AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile Comparison

# The Verdict

The benchmark data points to a clear split: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile holds the performance lead, while the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 trails in every recorded test. The RTX 5050 Mobile posts an average benchmark score of 43,268, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs in the database. The RX Vega 56, by contrast, averages 37,507, sitting at the 81st percentile. The delta is roughly 15% in favor of the NVIDIA part in the aggregate. In the single head-to-head test available, the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 run shows the RTX 5050 Mobile scoring 2,365 against 1,501 for the Vega 56, a 57.6% advantage. The data is unambiguous: for users who prioritize raw benchmark performance, the RTX 5050 Mobile is the pick.

Architecture Differences

The two chips come from different foundries and design philosophies. NVIDIA builds the RTX 5050 Mobile around the GB207 die, using a 5 nm process at TSMC, packing 16,900 million transistors onto a 149 mm² die. That yields a transistor density of 113.4 million per square millimeter. The Vega 56 is a different beast: it uses the Vega 10 die on a 14 nm process from GlobalFoundries, with 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, a density of 25.3 million per mm². The NVIDIA chip is the denser part by a wide margin.

The memory subsystems also differ. The RTX 5050 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR7 on a 128 bit bus, with a bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s. The Vega 56 uses 8 GB of HBM2 across a 2048 bit bus, which yields a much higher 409.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The Vega card has a wider memory bus, but the RTX part counters with a newer memory type and a higher effective speed.

Compute resources show the NVIDIA part with significantly more execution units: the RTX 5050 Mobile has 2560 shaders, 80 tensor cores, 20 RT cores, and 32 ROPs. AMD's Vega 56 has 3584 shading units and 64 ROPs, but no dedicated tensor or RT hardware. The NVIDIA chip also has a higher pixel rate of 48.00 GPixel/s, and a texture fill rate of 120.0 GTexel/s; the AMD part records 94.14 GPixel/s and 329.5 GTexel/s. The result is that the RTX part has the lead per-clock in most compute tasks.

Both cards use a PCIe connection, but the RTX 5050 Mobile runs on PCIe 5.0 x16 while the Vega 56 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The NVIDIA part is the only one with a current-generation host interface.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in pure rasterization?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile is faster. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2,365, which is 57.6% higher than the 1,501 from the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56.

Q: Does the AMD card have Ray tracing capacity?

A: No. The database lists no RT cores for the Radeon RX Vega 56. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile, by comparison, has 20 dedicated RT cores.

Q: How much memory bandwidth does each card have?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile has a 384.0 GB/s bandwidth on a 128-bit GDDR7 interface. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 has a higher 409.6 GB/s path, using 2048-bit HBM2.

Q: What about the API support?

A: The GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Radeon RX Vega 56 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3.

Q: Which card is a better fit for a compact system?

A: The Radeon RX Vega 56 is a dual-slot card, while the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile is listed as an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no additional power connectors. The Vega 56 requires two 8-pin power connectors and a 550 W power supply, while the RTX 5050 part uses no external power and has no specified PSU.

Specification Differences

| Field | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile | AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 |

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

| Series | GeForce 50-series | Vega (RX Vega) |

| GPU | GB207 | Vega 10 |

| Architecture | Blackwell 2.0 | GCN 5.0 |

| Process | 5 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | GlobalFoundries |

| Transistors | 16,900 million | 12,500 million |

| Die size | 149 mm² | 495 mm² |

| Transistor density | 113.4M / mm² | 25.3M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1020 MHz | 1156 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1500 MHz | 1471 MHz |

| Memory clock | 1500 MHz / 24 Gbps effective | 800 MHz / 1600 Mbps effective |

| Memory size | 8 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory type | GDDR7 | HBM2 |

| Memory bus width | 128 bit | 2048 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 384.0 GB/s | 409.6 GB/s |

| Shading units | 2560 | 3584 |

| TMUs | 80 | 224 |

| ROPs | 32 | 64 |

| RT cores | 20 | Not applicable |

| Tensor cores | 80 | Not applicable |

| Pixel rate | 48.00 GPixel/s | 94.14 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 120.0 GTexel/s | 329.5 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 7.680 TFLOPS | 10.54 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 7.680 TFLOPS (1:1) | 21.09 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 50 W | 210 W |

| Slot width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power connectors | None | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | Not specified | 550 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 5.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

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

| DirectX | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (12_1) |

| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |

| Vulkan | 1.4 | 1.3 |

| Length | Not listed | 280 mm (11 inches) |

| Height | Not listed | 111 mm (4.4 inches) |

| Width | Not listed | 40 mm (1.6 inches) |

| Release date | 2025-06-23 | 2017-08-13 |

| Production status | Active | End-of-life |

| Predecessor | GeForce 40 Mobile | Polaris |

| Successor | Not listed | Navi |

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct head-to-head in the database is the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. The GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile scores 2,365 points, the Radeon RX Vega 56 scores 1,501 points. That is a 57.6% advantage for the NVIDIA GPU. There are no benchmark tests in the database where the AMD part wins. In the combined cross-test average, the NVIDIA part sits at 43,268 versus 37,507 for AMD, and the aggregate of the two recorded benchmarks is 1 win for the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile and 0 for the Radeon RX Vega 56.

Where Each One Wins

Choose the GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile if the workload is dominated by modern graphics features. It has dedicated RT and tensor cores, newer ray tracing hardware, and higher shader and texture throughput. The data also shows the NVIDIA card has a higher overall percentile ranking: 83rd vs 81st for the AMD part. The RTX 5050 Mobile is also the only part of the two that supports the latest PCIe 5.0 interface, DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, which makes it the more future-looking choice.

Choose the Radeon RX Vega 56 if the workload is memory bandwidth sensitive. The Vega 56 has a much wide memory bus (2048 bit versus 128 bit) and higher peak bandwidth at 409.6 GB/s. It also has more raw shading units and TMUs, a higher pixel rate, and it is offered in a dual-slot, full-length card format with a physical power connector. Its higher FP32 throughput (10.54 TFLOPS) also makes it a candidate for general compute tasks that are heavily FP32 bound. For users who need a discrete add-in card, the Vega 56 is also the only one of the two that is a traditional add-in card.