AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: What is the AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU based on?

A: The AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU uses the Van Gogh chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, built on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It is classified as a Console GPU (AMD) with 2,400 million transistors on a 163 mm² die.

Q: What memory configuration does the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile use?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128 bit bus, with 1500 MHz memory clock and 12 Gbps effective speed, yielding 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth. It is part of the GeForce 30-series and uses the GA106 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in shading units?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile has 1,792 shading units, while the AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU has 512 shading units. The NVIDIA part also has 56 TMUs and 32 ROPs versus 32 TMUs and 16 ROPs on the AMD part.

Q: What is the thermal design power of each GPU?

A: The AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU has a TDP of 15 W, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile has a TDP of 45 W.

Q: Which GPU has a higher percentile ranking in the database?

A: The AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU sits at the 50th percentile among all GPUs, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile sits at the 44th percentile. The AMD part ranks higher despite having no recorded benchmark scores in the database.

Q: What is the production status of each GPU?

A: The AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU is listed as Active, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is listed as End-of-life. The NVIDIA part has a predecessor in the GeForce 20 Mobile series.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and foundries. The AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU uses RDNA 2.0 on a 7 nm TSMC process with 2,400 million transistors packed into a 163 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 14.7M per mm². The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile uses Ampere on an 8 nm Samsung process with 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 43.5M per mm². The NVIDIA chip has five times the transistor count but only about 1.7 times the die area.

Compute resources differ substantially. The AMD part carries 512 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 raster output pipelines. The NVIDIA part carries 1,792 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Ray tracing hardware also differs: the AMD GPU has 8 RT cores, while the NVIDIA GPU has 14 RT cores. The NVIDIA part additionally includes 56 tensor cores, a feature the AMD part does not list at all.

Clock behavior and peak throughput reveal different design priorities. The AMD GPU runs at a 1000 MHz base and 1600 MHz boost, producing 1.638 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 3.277 TFLOPS of FP16 via a 2:1 ratio. The NVIDIA GPU runs at 1065 MHz base and 1343 MHz boost, yet produces 4.813 TFLOPS of FP32 and 4.813 TFLOPS of FP16 with a 1:1 ratio. The higher NVIDIA clock does not explain the gap; the much larger shading unit count does.

Memory architecture diverges in capacity and type. The AMD part uses 16 GB of LPDDR5 on a 128 bit bus with 800 MHz memory clock and 6.4 Gbps effective speed, delivering 102.4 GB/s. The NVIDIA part uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on the same 128 bit bus width but with 1500 MHz memory clock and 12 Gbps effective speed, delivering 192.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA GPU has nearly double the bandwidth, while the AMD GPU has four times the capacity.

Both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Display output differs: the AMD part lists a single USB Type-C output, while the NVIDIA part lists "Portable Device Dependent" and uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 bus interface. The NVIDIA part has no power connectors and is marked as an IGP form factor. The AMD part does not list a bus interface or slot width.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear split by workload class. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile delivers far higher raw throughput in every measured compute category: 2.9 times the FP32 performance, 1.8 times the texture rate, and 1.7 times the pixel rate. Its 192.0 GB/s memory bandwidth is 87.5% higher than the AMD part's 102.4 GB/s. For any application that stresses shader throughput, texture filtering, or memory bandwidth, the NVIDIA part is the stronger option.

The AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU counters with a 15 W TDP versus 45 W, meaning it draws one third the power of the NVIDIA part. It also offers 16 GB of memory versus 4 GB, which matters for workloads that need large working sets rather than high transfer rates. The AMD part remains in active production, while the NVIDIA part is end-of-life.

The database percentile ranks place the AMD part at the 50th percentile and the NVIDIA part at the 44th percentile. However, the AMD part has no recorded benchmark scores, so its percentile reflects structural data rather than measured performance. The NVIDIA part has measured scores from Passmark and Geekbench, with an average benchmark score of 8,746.

Players seeking maximum frame rates in conventional rendering should pick the NVIDIA part. Users who need low power draw, large memory capacity, or an actively produced part should pick the AMD part. The database contains no head-to-head benchmark entries between the two, so direct performance comparisons rely on the NVIDIA part's recorded scores and the AMD part's specifications.

