NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive performance gap between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690, with the newer mobile part winning both available head-to-head tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4050 Mobile scores 74,748 against 17,399 for the GTX 690, a delta of 329.6%. That is more than four times the raw compute output as measured by this workload. The Vulkan result is even more lopsided: 75,235 versus 16,675, a delta of 351.2%. These are not marginal wins, they represent a generational leap in measured compute capability, despite the RTX 4050 Mobile being a laptop-oriented IGP with a 50 W TDP and the GTX 690 being a dual-slot desktop card with a 300 W TDP.

The RTX 4050 Mobile also posts a significantly higher average benchmark score of 19,049, compared to 17,037 for the GTX 690. This 2,012-point average gap places the RTX 4050 Mobile at the 63rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the GTX 690 sits at the 60th percentile. The percentile difference is modest, but the average score difference is meaningful, and the specific OpenCL and Vulkan deltas are the most striking numbers in the comparison.

Contextualizing the RTX 4050 Mobile against its own nearest rivals reinforces its standing. The database lists its closest competitors as the AMD Radeon RX 6600 with an average score of 19,036 and a delta of 0.1%, the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 at 19,030 with a delta of 0.1%, the NVIDIA Tesla K20m at 19,089 with a delta of -0.2%, and the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation at 18,954 with a delta of 0.5%. In other words, the RTX 4050 Mobile sits in a tight cluster where the best and worst scores differ by less than 1%. It is effectively tied with these four cards on average benchmark score, which is notable for a mobile IGP.

The GTX 690, by contrast, sits in a different cluster. Its nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7970M at 17,019 with a delta of 0.1%, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT at 17,083 with a delta of -0.3%, the NVIDIA Tesla M4 at 16,932 with a delta of 0.6%, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 at 17,208 with a delta of -1%. The spread here is slightly wider, but the GTX 690 is still within 1% of each rival. This indicates the GTX 690 holds its own in its performance tier, yet that tier is far below the one occupied by the RTX 4050 Mobile.

The RTX 4050 Mobile wins both head-to-head tests, giving it a 2-0 record in the database. The GTX 690 does not win either test. The magnitude of the wins, 329.6% and 351.2%, suggests the performance difference is not subtle. The RTX 4050 Mobile's compute advantage is consistent across both the OpenCL and Vulkan APIs, which is a strong signal that the architectural improvements are not workload-specific.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 19,049, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 has an average score of 17,037.

Q: How large is the RTX 4050 Mobile's lead in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile scores 74,748 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 17,399 for the GTX 690, a delta of 329.6%.

Q: Does the GTX 690 win any head-to-head benchmark?

A: No. The database records two head-to-head tests, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, and the RTX 4050 Mobile wins both. The GTX 690 has 0 wins in the head-to-head comparison.

Q: How does the RTX 4050 Mobile compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile is effectively tied with the AMD Radeon RX 6600 (19,036, delta 0.1%), the NVIDIA Quadro K6000 (19,030, delta 0.1%), the NVIDIA Tesla K20m (19,089, delta -0.2%), and the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation (18,954, delta 0.5%). All deltas are within 0.5%.

Q: What is the percentile ranking difference between the two GPUs?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile ranks at the 63rd percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 690 ranks at the 60th percentile.

Q: Which GPU has the higher Vulkan score?

A: The RTX 4050 Mobile scores 75,235 in Geekbench Vulkan, versus 16,675 for the GTX 690, a delta of 351.2%.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous on which GPU delivers more measured performance. The RTX 4050 Mobile is ahead by 329.6% in OpenCL and 351.2% in Vulkan, and it holds a higher average benchmark score and a higher percentile ranking. For any workload represented by these two APIs, the RTX 4050 Mobile is the clear choice.

Buyers should note the context, however. The RTX 4050 Mobile is a mobile IGP with a 50 W TDP, no power connectors, and a PCIe 4.0 x8 bus interface. It is designed for portable devices, and its display outputs are portable-device dependent. The GTX 690 is a dual-slot desktop card with a 279 mm length, 2x 8-pin power connectors, and a suggested PSU of 700 W. It is end-of-life, while the RTX 4050 Mobile is active in production.

For a modern laptop user, the RTX 4050 Mobile offers the higher performance tier as recorded in the database, and it does so within a much lower power envelope. The GTX 690 remains competitive only within its own historical context, and its nearest rivals include cards like the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, with average scores within 1%. But those rivals are still below the RTX 4050 Mobile's average score.

