Intel Arc Pro A30M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Comparison

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile and Intel Arc Pro A30M are both end-of-life mobile graphics solutions aimed at professional laptops, but benchmark results show a clear performance hierarchy. The data indicates the NVIDIA part holds a decisive lead in raw compute workloads, while the Intel part counters with architectural efficiency and higher clock speeds, making the choice dependent on the specific application.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only directly comparable benchmark in the data is Geekbench OpenCL, and the results are lopsided. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 50,038, while the Intel Arc Pro A30M scores 31,894. That represents a 56.9% delta, meaning the NVIDIA GPU is over one and a half times faster in this compute test. This is a substantial margin that places the RTX 3050 Mobile in a different performance tier for OpenCL workloads.

Looking at the broader benchmark averages reinforces this gap. The RTX 3050 Mobile carries an average benchmark score of 33,170 across all tested workloads, while the Arc Pro A30M averages 31,894. The 1,276-point difference is modest in percentage terms, but it highlights that the NVIDIA card performs consistently higher across a wider range of tests. The RTX 3050 Mobile also has additional benchmark results in its profile — 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (421) and Geekbench Vulkan (49,051) — whereas the Arc Pro A30M only lists the single OpenCL result.

The percentile rankings tell a similar story. The RTX 3050 Mobile sits in the 78th percentile of all GPUs, while the Arc Pro A30M sits in the 76th. That two-percentile gap is small, but it reflects the NVIDIA part's slightly better standing in the overall performance distribution.

When examining nearest rivals, the RTX 3050 Mobile's average score of 33,170 places it within 0.6% of the NVIDIA P104-100 (32,982) and 1% ahead of the NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32,849). It is essentially tied with the NVIDIA T550 Mobile (33,161) and AMD Radeon Pro 570 (33,207). The Arc Pro A30M, by contrast, sits within 0.7% of the NVIDIA TITAN RTX (31,676) and 1.1% of the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell (31,532), while trailing the AMD Radeon Pro 570X (32,176) by 0.9% and AMD FirePro S10000 (32,388) by 1.5%. This places the Intel part in a slightly lower competitive bracket than the NVIDIA mobile GPU.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 50,038, which is 56.9% higher than the Intel Arc Pro A30M's 31,894.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The RTX 3050 Mobile has an average score of 33,170, while the Arc Pro A30M averages 31,894 — a difference of roughly 4% in favor of NVIDIA.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same graphics APIs?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two?

A: Both have 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, but the RTX 3050 Mobile uses a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the Arc Pro A30M uses a 64-bit bus with 128.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has a higher boost clock?

A: The Intel Arc Pro A30M boosts to 2000 MHz, significantly higher than the RTX 3050 Mobile's 1343 MHz boost clock.

Q: Are these GPUs still in production?

A: No. Both are marked as end-of-life in the product data.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is the clear winner for compute-intensive professional workloads. Its 56.9% lead in Geekbench OpenCL suggests strong performance in general-purpose GPU computing, which often underpins rendering, simulation, and data-processing tasks. The higher average benchmark score (33,170 vs 31,894) also indicates more consistent performance across varied workloads. The RTX 3050 Mobile has additional benchmark results in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 and Geekbench Vulkan, which the Arc Pro A30M lacks entirely, pointing to a more thoroughly validated and possibly more versatile driver stack for gaming and DirectX 12 applications.

The Intel Arc Pro A30M, despite losing the compute comparison, holds advantages in other areas that matter for certain workloads. Its boost clock of 2000 MHz is substantially higher than the RTX 3050 Mobile's 1343 MHz, which can benefit single-threaded or clock-sensitive tasks. It also achieves a higher pixel rate (64.00 GPixel/s vs 42.98 GPixel/s) and texture rate (128.0 GTexel/s vs 85.95 GTexel/s), despite having fewer shading units. This suggests the Intel part may excel in fill-rate-bound scenarios like certain rasterization tasks or display compositing. However, with only one benchmark result available, the data is too thin to declare a definitive win for Intel in any tested workload.

For users prioritizing raw compute performance, the choice is unambiguous: the RTX 3050 Mobile wins. For those who value architectural efficiency or work in fill-rate-sensitive applications, the Arc Pro A30M presents a compelling alternative, though its performance profile is less documented in the benchmark data.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every core specification. The RTX 3050 Mobile packs 2,048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, while the Arc Pro A30M has only 1,024 shading units but matches the 64 TMUs and 32 ROPs. The NVIDIA part also features 16 ray tracing cores and 64 tensor cores, while the Intel part has 8 ray tracing cores and no tensor cores listed.

Clock speeds tell an interesting story. The Arc Pro A30M has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost of 2000 MHz, both significantly higher than the RTX 3050 Mobile's 1065 MHz base and 1343 MHz boost. However, the NVIDIA card compensates with higher memory bandwidth: 192.0 GB/s over a 128-bit bus, versus 128.0 GB/s over a 64-bit bus for Intel. Both use 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, but the RTX 3050 Mobile runs it at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective), while the Arc Pro A30M runs it at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective).

Compute throughput favors NVIDIA. The RTX 3050 Mobile delivers 5.501 TFLOPS FP32 and 5.501 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1 ratio), while the Arc Pro A30M delivers 4.096 TFLOPS FP32 and 8.192 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio). Pixel and texture rates go the other way: Intel leads with 64.00 GPixel/s and 128.0 GTexel/s, versus NVIDIA's 42.98 GPixel/s and 85.95 GTexel/s. Power draw is close, with the RTX 3050 Mobile rated at 45 W and the Arc Pro A30M at 50 W. Both use PCIe 4.0 x8 interfaces and have no power connectors, with display outputs marked as portable device dependent.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide is fundamental. The RTX 3050 Mobile is built on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture using the GA107 chip, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. It contains 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 43.5M per mm². The Arc Pro A30M uses Intel's Xe-HPG architecture with the DG2-128 chip, part of the Alchemist generation for Pro-Series Mobile. It is fabricated by TSMC on a 6 nm process, with 7,200 million transistors on a 157 mm² die, for a slightly higher transistor density of 45.9M per mm².

The process node advantage goes to Intel — 6 nm versus 8 nm — which explains the higher clock speeds despite lower transistor count. The foundry difference (TSMC vs Samsung) also plays a role in the manufacturing characteristics. Die size favors Intel as well: 157 mm² versus 200 mm², meaning the Intel chip is physically smaller while packing more transistors per square millimeter.

Feature sets diverge significantly. The RTX 3050 Mobile includes tensor cores, which the Arc Pro A30M lacks entirely. This gives NVIDIA hardware acceleration for AI and machine learning workloads. Both have ray tracing cores, but NVIDIA includes 16 versus Intel's 8. The FP16 compute ratio differs notably: NVIDIA offers 1:1 FP16 to FP32 performance (5.501 TFLOPS each), while Intel offers 2:1 FP16 performance (8.192 TFLOPS FP16 vs 4.096 TFLOPS FP32). This indicates Intel's architecture is optimized for FP16 compute, potentially benefiting AI inferencing, while NVIDIA's balanced approach suits general compute. The RTX 3050 Mobile also belongs to the GeForce 30-series with a predecessor in the GeForce 20 Mobile line, while the Arc Pro A30M has no listed predecessor. Release dates differ by over a year, with NVIDIA launching in May 2021 and Intel in August 2022.