AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a clear generational shift. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile wins both head-to-head benchmark comparisons, decisively outperforming the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 in every test where both were measured. The RTX 5050 Mobile leads by 29.4% in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and by 25.7% in Geekbench OpenCL. However, the RX Vega 64 holds a higher overall average benchmark score of 50,001 compared to the RTX 5050 Mobile's 43,268, and it ranks in the 86th percentile of all GPUs versus the RTX 5050 Mobile's 83rd percentile. This indicates that while the newer mobile chip wins the direct comparison, the older desktop card still performs competitively across a broader range of workloads.

The verdict depends on the use case. For a desktop system with a 295 W TDP and dual-slot cooling, the RX Vega 64 is a legacy part from 2017, now end-of-life, but its raw compute power in synthetic Geekbench tests remains formidable. For a portable device, the RTX 5050 Mobile is the obvious choice, offering modern features like ray tracing cores and tensor cores while consuming only 50 W. The data suggests the RTX 5050 Mobile is the superior performer in the tested scenarios, but the RX Vega 64 retains an advantage in aggregate benchmark scores, likely due to its much higher shading unit count and memory bandwidth. Users prioritizing absolute performance in the tested modern APIs should choose the RTX 5050 Mobile; users relying on the broader set of benchmarks that contribute to the average score may find the RX Vega 64 still holds its own.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different architectural eras. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 is built on the GCN 5.0 architecture using a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries, with a massive 495 mm² die containing 12,500 million transistors. In contrast, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile uses the Blackwell 2.0 architecture on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with a much smaller 149 mm² die but a higher transistor count of 16,900 million. This results in a transistor density of 113.4M per mm² for the RTX 5050 Mobile versus just 25.3M per mm² for the RX Vega 64, illustrating the massive fabrication advantage of the newer process.

The compute configurations diverge sharply. The RX Vega 64 packs 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs, while the RTX 5050 Mobile has only 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Crucially, the RTX 5050 Mobile adds dedicated 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores, which the RX Vega 64 lacks entirely. The RX Vega 64 counters with higher pixel rate (98.94 GPixel/s vs 48.00 GPixel/s) and texture rate (395.8 GTexel/s vs 120.0 GTexel/s). Floating-point performance tells a similar story: the RX Vega 64 delivers 12.66 TFLOPS FP32 and 25.33 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), while the RTX 5050 Mobile provides 7.680 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1). The API support also differs, with the RTX 5050 Mobile supporting DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the RX Vega 64 supports DirectX 12 (12_1) and Vulkan 1.3.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct comparison yields two decisive victories for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the RTX 5050 Mobile scores 2365 against the RX Vega 64's 1669, a delta of -29.4% for the AMD card. This is a significant margin in a modern DirectX 12 workload, suggesting the newer architecture’s feature set provides a substantial advantage. The Geekbench OpenCL result is similarly lopsided: the RTX 5050 Mobile scores 84171 versus 62552 for the RX Vega 64, a -25.7% delta. This consistent lead across both tests indicates the RTX 5050 Mobile is not just faster in one specific workload but generally more efficient in executing compute tasks.

The RX Vega 64 does have its own benchmark data that paints a more nuanced picture. Its Geekbench Metal score is 68750, and its Geekbench Vulkan score is 67032, both higher than its OpenCL score of 62552. While these are not directly compared against the RTX 5050 Mobile (which lacks Metal and Vulkan Geekbench results in the data), they show that the RX Vega 64 performs better in certain APIs than others. The RTX 5050 Mobile’s only other recorded benchmark is the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2365, which is the strongest single result in the head-to-head set. The aggregate data also shows the RX Vega 64’s average benchmark score of 50001 places it within 0.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (49957) and 0.5% of the Intel Arc A550M (49737), while the RTX 5050 Mobile’s average of 43268 is virtually tied with the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB (43262) and within 0.1% of the RTX 4070 SUPER (43223).

Specification Differences

The following table highlights only the fields where the two GPUs differ, according to the data.

| Specification | AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile |

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

| Architecture | GCN 5.0 | Blackwell 2.0 |

| Process Node | 14 nm | 5 nm |

| Foundry | GlobalFoundries | TSMC |

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

| Die Size | 495 mm² | 149 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 25.3M / mm² | 113.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 1247 MHz | 1020 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1546 MHz | 1500 MHz |

| Memory Type | HBM2 | GDDR7 |

| Memory Bus Width | 2048 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 483.8 GB/s | 384.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 4096 | 2560 |

| TMUs | 256 | 80 |

| ROPs | 64 | 32 |

| RT Cores | None | 20 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 80 |

| Pixel Rate | 98.94 GPixel/s | 48.00 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 395.8 GTexel/s | 120.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 12.66 TFLOPS | 7.680 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 25.33 TFLOPS (2:1) | 7.680 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 295 W | 50 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

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

| Suggested PSU | 600 W | None |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 5.0 x16 |

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

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

| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.4 |

| Dimensions | 280 mm length, 111 mm height, 40 mm width | Not specified |

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

| Release Date | 2017-08-06 | 2025-06-23 |

| Predecessor | Polaris | GeForce 40 Mobile |

| Successor | Navi | None |

| Launch MSRP | 499 USD | None |

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile is faster, scoring 2365 compared to the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64's 1669, a margin of 29.4%.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 have a higher average benchmark score?

A: Yes, the RX Vega 64 has an average benchmark score of 50,001, which is higher than the RTX 5050 Mobile's 43,268. The RX Vega 64 also ranks higher in the 86th percentile of all GPUs versus the RTX 5050 Mobile's 83rd percentile.

Q: What are the key architectural differences between the two GPUs?

A: The RX Vega 64 uses the older GCN 5.0 architecture on a 14 nm process, while the RTX 5050 Mobile uses Blackwell 2.0 on a 5 nm process. The RTX 5050 Mobile includes 20 ray tracing cores and 80 tensor cores, which the RX Vega 64 does not have.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 has 4096 shading units, significantly more than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile's 2560 shading units.

Q: How does the power consumption compare?

A: The RX Vega 64 has a TDP of 295 W and requires two 8-pin power connectors and a 600 W suggested power supply. The RTX 5050 Mobile has a TDP of 50 W, uses no power connectors, and has no suggested PSU listed.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: Both have 8 GB of memory, but the RX Vega 64 uses HBM2 with a 2048-bit bus and 483.8 GB/s bandwidth, while the RTX 5050 Mobile uses GDDR7 with a 128-bit bus and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth.