin that goes well beyond the usual run-to-run variation you see between nominally comparable parts. The database records the Vega 56 as the winner, and the gap is large enough that no feature or efficiency advantage on the NVIDIA side closes it in raw rasterization throughput.

The aggregate average scores frame the same picture with less drama: 37507 for the Vega 56 versus 33170 for the RTX 3050 Mobile, a gap of roughly 4337 points in AMD's favor. Each GPU also carries separate benchmark entries that the other lacks, which is worth reading carefully. The Vega 56 posts a Geekbench Metal score of 73512, while the RTX 3050 Mobile posts a Geekbench OpenCL score of 50038 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 49051. These are different APIs, so they are not directly comparable, but the pattern is consistent with the Steel Nomad result: every measurement attached to the Vega 56 is substantially higher than every measurement attached to the RTX 3050 Mobile.

Context from each card's nearest rivals reinforces the split. The Vega 56 trades blows with a surprisingly strong neighborhood: NVIDIA Tesla P4 at 37628 (-0.3 percent), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 at 37648 (-0.4 percent), AMD Radeon PRO W6400 at 37157 (0.9 percent ahead), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile at 38135 (-1.6 percent). In other words, the Vega 56's average score lands within a couple percent of modern RTX 4070-class hardware in the database's aggregate metric. The RTX 3050 Mobile's rivals are far more modest: NVIDIA T550 Mobile at 33161 (0 percent delta), AMD Radeon Pro 570 at 33207 (-0.1 percent), NVIDIA P104-100 at 32982 (0.6 percent ahead), and NVIDIA T600 Mobile at 32849 (1 percent ahead). That is entry-level and professional-mobile territory.

Where Each One Wins

The honest answer from the data is that the RX Vega 56 wins the performance contest everywhere the two can be measured. The database records one head-to-head win for the Vega 56 and zero for the RTX 3050 Mobile. A 256.5 percent advantage in the sole common DirectX 12 test means the Vega 56 is the pick for any workload that scales with GPU rendering throughput: gaming at higher resolutions, GPU compute, and rendering jobs where frame time matters.

Where the RTX 3050 Mobile wins is in categories the benchmarks do not score but the specification sheet captures unambiguously. It is an integrated mobile part with a 45 W TDP, no power connectors, and no fixed dimensions, whereas the Vega 56 is a dual-slot desktop card with a 210 W TDP, two 8-pin power connectors, a 550 W suggested PSU, and a physical length of 280 mm. If the constraint is a laptop chassis or a compact build, only one of these parts physically fits the job. The RTX 3050 Mobile also carries 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores, features the Vega 56 lacks entirely, so workloads that specifically require hardware ray tracing acceleration or tensor-based operations can only run on the NVIDIA part in this pairing, regardless of raw speed.

Then there is memory. The Vega 56 has 8 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus delivering 409.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3050 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus delivering 192.0 GB/s. Half the capacity and less than half the bandwidth means the Vega 56 is the safer choice for memory-heavy workloads and higher texture settings, while the RTX 3050 Mobile will hit its 4 GB limit sooner in demanding titles.

Architecture Differences

These two parts represent opposite ends of the design spectrum. The Vega 56 is built on the Vega 10 chip using GCN 5.0 architecture on GlobalFoundries' 14 nm process. It packs 12,500 million transistors onto a 495 mm² die, yielding a density of 25.3M per mm². The RTX 3050 Mobile uses the GA107 chip on Ampere architecture, manufactured by Samsung on an 8 nm process, with 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die at 43.5M per mm². The NVIDIA die is less than half the area with substantially higher density, which is what you would expect from a process node jump between the two.

The Vega 56's raw hardware numbers dwarf the mobile part. It has 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, against 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for the RTX 3050 Mobile. The throughput figures follow: 94.14 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s pixel rate, 329.5 GTexel/s versus 85.95 GTexel/s texture rate, and 10.54 TFLOPS versus 5.501 TFLOPS of FP32 compute. The Vega 56 also supports FP16 at 21.09 TFLOPS in a 2:1 ratio, doubling half-precision throughput, while the RTX 3050 Mobile runs FP16 at 5.501 TFLOPS in a 1:1 ratio.

