NVIDIA GeForce 930M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Comparison

# NVIDIA GeForce 930M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

The NVIDIA GeForce 930M is a Maxwell-based mobile chip from the GeForce 900M generation, built on TSMC's 28 nm process with 1,020 million transistors packed into a 77 mm² die. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is a Pascal-based part from the GeForce 10-series, fabricated by Samsung on 14 nm with 3,300 million transistors on a 132 mm² die. While both target end-of-life mobile and entry-level desktop segments, the GTX 1050 Ti is a fundamentally newer and larger design that dominates in every measured benchmark. The 930M sits in the 26th percentile of all GPUs with an average benchmark score of 4388, while the GTX 1050 Ti sits in the 25th percentile with an average score of 4193 — a close aggregate that hides a massive gap in individual tests.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The GeForce 930M has a higher average benchmark score of 4388 compared to the GTX 1050 Ti's 4193. This is a 4.6% difference in favor of the 930M, though the GTX 1050 Ti wins both head-to-head tests decisively.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti scores 18129 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 72.2% higher than the 930M's 5046. The deltaPct of -72.2 indicates the 930M trails by that margin.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The 930M uses 2 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus with 12.80 GB/s bandwidth, while the GTX 1050 Ti uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 112.1 GB/s bandwidth — a nearly 9x bandwidth advantage.

Q: Which GPU supports a higher DirectX version?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the 930M supports DirectX 12 (11_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What are the TDP figures for each card?

A: The 930M has a TDP of 33 W and is an IGP slot-width design with no power connectors. The GTX 1050 Ti has a TDP of 75 W, is a dual-slot card, also has no power connectors, and suggests a 250 W PSU.

Q: How do the pixel and texture rates differ?

A: The GTX 1050 Ti achieves 44.54 GPixel/s and 66.82 GTexel/s, compared to the 930M's 4.392 GPixel/s and 13.18 GTexel/s. The GTX 1050 Ti is 10.1x faster in pixel rate and 5.1x faster in texture rate.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations. The 930M is based on Maxwell (chip GM108S), built on TSMC's 28 nm process, while the GTX 1050 Ti uses Pascal (chip GP107) on Samsung's 14 nm process. The manufacturing node shrink from 28 nm to 14 nm allows the GTX 1050 Ti to pack 3,300 million transistors into a 132 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 25.0M per mm². The 930M has 1,020 million transistors on a 77 mm² die, for a density of 13.2M per mm².

The shader and compute resources differ substantially. The 930M has 384 shading units, 24 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 8 render output units (ROPs). The GTX 1050 Ti doubles the shading units to 768, doubles TMUs to 48, and quadruples ROPs to 32. Neither GPU has dedicated ray tracing cores or tensor cores.

Clock speeds also favor the GTX 1050 Ti. The 930M runs at a fixed 549 MHz base and boost clock, while the GTX 1050 Ti runs at 1291 MHz base and 1392 MHz boost. Memory clocks follow the same pattern: the 930M uses 800 MHz (1600 Mbps effective) DDR3, while the GTX 1050 Ti uses 1752 MHz (7 Gbps effective) GDDR5.

The bus interface differs as well — the 930M connects via PCIe 3.0 x8, while the GTX 1050 Ti uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are "Portable Device Dependent" on the 930M, while the GTX 1050 Ti offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. The GTX 1050 Ti is a dual-slot card measuring 145 mm (5.7 inches) long and 111 mm (4.4 inches) tall, whereas the 930M is an IGP.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data shows a clear and consistent winner: the GTX 1050 Ti outperforms the 930M in both available head-to-head tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the GTX 1050 Ti scores 18129 against the 930M's 5046, representing a 72.2% lead — the deltaPct of -72.2 from the 930M's perspective quantifies how far behind the older chip falls. In Geekbench Vulkan, the GTX 1050 Ti scores 10001 versus the 930M's 3729, a 62.7% advantage.

The GTX 1050 Ti also has a broader benchmark portfolio. Beyond the two shared tests, it has results in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (305), Geekbench Metal (7834), Passmark DirectX 10 (31), DirectX 11 (45), DirectX 12 (26), DirectX 9 (104), G2D (651), G3D (6340), and GPU Compute (2652). The 930M has no results in these tests within the data pack.

