NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile Comparison

# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile represent two distinct eras of mobile graphics, separated by nearly a decade of architectural evolution. The GTX 850M, built on Maxwell and released in March 2014, was designed for mainstream laptops of its time, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile, an Ampere-based part from the GeForce 30-series, targets modern thin-and-light notebooks. The benchmark data reveals a stark generational gap: in the single shared test, the RTX 3050 A Mobile delivers a 5.4x higher OpenCL score, yet the GTX 850M holds a slightly higher overall percentile ranking. This paradox stems from differing benchmark suites and the GTX 850M's more consistent results across its two tests.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3050 A Mobile is the clear winner in raw compute performance. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 52,998 dwarfs the GTX 850M's 9,821, representing an 81.5% delta in favor of the newer chip. This translates directly to workloads that stress GPU compute: rendering, video encoding, machine learning inference, and modern game physics. The RTX 3050 A Mobile also brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing via 14 RT cores and 56 tensor cores, features entirely absent from the GTX 850M, making it the only viable option for DirectX 12 Ultimate titles that leverage these capabilities.

The GTX 850M, however, wins in terms of benchmark consistency relative to its peer group. Its average benchmark score of 9,302 places it at the 46th percentile of all GPUs, slightly above the RTX 3050 A Mobile's 44th percentile and average score of 8,746. The GTX 850M's nearest rivals are tightly clustered—the GTX 465 (9,294, +0.1%), Radeon R7 M380 (9,313, -0.1%), GTX 960 (9,273, +0.3%), and Radeon Vega 8 (9,221, +0.9%)—indicating that in its era, it sat comfortably in a well-populated performance tier. The RTX 3050 A Mobile's rivals are similarly close, with the GTX 460 v2 (8,743, 0%), Quadro P2200 (8,686, +0.7%), Radeon R9 M265X (8,851, -1.2%), and Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8,863, -1.3%) surrounding it. For legacy DirectX 9, 10, and 11 titles, the GTX 850M's Maxwell architecture remains serviceable, though the RTX 3050 A Mobile's PassMark scores in those categories (152 for DirectX 9, 61 for DirectX 10, 94 for DirectX 11) show it handles older APIs without issue.

Architecture Differences

The GTX 850M uses the GM107 chip built on TSMC's 28 nm process, packing 1,870 million transistors into a 148 mm² die. The RTX 3050 A Mobile employs the GA106 chip on Samsung's 8 nm node, with 12,000 million transistors across a 276 mm² die. This represents a 6.4x increase in transistor count and a 3.4x increase in die area, with transistor density jumping from 12.6 million per mm² to 43.5 million per mm²—a 3.4x improvement that reflects the tighter process geometry.

The compute architecture diverges fundamentally. The GTX 850M has 640 shading units, 40 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs, delivering 1,154.6 GFLOPS of FP32 performance. The RTX 3050 A Mobile scales this to 1,792 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, achieving 4.813 TFLOPS FP32—a 4.2x increase. The newer chip also doubles FP16 throughput at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the GTX 850M has no listed FP16 capability. The RTX 3050 A Mobile's RT cores and tensor cores enable hardware ray tracing and AI-accelerated features like DLSS, which the Maxwell part cannot support.

Memory architecture shows similar generational progress. The GTX 850M ships with 2 GB DDR3 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 32.03 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3050 A Mobile doubles capacity to 4 GB GDDR6 on the same 128-bit bus, but bandwidth jumps to 192.0 GB/s—a 6x improvement. The RTX 3050 A Mobile also supports PCIe 4.0 x8, whereas the GTX 850M uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Both parts are IGP form factor with no power connectors and a 45 W TDP, but the newer chip delivers its performance at the same power envelope, a signal of the efficiency of the 8 nm node.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available is Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52,998 against the GTX 850M's 9,821. The delta of 81.5% in favor of the newer GPU is decisive. This result indicates that for any OpenCL-accelerated workload—be it scientific computing, video processing, or compute shaders in games—the RTX 3050 A Mobile performs at a level that the GTX 850M cannot approach. The margin is so large that it effectively places the two products in different performance classes despite their similar TDP.

Looking at the broader benchmark picture, the RTX 3050 A Mobile shows a diverse profile across PassMark tests. Its DirectX 9 score of 152 is its strongest per-API result, while DirectX 12 comes in at 55 and DirectX 10 at 61. The G3D score of 11,664 and GPU compute score of 4,419 provide additional reference points. The G2D score of 526 suggests reasonable 2D performance for desktop rendering. The GTX 850M lacks these PassMark results, so its only comparable metric is the Geekbench Vulkan score of 8,782, which the RTX 3050 A Mobile does not report. This asymmetry in available data means the OpenCL test serves as the primary quantitative comparison, and it overwhelmingly favors the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification field. The GTX 850M uses the GM107 chip on a 28 nm TSMC process, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile uses GA106 on Samsung's 8 nm node. Transistor counts are 1,870 million versus 12,000 million, with die sizes of 148 mm² versus 276 mm². The RTX 3050 A Mobile has no base clock listed for the GTX 850M, but the newer part runs at 1065 MHz base and 1343 MHz boost, with memory at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). The GTX 850M's memory clock is 1001 MHz (2 Gbps effective).

Memory configuration: 2 GB DDR3 versus 4 GB GDDR6, with bandwidth of 32.03 GB/s versus 192.0 GB/s, both on 128-bit buses. Shader resources: 640 versus 1,792 shading units, 40 versus 56 TMUs, 16 versus 32 ROPs. The RTX 3050 A Mobile adds 14 RT cores and 56 tensor cores; the GTX 850M has none. Pixel rate is 14.43 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s; texture rate is 36.08 GTexel/s versus 75.21 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 1,154.6 GFLOPS versus 4.813 TFLOPS; FP16 is absent on the GTX 850M but 4.813 TFLOPS (1:1) on the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

API support differs materially: the GTX 850M supports DirectX 12 (11_0), while the RTX 3050 A Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). Both list OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. Bus interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x8. Release dates: March 11, 2014 versus December 31, 2023. The GTX 850M's predecessor is GeForce 700M and successor is GeForce 900M; the RTX 3050 A Mobile's predecessor is GeForce 20 Mobile with no successor listed. Both are end-of-life, 45 W IGP parts with no power connectors and portable-device-dependent display outputs.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 850M has an average benchmark score of 9,302, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile averages 8,746. The GTX 850M also holds a slightly higher percentile rank at 46 versus 44.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3050 A Mobile in OpenCL compute?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52,998 in Geekbench OpenCL versus the GTX 850M's 9,821, a delta of 81.5% favoring the newer GPU.

Q: Do both GPUs support ray tracing?

A: No. The RTX 3050 A Mobile includes 14 RT cores and 56 tensor cores, enabling hardware ray tracing and AI features. The GTX 850M has no RT or tensor cores.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The GTX 850M has 32.03 GB/s bandwidth with 2 GB DDR3 on a 128-bit bus. The RTX 3050 A Mobile provides 192.0 GB/s with 4 GB GDDR6 on the same 128-bit bus—a 6x increase.

Q: Which GPU supports DirectX 12 Ultimate?

A: Only the RTX 3050 A Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The GTX 850M is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0).

Q: Are the power requirements the same?

A: Yes, both are listed at 45 W TDP, use an IGP slot width, and have no power connectors. The RTX 3050 A Mobile delivers far higher performance within the same power envelope.