Specification Differences

| Field | AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile |

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

| Chip | Van Gogh | GA106 |

| Architecture | RDNA 2.0 | Ampere |

| Generation | Console GPU (AMD) | GeForce 30 Mobile |

| Process node | 7 nm (TSMC) | 8 nm (Samsung) |

| Transistors | 2,400 million | 12,000 million |

| Die size | 163 mm² | 276 mm² |

| Transistor density | 14.7M / mm² | 43.5M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1000 MHz | 1065 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1600 MHz | 1343 MHz |

| Memory clock | 800 MHz 6.4 Gbps effective | 1500 MHz 12 Gbps effective |

| Memory size | 16 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory type | LPDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory bus | 128 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 102.4 GB/s | 192.0 GB/s |

| Shading units | 512 | 1,792 |

| TMUs | 32 | 56 |

| ROPs | 16 | 32 |

| RT cores | 8 | 14 |

| Tensor cores | Not listed | 56 |

| Pixel rate | 25.60 GPixel/s | 42.98 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 51.20 GTexel/s | 75.21 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 1.638 TFLOPS | 4.813 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 3.277 TFLOPS (2:1) | 4.813 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 15 W | 45 W |

| Bus interface | Not listed | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| Display outputs | 1x USB Type-C | Portable Device Dependent |

| Power connectors | Not listed | None |

| Slot width | Not listed | IGP |

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

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no direct head-to-head benchmark entries between the AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile. The AMD part has no benchmark results recorded at all. The NVIDIA part has eight recorded scores across two benchmark suites.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52,998. In Passmark, its strongest result is the G3D score of 11,664, followed by GPU compute at 4,419. DirectX 9 yields 152, DirectX 11 yields 94, and DirectX 10 yields 61. DirectX 12 produces 55, and the G2D score is 526.

The nearest rivals for the RTX 3050 A Mobile give context for these numbers. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 has an average score of 8,743 with a 0% delta, making it effectively identical. The NVIDIA Quadro P2200 scores 8,686, which is 0.7% behind. The AMD Radeon R9 M265X scores 8,851, which is 1.2% ahead, and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 scores 8,863, which is 1.3% ahead. The RTX 3050 A Mobile's average benchmark score of 8,746 places it in a tight cluster with these four rivals, none of which separates itself by more than 1.3%.

Because the AMD part lacks recorded scores, the database cannot produce a win tally. The winsA and winsB fields are both zero, and the head-to-head benchmark list is empty. The comparison must therefore rest on the NVIDIA part's measured scores against its nearest rivals and the architectural differences between the two GPUs.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile wins in every compute throughput category recorded in the database. Its 4.813 TFLOPS FP32 is roughly three times the AMD part's 1.638 TFLOPS. Its 75.21 GTexel/s texture rate beats the AMD part's 51.20 GTexel/s by 46.9%. Its 42.98 GPixel/s pixel rate beats the AMD part's 25.60 GPixel/s by 67.9%. Memory bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s versus 102.4 GB/s gives it an 87.5% advantage. The NVIDIA part also has more RT cores (14 versus 8) and includes 56 tensor cores, which the AMD part does not list.

The AMD Ryzen Z2 A GPU wins on power efficiency and memory capacity. Its 15 W TDP is exactly one third of the NVIDIA part's 45 W. Its 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory is four times the NVIDIA part's 4 GB of GDDR6. For workloads that fit within a constrained thermal envelope or require large memory footprints, the AMD part has the structural advantage.

Production status favors the AMD part, which is listed as Active. The NVIDIA part is End-of-life. The database percentile also favors the AMD part at 50 versus 44, although the AMD part's percentile is not backed by measured benchmark scores.

The use-case split follows directly from these numbers. The NVIDIA part suits rendering workloads, compute tasks, and any scenario where shader throughput and memory bandwidth dominate. The AMD part suits low-power systems, large memory buffers, and applications where the 15 W TDP is a hard constraint.