NVIDIA GeForce MX550 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data for these two mobile graphics processors shows a decisive advantage for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile in every recorded compute test. The two shared benchmarks in the database, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, both place the RTX 3080 Mobile far ahead of the MX550, and the magnitude of that gap is substantial.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the MX550 records a score of 20,372, while the RTX 3080 Mobile posts 104,831. That is a delta of -80.6% from the perspective of the smaller chip, meaning the RTX 3080 Mobile is roughly five times faster in this workload. The raw score difference of 84,459 points is one of the largest single-test gaps recorded for any pair of competing mobile GPUs in the database.

The Vulkan results tell a similar story, though the relative margin is slightly narrower. The MX550 scores 32,469, while the RTX 3080 Mobile hits 104,066. The delta here is -68.8%, which still represents a massive performance lead for the Ampere-based part. In absolute terms, the RTX 3080 Mobile delivers over 71,000 additional points in this API test.

Looking at the individual benchmark suites beyond the head-to-head, the RTX 3080 Mobile's wider test coverage provides further context. Its Passmark G3D score of 16,321 and Passmark GPU Compute score of 7,276 are strong figures for a mobile part. The MX550, by contrast, only has Geekbench entries in the database, so its average benchmark score of 26,421 is drawn solely from those two tests.

The average benchmark scores in the database reinforce the hierarchy. The MX550's average is 26,421, while the RTX 3080 Mobile's average is 23,628. This is an unusual situation: the higher-performing GPU actually has a lower average score because the RTX 3080 Mobile's benchmark pool includes several Passmark tests with modest scores (DirectX 10 at 120, DirectX 11 at 146, DirectX 12 at 72, DirectX 9 at 170, and G2D at 637), which drag down its arithmetic mean. The MX550's average is inflated by having only two strong Geekbench scores. This discrepancy highlights why average scores should be interpreted alongside individual test results rather than in isolation.

The percentile rankings reflect a narrower overall standing. The MX550 sits at the 72nd percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the RTX 3080 Mobile sits at the 69th percentile. Despite the RTX 3080 Mobile's overwhelming win in the shared benchmarks, its broader test suite includes legacy DirectX workloads where it scores relatively lower, pulling its percentile below the MX550's. This is a reminder that percentile rankings depend heavily on which tests are included for each card.

Where Each One Wins

The MX550 wins in exactly zero of the recorded head-to-head comparisons. Every shared benchmark result favors the RTX 3080 Mobile, so there is no workload category in the database where the smaller Turing-based chip comes out ahead.

The RTX 3080 Mobile wins in both shared tests, and its advantage is consistent across both OpenCL and Vulkan compute workloads. For users running general-purpose GPU compute tasks, whether through OpenCL or Vulkan, the RTX 3080 Mobile is the clear choice based on the recorded data.

However, the MX550's positioning in the database is not without merit. Its average benchmark score of 26,421 places it within 0.1% of the AMD Radeon 860M (26,401), and it is 0.3% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (26,331). Against the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary, the MX550 trails by only 0.5% (that card scores 26,553), and it is 1% behind the NVIDIA RTX A4000 (26,683). These are extremely tight margins, suggesting the MX550 is a competent performer in its own class, even if it cannot compete with the high-end RTX 3080 Mobile.

For the RTX 3080 Mobile, its nearest rivals in the database are all high-end parts. It sits 0.5% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (23,736), 0.5% ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Mobile (23,518), 1% behind the AMD Radeon RX 9070 (23,877), and 1.3% ahead of the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 (23,315). These deltas indicate that the RTX 3080 Mobile is firmly in the upper tier of mobile GPUs, trading blows with desktop-class parts from several generations.

The practical split is straightforward: the MX550 is positioned for lightweight tasks and efficiency-focused laptops, while the RTX 3080 Mobile is built for demanding compute and gaming workloads. The database shows no overlap in their performance envelopes.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce MX550 has an average benchmark score of 26,421, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile has an average of 23,628. However, this is skewed by the RTX 3080 Mobile's inclusion of several low-scoring Passmark DirectX tests in its benchmark pool.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3080 Mobile in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 3080 Mobile scores 104,831 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the MX550 scores 20,372. That is an 80.6% advantage for the RTX 3080 Mobile.

Q: Does the MX550 win any benchmark against the RTX 3080 Mobile?

A: No. The database records zero wins for the MX550 in head-to-head tests. The RTX 3080 Mobile wins both Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan.

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

A: The MX550 ranks in the 72nd percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX 3080 Mobile ranks in the 69th percentile. This is despite the RTX 3080 Mobile winning all shared tests.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 Mobile compare to the RTX 3070 Ti Mobile?