Interestingly, the aggregate average scores tell a different story. The 930M's average of 4388 is actually higher than the GTX 1050 Ti's 4193. This is because the average includes a wider set of benchmarks beyond the head-to-head pair, and the GTX 1050 Ti's lower scores in Passmark legacy DirectX tests (31 in DX10, 45 in DX11, 26 in DX12, 104 in DX9) drag its average down. The 930M's nearest rivals include the GeForce GT 645M (avg 4411, -0.5% delta), Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 (avg 4360, +0.7%), and even the RTX 4070 GDDR6 (avg 4335, +1.2%). The GTX 1050 Ti's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon R5 M330 (avg 4170, +0.6%), Quadro K2100M (avg 4151, +1%), Quadro K3000M (avg 4241, -1.1%), and Radeon Vega 3 (avg 4268, -1.8%).

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for raw compute performance: the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti is the superior GPU in every head-to-head benchmark. Its 72.2% lead in OpenCL and 62.7% lead in Vulkan are decisive margins that reflect the architectural and specification advantages — more shading units, higher clocks, faster memory, and a newer process node. The 930M's higher average benchmark score (4388 vs 4193) is a statistical artifact of different test portfolios, not an indicator of real-world capability. In the two tests where both GPUs were measured, the GTX 1050 Ti wins both.

For users choosing between these two, the GTX 1050 Ti is the clear pick for any workload that leverages OpenCL or Vulkan. Its 4 GB GDDR5 memory and 112.1 GB/s bandwidth also make it more suitable for modern textures and higher resolutions. The 930M's only advantages are its lower TDP of 33 W (versus 75 W) and IGP form factor, which suit ultra-thin laptops where power and space are constrained. The GTX 1050 Ti, at launch MSRP of 139 USD, is a dual-slot card with a suggested 250 W PSU, implying a desktop or larger laptop chassis.

Specification Differences

| Field | GeForce 930M | GeForce GTX 1050 Ti |

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

| Chip | GM108S | GP107 |

| Architecture | Maxwell | Pascal |

| Generation | GeForce 900M | GeForce 10 |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 14 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | Samsung |

| Transistors | 1,020 million | 3,300 million |

| Die Size | 77 mm² | 132 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 13.2M / mm² | 25.0M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 549 MHz | 1291 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 549 MHz | 1392 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 800 MHz / 1600 Mbps effective | 1752 MHz / 7 Gbps effective |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | DDR3 | GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus | 64 bit | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 12.80 GB/s | 112.1 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 384 | 768 |

| TMUs | 24 | 48 |

| ROPs | 8 | 32 |

| Pixel Rate | 4.392 GPixel/s | 44.54 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 13.18 GTexel/s | 66.82 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 421.6 GFLOPS | 2.138 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | null | 33.41 GFLOPS (1:64) |

| TDP | 33 W | 75 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | None |

| Suggested PSU | null | 250 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |

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

| DirectX | 12 (11_0) | 12 (12_1) |

| Dimensions | null | 145 mm (5.7 in) x 111 mm (4.4 in) |

| Release Date | 2015-03-12 | 2016-10-24 |

| Predecessor | GeForce 800M | GeForce 900 |

| Successor | GeForce 10 Mobile | GeForce 20 |

Where Each One Wins

GeForce GTX 1050 Ti wins in: Geekbench OpenCL (18129 vs 5046, +72.2%), Geekbench Vulkan (10001 vs 3729, +62.7%), pixel throughput (44.54 GPixel/s vs 4.392 GPixel/s), texture throughput (66.82 GTexel/s vs 13.18 GTexel/s), FP32 compute (2.138 TFLOPS vs 421.6 GFLOPS), memory bandwidth (112.1 GB/s vs 12.80 GB/s), memory capacity (4 GB vs 2 GB), shading units (768 vs 384), ROPs (32 vs 8), DirectX feature level (12_1 vs 11_0), and PCIe bandwidth (x16 vs x8). The GTX 1050 Ti is the choice for gaming, GPU compute, and any application that stresses memory or shader throughput.

GeForce 930M wins in: lower power consumption (33 W TDP vs 75 W), smaller form factor (IGP vs dual-slot), and higher average benchmark score (4388 vs 4193). The 930M also has a slight edge in percentile ranking (26th vs 25th percentile). The 930M is suitable for ultra-portable notebooks where thermal and power budgets are tight, and where the workload is light — e.g., basic 2D rendering or video playback. Its nearest rival comparisons show it trading blows with the GT 645M (-0.5%) and Iris Pro 5200 (+0.7%), while the GTX 1050 Ti sits close to the R5 M330 (+0.6%) and Vega 3 (-1.8%) in aggregate terms. But those aggregate similarities do not translate to head-to-head wins for the 930M.