NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile are separated by over a decade of GPU architecture, yet their average benchmark scores place them in adjacent percentiles (45th vs. 44th). The GTX 560, a 2011 desktop part, and the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a 2023 laptop chip, both land near the middle of the database, but the Geekbench OpenCL result tells a far more lopsided story than the averages suggest. The RTX 3050 A Mobile delivers a 5.85x higher raw compute score (52,998 vs. 9,058), driven by Ampere’s vastly superior feature set, memory bandwidth, and shader count.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the only head-to-head benchmark listed?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 52,998 versus the GTX 560’s 9,058, a delta of -82.9% from the perspective of the GTX 560.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in overall database percentile?

A: The GTX 560 sits at the 45th percentile, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile is at the 44th percentile, meaning they rank nearly identically relative to all GPUs in the database despite the massive score gap in the single benchmark.

Q: What are the closest rivals for each GPU?

A: For the GTX 560, the nearest rival is the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition (avg score 9,037, 0.2% behind) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (avg score 9,022, 0.4% behind). For the RTX 3050 A Mobile, the closest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 (avg score 8,743, 0% delta) and the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (avg score 8,686, 0.7% ahead).

Q: Which GPU has more memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile offers 192.0 GB/s, while the GTX 560 provides 128.0 GB/s, a 50% advantage for the newer part.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile’s 8 nm process yields 43.5M transistors per mm², versus 5.9M / mm² for the GTX 560’s 40 nm node, a 7.4x improvement in density.

Q: Does the RTX 3050 A Mobile support newer DirectX features?

A: Yes, it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX 560 only reaches DirectX 12 (11_0) and has no Vulkan support listed.

Architecture Differences

The GTX 560 is built on Fermi 2.0 architecture using the GF114 chip, manufactured on TSMC’s 40 nm process with 1,950 million transistors on a 332 mm² die. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses Ampere architecture with the GA106 chip, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm node, packing 12,000 million transistors into a smaller 276 mm² die. This results in a transistor density of 5.9M / mm² for the GTX 560 versus 43.5M / mm² for the RTX 3050 A Mobile — a stark illustration of process node advancement.

Memory configurations diverge significantly. The GTX 560 has 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 128.0 GB/s bandwidth and a memory clock of 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective). The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, achieving 192.0 GB/s bandwidth at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). Despite a narrower bus, the newer memory type delivers 50% more bandwidth.

The shading core counts are radically different: 336 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for the GTX 560 versus 1,792 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for the RTX 3050 A Mobile. The RTX part also adds 14 RT cores and 56 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the Fermi-based GTX 560. Pixel rate jumps from 11.34 GPixel/s to 42.98 GPixel/s, and texture rate from 45.36 GTexel/s to 75.21 GTexel/s. FP32 compute scales from 1,088.6 GFLOPS to 4.813 TFLOPS, and the RTX part also supports FP16 at 4.813 TFLOPS (1:1), which the GTX 560 does not list.

Power and physical design differ as well. The GTX 560 is a dual-slot card with 2x 6-pin power connectors, a 150 W TDP, and a suggested PSU of 450 W, measuring 210 mm (8.3 inches) in length. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is an IGP with no power connectors, a 45 W TDP, and no suggested PSU — it is portable-device dependent and has no listed dimensions. The bus interface moves from PCIe 2.0 x16 to PCIe 4.0 x8.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct benchmark comparison in the data is Geekbench OpenCL, and it is decisive. The RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52,998, while the GTX 560 scores 9,058. The delta percentage is -82.9% when viewed from the GTX 560’s side, meaning the RTX 3050 A Mobile outperforms the older card by roughly 5.85 times. This is not a marginal generational step; it is a categorical leap.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile’s nearest rival in the database, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2, averages 8,743 — a score nearly identical to the GTX 560’s 9,058. In fact, the GTX 560’s closest rival is the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition at 9,037, which is only 0.2% slower. This places the GTX 560 in a performance tier populated by early 2010s hardware, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile’s single benchmark score of 52,998 is over 6x higher than its own average benchmark score of 8,746, highlighting that its OpenCL result is an outlier relative to the other tests in its profile.

