NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 sit at opposite ends of the GPU timeline, yet their benchmark data places them within a striking distance of each other in overall standing. The RTX 5050, a modern Blackwell 2.0 part, holds an average benchmark score of 21,035, while the Kepler-based GTX 780 from 2013 averages 19,164. This places the RTX 5050 in the 66th percentile of all GPUs and the GTX 780 in the 64th, a difference of just two percentile points. The data reveals a generational leap in compute capability, but also shows that the older card remains a surprisingly resilient performer in raw legacy workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data available is limited to two compute-focused tests, and in both, the RTX 5050 delivers a decisive victory. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5050 scores 90,334 against the GTX 780’s 22,863. That is a delta of 295.1%, meaning the newer card is nearly four times faster in this general-purpose compute workload. This massive margin reflects not just the architectural overhaul from Kepler to Blackwell 2.0, but also the shift in compute throughput: the RTX 5050 delivers 13.17 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, while the GTX 780 manages 4.156 TFLOPS.

The second test, Geekbench Vulkan, shows a similar pattern. The RTX 5050 posts 89,381, while the GTX 780 reaches 24,514, a delta of 264.6%. While Vulkan is a modern graphics API, the GTX 780’s support is limited to version 1.2.175, whereas the RTX 5050 supports Vulkan 1.4. The newer card’s advantage here is not just raw shader power but also feature support, as the RTX 5050 includes dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores that the GTX 780 lacks entirely. The data shows no test where the GTX 780 wins; the wins tally is 2–0 in favor of the RTX 5050.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the RTX 5050’s average score of 21,035 places it just 0.6% below the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL and 1.6% above the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT. The GTX 780, with an average of 19,164, sits within 0.1% of the NVIDIA TITAN Xp and 0.7% of the AMD Radeon RX 6600. This means that while the RTX 5050 is clearly faster in the head-to-head compute tests, both cards occupy a similar performance tier in the aggregated database, with the RTX 5050 holding a 9.8% advantage in average score.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5050 in OpenCL compute compared to the GTX 780?

A: The RTX 5050 scores 90,334 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 295.1% higher than the GTX 780’s 22,863. This indicates a nearly four-fold improvement in raw compute performance.

Q: Does the GTX 780 win any benchmark against the RTX 5050?

A: No. In the head-to-head data, the RTX 5050 wins both tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan). The wins tally is 2–0 in favor of the RTX 5050.

Q: How do the two cards compare in overall standing among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 5050 sits in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, while the GTX 780 sits in the 64th. Their average benchmark scores are 21,035 and 19,164 respectively, showing a 9.8% gap in favor of the RTX 5050.

Q: What is the closest rival to the RTX 5050 in the database?

A: The AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL is the nearest rival, with an average score of 21,153, putting it 0.6% ahead of the RTX 5050. The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile is 1.6% behind.

Q: What is the closest rival to the GTX 780?

A: The NVIDIA TITAN Xp is the nearest rival, averaging 19,177, which is 0.1% ahead of the GTX 780. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 is 0.7% behind.

Q: Does the RTX 5050 have ray tracing hardware?

A: Yes, the RTX 5050 includes 20 RT cores and 80 tensor cores. The GTX 780 has no such hardware, as it predates ray tracing and tensor core technology in NVIDIA’s lineup.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear choice for compute-heavy workloads: the RTX 5050 is the superior card. Its 295.1% lead in OpenCL and 264.6% lead in Vulkan are not marginal; they are generational. For users running modern applications that leverage Vulkan 1.4, ray tracing, or tensor cores, the GTX 780 is not a viable option. The RTX 5050 also offers more memory at 8 GB GDDR6 versus 3 GB GDDR5, and it does so with a lower power draw of 130 W versus 250 W.

However, the GTX 780 is not without merit in the dataset. Its average benchmark score of 19,164 places it within 0.1% of the NVIDIA TITAN Xp, a card that was once flagship-tier. For legacy DirectX 11 or OpenGL applications that do not utilize modern features, the GTX 780’s 2304 shading units and 384-bit memory bus provide substantial throughput. The GTX 780 also supports DirectX 12 (11_0), though not the full 12_2 feature set of the RTX 5050.

The verdict depends on the use case. If the priority is modern compute, VR, or ray tracing, the RTX 5050 is the only rational pick. If the workload is strictly older APIs and the user can tolerate the 250 W TDP and 600 W suggested PSU, the GTX 780 still delivers a respectable 64th percentile standing. But from a pure performance-per-watt and feature perspective, the RTX 5050 dominates the head-to-head where it counts.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 5050 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 320.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 780 uses 3 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 288.4 GB/s. Despite the narrower bus, the RTX 5050 has higher bandwidth due to faster memory clocks (2500 MHz or 20 Gbps effective versus 1502 MHz or 6 Gbps effective).

The RTX 5050 has 2560 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The GTX 780 has 2304 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The GTX 780 has more TMUs and ROPs, but the RTX 5050 compensates with much higher clocks: 2317 MHz base and 2572 MHz boost versus 863 MHz base and 902 MHz boost. This clock advantage drives the pixel rate to 82.30 GPixel/s and texture rate to 205.8 GTexel/s on the RTX 5050, while the GTX 780 manages 43.30 GPixel/s and 173.2 GTexel/s.

Power requirements differ substantially. The RTX 5050 has a 130 W TDP with a single 8-pin connector and a 300 W suggested PSU. The GTX 780 has a 250 W TDP, requires a 6-pin and an 8-pin connector, and needs a 600 W suggested PSU. The bus interface also differs: the RTX 5050 uses PCIe 5.0 x8, while the GTX 780 uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap is the defining story. The RTX 5050 is built on TSMC’s 5 nm process, packing 16,900 million transistors into a 149 mm² die, for a density of 113.4M transistors per mm². The GTX 780 uses TSMC’s 28 nm process, with 7,080 million transistors on a 561 mm² die, a density of just 12.6M per mm². The RTX 5050 achieves a 2.4x transistor count on a 73% smaller die.

The RTX 5050 is based on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, part of the GeForce 50 generation. It introduces dedicated RT cores (20) and tensor cores (80), enabling hardware ray tracing and AI acceleration. The GTX 780 uses the Kepler architecture from the GeForce 700 generation, with no RT or tensor cores. This means the RTX 5050 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX 780 is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175.

The RTX 5050 also has a 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratio, delivering 13.17 TFLOPS in both precision formats. The GTX 780 has no listed FP16 capability, focusing solely on FP32. In terms of display outputs, the RTX 5050 offers modern connectivity with 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b, while the GTX 780 provides 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2. The RTX 5050 is an active product, released on June 30, 2025, with a launch MSRP of 249 USD, while the GTX 780 is end-of-life, released May 22, 2013, with a launch MSRP of 649 USD.