The GTX 690's launch MSRP was 999 USD, which can be stated once as context, but the database makes no pricing comparison beyond that. The verdict from benchmark results is simple: the RTX 4050 Mobile wins the head-to-head, the average score comparison, and the percentile ranking. It is the recommended pick from a pure performance standpoint.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification class. The RTX 4050 Mobile uses 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 96-bit bus, providing 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 690 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 192.3 GB/s of bandwidth. Despite the GTX 690's wider bus, the bandwidth figures are nearly identical, with the GTX 690 ahead by only 0.3 GB/s.

Clock speeds show a different pattern. The RTX 4050 Mobile has a base clock of 1455 MHz and a boost clock of 1755 MHz, with memory at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The GTX 690 has a base clock of 915 MHz and a boost clock of 1019 MHz, with memory at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective). The RTX 4050 Mobile runs at substantially higher clocks.

Compute resources differ significantly. The RTX 4050 Mobile has 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The GTX 690 has 1536 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 4050 Mobile has more shading units and more ROPs, while the GTX 690 has more TMUs. The RTX 4050 Mobile also features 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores, while the GTX 690 has none.

Pixel and texture rates reflect these differences. The RTX 4050 Mobile achieves 84.24 GPixel/s and 140.4 GTexel/s. The GTX 690 achieves 32.61 GPixel/s and 130.4 GTexel/s. The RTX 4050 Mobile leads in both, but the texture rate gap is smaller than the pixel rate gap.

FP32 compute is another major differentiator. The RTX 4050 Mobile delivers 8.986 TFLOPS, while the GTX 690 delivers 3.130 TFLOPS. The RTX 4050 Mobile also supports FP16 at 8.986 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio), while the GTX 690 has no listed FP16 figure.

Power and physical specifications are starkly different. The RTX 4050 Mobile has a 50 W TDP, is IGP slot width, has no power connectors, and no suggested PSU. The GTX 690 has a 300 W TDP, is dual-slot, requires 2x 8-pin power connectors, and has a suggested PSU of 700 W. The GTX 690 measures 279 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 38 mm in width. The RTX 4050 Mobile has no listed dimensions.

The bus interface also differs. The RTX 4050 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the GTX 690 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs differ as well: the RTX 4050 Mobile is portable-device dependent, while the GTX 690 offers 3x DVI and 1x mini-DisplayPort 1.2.

The production status and release dates differ. The RTX 4050 Mobile is active and was released on 2023-01-02. The GTX 690 is end-of-life and was released on 2012-05-02.

Architecture Differences

The architecture gap between these two GPUs is fundamental. The RTX 4050 Mobile is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture using the AD107 chip, fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It contains 18,900 million transistors on a 159 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 118.9 million transistors per mm². The GTX 690 uses the Kepler architecture with the GK104 chip, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.0 million transistors per mm².

The transistor density difference is enormous: 118.9M per mm² versus 12.0M per mm². This is a direct result of the process node advancement from 28 nm to 5 nm. The RTX 4050 Mobile packs over five times more transistors per square millimeter, despite having a smaller die. The GTX 690's die is larger at 294 mm², but its older process limits its transistor count to 3,540 million, compared to the RTX 4050 Mobile's 18,900 million.

Architectural features differ as well. The RTX 4050 Mobile includes dedicated ray tracing cores and tensor cores, which the GTX 690 lacks entirely. This means the RTX 4050 Mobile can accelerate ray-traced workloads and tensor operations in hardware, while the GTX 690 has no such capabilities. The RTX 4050 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 690 supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. Both share OpenGL 4.6, but the DirectX and Vulkan support levels differ.

The RTX 4050 Mobile belongs to the GeForce 40-series and the GeForce 40 Mobile generation, with a predecessor in the GeForce 30 Mobile and a successor in the GeForce 50 Mobile. The GTX 690 belongs to the GeForce 600 generation, with a predecessor in the GeForce 500 and a successor in the GeForce 700. The RTX 4050 Mobile has no codename listed, and neither does the GTX 690.

Memory technology also differs. The RTX 4050 Mobile uses GDDR6, while the GTX 690 uses GDDR5. The RTX 4050 Mobile has 6 GB of memory, while the GTX 690 has 2 GB. Despite the GTX 690's larger 256-bit bus, the bandwidth is nearly identical, as noted in the specification differences. This is another sign of the memory efficiency improvements in the newer architecture.

The API support gap further highlights the architectural divide. The RTX 4050 Mobile's Vulkan 1.4 support and DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) indicate a modern feature set, including mesh shaders and other advanced rendering paths. The GTX 690's DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175 are older feature levels. The RTX 4050 Mobile's FP16 support at a 1:1 ratio with FP32 is also a notable architectural feature absent from the GTX 690's listed specifications.

In summary, the RTX 4050 Mobile and GTX 690 are separated by two full architecture generations, a process node shift from 28 nm to 5 nm, and a fundamental feature gap in ray tracing and tensor acceleration. The benchmark data reflects this separation clearly.