However, the RTX 3050 A Mobile’s average benchmark score across all tests is 8,746, which is actually lower than the GTX 560’s average of 9,058. This discrepancy comes from the RTX part’s other benchmark results: Passmark DirectX 10 score of 61, DirectX 11 score of 94, DirectX 12 score of 55, DirectX 9 score of 152, G2D score of 526, G3D score of 11,664, and GPU compute score of 4,419. These low DirectX-specific scores drag down its average, even though its OpenCL performance is exceptional. The GTX 560 has only one benchmark listed, which is its average.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear verdict: the RTX 3050 A Mobile is the superior GPU in raw compute terms, but its average benchmark positioning tells a more nuanced story. The RTX 3050 A Mobile wins the only head-to-head test by a massive margin (52,998 vs. 9,058), and it offers modern API support, ray tracing cores, tensor cores, and 50% more memory bandwidth. For any workload that leverages OpenCL, the RTX 3050 A Mobile is unquestionably the pick.

The GTX 560, however, holds a higher average benchmark score (9,058 vs. 8,746) and a slightly better percentile (45th vs. 44th). Its consistent performance across the limited data available — no sub-100 scores in any test — suggests it is more predictable in legacy DirectX workloads. The RTX 3050 A Mobile’s Passmark DirectX scores (ranging from 55 to 152) are anomalously low, which may indicate driver issues or a specific workload mismatch rather than true hardware capability.

For users prioritizing modern OpenCL compute, the RTX 3050 A Mobile is the only choice; its score is 5.85x higher. For those relying on older DirectX 9/10/11 applications, the GTX 560’s lack of sub-100 scores and its higher average suggest better stability. The RTX 3050 A Mobile’s 45 W TDP versus the GTX 560’s 150 W TDP also makes it far more power-efficient, a factor not captured in benchmark scores but critical for mobile use.

Specification Differences

| Specification | GTX 560 | RTX 3050 A Mobile |

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

| Process Node | 40 nm | 8 nm |

| Transistors | 1,950 million | 12,000 million |

| Die Size | 332 mm² | 276 mm² |

| Memory Size | 1024 MB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Clock | 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective) | 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) |

| Bandwidth | 128.0 GB/s | 192.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 336 | 1,792 |

| RT Cores | None | 14 |

| Tensor Cores | None | 56 |

| FP32 | 1,088.6 GFLOPS | 4.813 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | None listed | 4.813 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 150 W | 45 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | IGP |

| Power Connectors | 2x 6-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | None |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| DirectX | 12 (11_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan | None listed | 1.4 |

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3050 A Mobile wins decisively in OpenCL compute, with a score of 52,998 versus 9,058 — a 5.85x advantage. It also dominates in memory bandwidth (192.0 GB/s vs. 128.0 GB/s), pixel rate (42.98 vs. 11.34 GPixel/s), texture rate (75.21 vs. 45.36 GTexel/s), and raw FP32 throughput (4.813 TFLOPS vs. 1,088.6 GFLOPS). Its 1,792 shading units, 14 RT cores, and 56 tensor cores provide hardware features the GTX 560 cannot emulate. The 45 W TDP makes it suitable for portable devices, whereas the GTX 560 requires a dual-slot card with 2x 6-pin power and a 450 W PSU.

The GTX 560 wins on average benchmark score (9,058 vs. 8,746) and percentile rank (45th vs. 44th). Its 256-bit memory bus, while slower in total bandwidth, offers wider access per clock. The GTX 560’s benchmark profile contains no sub-100 scores, whereas the RTX 3050 A Mobile’s Passmark DirectX tests (55-152) indicate severe underperformance in those specific API workloads. The GTX 560 also has a higher transistor count per die area for its generation (5.9M / mm²) relative to its node, though this is dwarfed by the RTX part’s 43.5M / mm². For legacy DirectX 9/10/11 scenarios, the GTX 560’s consistent scores suggest it is the more reliable option, despite being older and less powerful on paper. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is the clear winner for any modern compute task, but the GTX 560 remains competitive in the narrow slice of older API tests where the RTX part inexplicably falters.