NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive overall win for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, which takes 8 of the 9 head-to-head comparisons against the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM. The largest single margin comes in the Passmark DirectX 10 test, where the 2060 SUPER scores 111 against 61 for the 3050 OEM, a delta of 82%. This is the clearest separation in the entire dataset, indicating a substantial advantage in this specific legacy API workload.

The Geekbench Vulkan result is the second-largest win for the 2060 SUPER. It posts a score of 77402, while the 3050 OEM manages 57103, a 35.5% delta. This is a significant gap in a modern, cross-platform graphics API, suggesting that the older Turing-based card retains a strong lead in this particular compute-oriented benchmark. Similarly, in the Passmark DirectX 9 test, the 2060 SUPER scores 218 versus 137, a 59.1% delta, showing dominance even in older, legacy rendering paths.

The Passmark G3D score, which is often a broad indicator of gaming performance, heavily favors the 2060 SUPER. It records 16462 points compared to 11857 for the 3050 OEM, a 38.8% delta. This is a substantial difference that points to a large overall performance gap in rasterized workloads. The Geekbench OpenCL result also goes to the 2060 SUPER, with a score of 76957 against 60740, a 26.7% delta, reinforcing the pattern of higher compute throughput on the older card.

The Passmark DirectX 11 test shows a solid 51.2% delta in favor of the 2060 SUPER, with scores of 130 and 86. The Passmark GPU Compute benchmark also favors the 2060 SUPER, scoring 6721 versus 5779, a 16.3% delta, indicating better raw compute performance outside of pure graphics. The closest contest is in the Passmark DirectX 12 test, where the 2060 SUPER wins by a narrow 5.2% margin, scoring 61 against 58. This near-parity suggests that under modern, low-level API conditions, the gap narrows considerably.

The single victory for the 3050 OEM comes in the Passmark G2D test, which measures 2D graphics and desktop composition performance. Here, the 3050 OEM scores 973 against 854 for the 2060 SUPER, a delta of -12.2% from the perspective of the 2060 SUPER. This is the only area where the newer card demonstrates a clear advantage, though it is not typically a metric tied to 3D gaming or compute performance.

The Verdict

From the data, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER is the stronger performer for virtually all 3D and compute workloads. Its wins in DirectX 10, 11, 9, Vulkan, OpenCL, G3D, and GPU Compute are consistent and often large, with deltas ranging from 16.3% to 82%. Users prioritizing gaming, rendering, or general GPU compute should favor the 2060 SUPER based on these measurements.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM is only preferable in one specific scenario: workloads that are heavily dependent on 2D graphics performance, as indicated by its win in the Passmark G2D test. For any other use case, the benchmark results show the 2060 SUPER as the clear choice. The data also shows that the 3050 OEM sits in a lower performance percentile overall, at 57 versus 62 for the 2060 SUPER, and its average benchmark score of 15199 is notably lower than the 18093 average for the 2060 SUPER.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database, the 2060 SUPER’s average score of 18093 places it within 0.4% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile, which averages 18159, and within 0.5% of the AMD Radeon Pro 5700. The 3050 OEM, with an average of 15199, is nearly tied with the AMD Radeon RX 7600 at 15171, and it sits just ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. This context reinforces that the 2060 SUPER is competing in a higher performance tier than the 3050 OEM.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins in the Geekbench Vulkan test?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER wins with a score of 77402, which is 35.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM’s score of 57103.

Q: Is there any benchmark where the RTX 3050 OEM is faster?

A: Yes, the RTX 3050 OEM wins the Passmark G2D test, scoring 973 compared to 854 for the RTX 2060 SUPER, a delta of -12.2% from the 2060 SUPER’s perspective.

Q: How large is the performance gap in the Passmark G3D test?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER scores 16462, while the RTX 3050 OEM scores 11857, resulting in a 38.8% delta in favor of the RTX 2060 SUPER.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each card?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 18093, while the RTX 3050 OEM has an average benchmark score of 15199.

Q: How do the two cards compare in terms of overall percentile ranking?

A: The RTX 2060 SUPER ranks in the 62nd percentile against all GPUs, while the RTX 3050 OEM ranks in the 57th percentile.

Q: In the closest head-to-head test, what is the margin?

A: The closest test is the Passmark DirectX 12 benchmark, where the RTX 2060 SUPER scores 61 and the RTX 3050 OEM scores 58, a narrow 5.2% delta.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in almost every core specification, despite both having 8 GB of GDDR6 memory. The RTX 2060 SUPER uses a 256-bit memory bus, offering a bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s, while the RTX 3050 OEM uses a 128-bit bus, halving bandwidth to 224.0 GB/s. The memory clock is the same at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), but the bus width difference is the primary factor in the bandwidth gap.

The shading unit count is slightly higher on the newer card: 2304 for the RTX 3050 OEM versus 2176 for the RTX 2060 SUPER. However, the RTX 2060 SUPER has more texture mapping units (136 versus 72) and more raster operations units (64 versus 32). This leads to higher pixel and texture rates for the 2060 SUPER, at 105.6 GPixel/s and 224.4 GTexel/s, compared to 56.16 GPixel/s and 126.4 GTexel/s for the 3050 OEM.

Clock speeds are also different. The RTX 2060 SUPER has a base clock of 1470 MHz and a boost clock of 1650 MHz. The RTX 3050 OEM runs slightly higher, with a base clock of 1515 MHz and a boost of 1755 MHz. Despite the higher clocks on the 3050 OEM, the raw FP32 throughput is higher on the 2060 SUPER at 7.181 TFLOPS, while the 3050 OEM posts 8.087 TFLOPS. The FP16 performance differs drastically: the 2060 SUPER achieves 14.36 TFLOPS (2:1), while the 3050 OEM reaches 8.087 TFLOPS (1:1).

The power requirements differ significantly. The RTX 2060 SUPER has a TDP of 175 W and a suggested PSU of 450 W, while the RTX 3050 OEM has a TDP of 130 W and a suggested PSU of 300 W. Both use a single 8-pin power connector. The bus interface also differs: the 2060 SUPER uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the 3050 OEM uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs vary, with the 2060 SUPER offering 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C, while the 3050 OEM offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. Physical dimensions differ as well, with the 2060 SUPER measuring 229 mm in length, and the 3050 OEM at 242 mm.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide is between Turing and Ampere. The RTX 2060 SUPER is built on the TU106 chip using TSMC’s 12 nm process, while the RTX 3050 OEM uses the GA106 chip on Samsung’s 8 nm node. The transistor counts differ, with the 2060 SUPER containing 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die, and the 3050 OEM containing 12,000 million transistors on a smaller 276 mm² die. This results in a much higher transistor density for the 3050 OEM at 43.5M per mm², compared to 24.3M per mm² for the 2060 SUPER.

The RT core and tensor core counts are vastly different. The RTX 2060 SUPER has 34 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, while the RTX 3050 OEM has only 18 RT cores and 72 tensor cores. This is a major architectural difference that affects ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads, though the benchmark data provided does not directly measure these features. The FP16 compute path also differs: the 2060 SUPER uses a 2:1 ratio, doubling its FP16 throughput relative to FP32, while the 3050 OEM uses a 1:1 ratio, offering no such doubling.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, according to the database. The production status for both is listed as end-of-life, with the 2060 SUPER released in 2019 and the 3050 OEM in 2022. The 2060 SUPER is part of the GeForce 20 generation, succeeding the GeForce 10 series, while the 3050 OEM is part of the GeForce 30 generation, succeeding the GeForce 20 series. The 2060 SUPER has a recorded launch MSRP of 399 USD, while no launch MSRP is recorded for the 3050 OEM.