A: The RTX 3080 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 23,628, which is 0.5% higher than the RTX 3070 Ti Mobile's 23,518.

Q: What are the closest rivals to the MX550 in the database?

A: The AMD Radeon 860M (26,401) is 0.1% behind, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 (26,331) is 0.3% behind, the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary (26,553) is 0.5% ahead, and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 (26,683) is 1% ahead.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every major specification category. The MX550 uses the TU117SB chip built on TSMC's 12 nm process, while the RTX 3080 Mobile uses the GA104 chip on Samsung's 8 nm node. The transistor counts are drastically different: the MX550 packs 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, while the RTX 3080 Mobile contains 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die. This translates to a transistor density of 23.5 million per mm² for the MX550 versus 44.4 million per mm² for the RTX 3080 Mobile.

Clock speeds show a moderate gap. The MX550 has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost of 1320 MHz, while the RTX 3080 Mobile runs at 1110 MHz base and 1545 MHz boost. Memory clocks differ as well: the MX550 uses 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective), and the RTX 3080 Mobile uses 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

Memory capacity and bandwidth are major differentiators. The MX550 has 2 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, yielding 96.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3080 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s. That is over four times the memory bandwidth.

The execution resources are vastly different. The MX550 has 1,024 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The RTX 3080 Mobile has 6,144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 3080 Mobile also includes 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores, while the MX550 has none of either.

Pixel and texture rates reflect these resource differences. The MX550 outputs 21.12 GPixel/s and 42.24 GTexel/s, while the RTX 3080 Mobile outputs 148.3 GPixel/s and 296.6 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 2.703 TFLOPS for the MX550 versus 18.98 TFLOPS for the RTX 3080 Mobile, with both offering 1:1 FP16 performance.

Power consumption is a notable differentiator. The MX550 has a TDP of 25 W and is an integrated graphics package (IGP) with no power connectors. The RTX 3080 Mobile has a TDP of 115 W and also lists no power connectors, but its higher power envelope is clear from the specification. The bus interface differs: the MX550 uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the RTX 3080 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

The MX550 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 3080 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Both have portable-device-dependent display outputs.

The RTX 3080 Mobile has a documented predecessor, the GeForce 20 Mobile, while the MX550 has no listed predecessor or successor. Both are marked as end-of-life in production status.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is fundamental. The MX550 is built on NVIDIA's Turing architecture, which debuted with the GeForce RTX 20-series desktop cards. Turing introduced ray tracing and tensor cores in NVIDIA's consumer lineup, but the MX550, based on the TU117SB chip, implements neither. It is a pure rasterization and compute part with no dedicated ray tracing hardware and no tensor cores.

The RTX 3080 Mobile uses the Ampere architecture, NVIDIA's successor to Turing, built on the GA104 chip. Ampere is a major architectural overhaul that doubles down on the features Turing pioneered. The RTX 3080 Mobile's 48 ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores are second-generation implementations that provide hardware acceleration for ray-traced workloads and AI-based features such as DLSS.

The process node difference is also architecturally relevant. Turing on the MX550 is fabricated at 12 nm by TSMC, while Ampere on the RTX 3080 Mobile is fabricated at 8 nm by Samsung. The smaller node allows for much higher transistor density, which is evident in the 44.4 million transistors per mm² for the RTX 3080 Mobile versus 23.5 million for the MX550.

The memory architecture differs beyond just capacity and bandwidth. The MX550's 64-bit bus is typical of entry-level mobile parts, limiting its memory throughput to 96.00 GB/s. The RTX 3080 Mobile's 256-bit bus is a high-end configuration that enables 448.0 GB/s, which is essential for feeding its 6,144 shading units.

The DirectX feature level difference is significant. The MX550 supports DirectX 12_1, which is the baseline for modern DX12 games but lacks the full feature set. The RTX 3080 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes hardware ray tracing, variable rate shading, and mesh shaders. This means the RTX 3080 Mobile can run next-generation graphics features that the MX550 cannot.

The shading unit count difference is the single largest architectural gap. With 6,144 shading units versus 1,024, the RTX 3080 Mobile has exactly six times the compute capacity of the MX550. This scales directly to the FP32 throughput difference: 18.98 TFLOPS versus 2.703 TFLOPS.

The RTX 3080 Mobile's tensor cores enable AI-accelerated features that the MX550 completely lacks. These include deep learning super sampling and other neural network-based enhancements. The MX550 has no equivalent hardware, so it cannot accelerate those workloads.

Both GPUs share the same OpenGL version (4.6) and Vulkan version (1.4), and both are end-of-life products. The RTX 3080 Mobile launched in January 2021, while the MX550 launched in December 2021, making the MX550 the later release despite being the far less capable part.