Clocks are closer than you might guess. The Vega 56 runs a 1156 MHz base and 1471 MHz boost; the RTX 3050 Mobile runs 1065 MHz base and 1343 MHz boost. The performance gap comes from execution resources and memory bandwidth, not frequency.

Feature support favors NVIDIA on the API side. The RTX 3050 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the Vega 56 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3; both support OpenGL 4.6. Bus interfaces also differ: PCIe 3.0 x16 on the AMD card versus PCIe 4.0 x8 on the NVIDIA part. Both GPUs are end-of-life. The Vega 56 launched on 2017-08-13 with a launch MSRP of 399 USD, succeeded by Navi after succeeding Polaris. The RTX 3050 Mobile launched on 2021-05-10 as part of the GeForce 30 Mobile generation, succeeding the GeForce 20 Mobile series, with no listed successor.

The Verdict

If the goal is maximum rendering performance per dollar of capability, the data points squarely at the RX Vega 56: 256.5 percent faster in the only shared benchmark, nearly double the FP32 compute, more than double the memory bandwidth, and twice the VRAM. Its average score also puts it within a fraction of a percent of RTX 4070-class aggregate numbers in the database, which is remarkable standing for a 14 nm part.

But the Vega 56 demands a lot back: 210 W of board power, dual 8-pin connectors, a 550 W suggested PSU, and 280 mm of case clearance. The RTX 3050 Mobile needs none of that. At 45 W with no connectors, it exists to fit inside laptops, and it brings ray tracing and tensor hardware the Vega architecture simply does not have. Pick the Vega 56 for a desktop where throughput is king and the features list is short. Pick the RTX 3050 Mobile when the machine must be a laptop, when power draw is the binding constraint, or when RT cores and tensor cores are required. For pure speed, this comparison is not close.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the shared benchmark? A: The RX Vega 56, decisively. It scores 1501 in 3DMark Steel Nomad (DirectX 12) against 421 for the RTX 3050 Mobile, a 256.5 percent advantage.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare? A: The Vega 56 averages 37507 (81st percentile versus all GPUs); the RTX 3050 Mobile averages 33170 (78th percentile).

Q: How much power does each need? A: The Vega 56 has a 210 W TDP with dual 8-pin connectors and a 550 W suggested PSU. The RTX 3050 Mobile has a 45 W TDP and no power connectors.

Q: Does either GPU support ray tracing? A: The RTX 3050 Mobile has 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores. The Vega 56 has neither.

Q: Which rivals are these GPUs closest to in the database? A: The Vega 56 sits within about a percent and a half of the Tesla P4, RTX 4070, Radeon PRO W6400, and RTX 4080 Mobile. The RTX 3050 Mobile clusters with the T550 Mobile, Radeon Pro 570, P104-100, and T600 Mobile.

Q: How do the memory configurations differ? A: The Vega 56 has 8 GB of HBM2 across a 2048-bit bus at 409.6 GB/s. The RTX 3050 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 across a 128-bit bus at 192.0 GB/s.

Specification Differences

| Field | AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile |

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

| Chip | Vega 10 | GA107 |

| Architecture | GCN 5.0 | Ampere |

| Process node | 14 nm (GlobalFoundries) | 8 nm (Samsung) |

| Transistors | 12,500 million | 8,700 million |

| Die size | 495 mm² | 200 mm² |

| Transistor density | 25.3M / mm² | 43.5M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1156 MHz | 1065 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1471 MHz | 1343 MHz |

| Memory | 8 GB HBM2 | 4 GB GDDR6 |

| Bus width | 2048 bit | 128 bit |

| Bandwidth | 409.6 GB/s | 192.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 3584 | 2048 |

| TMUs | 224 | 64 |

| ROPs | 64 | 32 |

| RT / tensor cores | None | 16 RT / 64 tensor |

| Pixel rate | 94.14 GPixel/s | 42.98 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 329.5 GTexel/s | 85.95 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 10.54 TFLOPS | 5.501 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 21.09 TFLOPS (2:1) | 5.501 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 210 W | 45 W |

| Slot / connectors | Dual-slot, 2x 8-pin | IGP, none |

| Suggested PSU | 550 W | Not listed |

| Bus interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| DirectX / Vulkan | 12 (12_1) / 1.3 | 12 Ultimate (12_2) / 1.4 |

| Release date | 2017-08-13 | 2021-05-10 |

| Launch MSRP | 399 USD | Not listed |