AMD Radeon RX 7900M vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900M records an average benchmark score of 97,487, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile records 8,746. The AMD part sits in the 94th percentile of all GPUs, whereas the NVIDIA part sits in the 44th percentile.

Q: How large is the performance gap in the shared OpenCL test?

A: In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the RX 7900M scores 129,499 versus 52,998 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile. That is a delta of 144.3% in favor of the AMD GPU.

Q: What memory configurations do these two mobile GPUs use?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900M uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What are the power targets of each GPU?

A: The RX 7900M has a TDP of 180 W, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile has a TDP of 45 W. Both are listed as IGP slot width with no power connectors.

Q: What is the production status of each part?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900M is marked as Active in production. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is marked as End-of-life.

Q: Which architecture does each GPU use?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7900M uses RDNA 3.0 with the Navi 31 chip on a 5 nm process from TSMC. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the Ampere architecture with the GA106 chip on an 8 nm process from Samsung.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design lineages. The AMD Radeon RX 7900M is built on RDNA 3.0 with the Navi 31 chip, code-named Plum Bonito, and belongs to the Navi Mobile (RX 7000M) generation. It is fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC with 57,700 million transistors on a 529 mm² die, producing a transistor density of 109.1M per mm². Its predecessor is Polaris Mobile.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is based on the Ampere architecture with the GA106 chip and belongs to the GeForce 30 Mobile generation. It uses an 8 nm process from Samsung with 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, yielding 43.5M transistors per mm². Its predecessor is GeForce 20 Mobile.

The compute resources diverge sharply. The RX 7900M carries 4,608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, 192 render output units, and 72 ray tracing cores. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 1,792 shading units, 56 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 14 ray tracing cores, and adds 56 tensor cores, a feature the AMD part does not list. The RX 7900M reports FP32 performance of 38.52 TFLOPS and FP16 of 77.05 TFLOPS (2:1). The RTX 3050 A Mobile reports 4.813 TFLOPS for both FP32 and FP16 (1:1).

Clock behavior also differs. The RX 7900M has a base clock of 1825 MHz and a boost clock of 2090 MHz, with memory clocked at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). The RTX 3050 A Mobile runs a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1343 MHz, with memory at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective).

Both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The bus interfaces differ: the RX 7900M uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Both are IGP slot width with no power connectors and portable-device-dependent display outputs.

The Verdict

The recorded data supports a clear separation in class between these two mobile GPUs. The AMD Radeon RX 7900M delivers a level of compute performance that is an order of magnitude above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile. The average benchmark score of 97,487 versus 8,746 places the AMD part near the top of the database, while the NVIDIA part sits below the midpoint.

The head-to-head Geekbench OpenCL result confirms the scale of the gap: 129,499 versus 52,998, a 144.3% advantage for the RX 7900M. This is not a close contest. The RX 7900M also carries 16 GB of memory versus 4 GB, a 256-bit bus versus 128-bit, and 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth versus 192.0 GB/s.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile does have its own profile. It is a 45 W part versus 180 W, which implies substantially lower power draw in absolute terms. It also includes tensor cores, which the AMD part does not list, and its memory bandwidth per watt is more modest. The production status differs as well: the RX 7900M is Active, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile is End-of-life.

For users whose priority is raw rendering and compute throughput, the RX 7900M is the only choice in this comparison. For users who need a low-power mobile GPU with tensor core support, the RTX 3050 A Mobile is the option that exists in that envelope. The data does not show any benchmark where the NVIDIA part leads the AMD part.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every physical and functional specification.

• Process node: RX 7900M is 5 nm (TSMC); RTX 3050 A Mobile is 8 nm (Samsung).
• Transistors: RX 7900M has 57,700 million; RTX 3050 A Mobile has 12,000 million.
• Die size: RX 7900M is 529 mm²; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 276 mm².
• Transistor density: RX 7900M is 109.1M / mm²; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 43.5M / mm².
• Base clock: RX 7900M is 1825 MHz; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 1065 MHz.
• Boost clock: RX 7900M is 2090 MHz; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 1343 MHz.
• Memory clock: RX 7900M is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective); RTX 3050 A Mobile is 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective).
• Memory size: RX 7900M is 16 GB; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 4 GB.
• Memory bus width: RX 7900M is 256 bit; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 128 bit.
• Memory bandwidth: RX 7900M is 576.0 GB/s; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 192.0 GB/s.
• Shading units: RX 7900M has 4,608; RTX 3050 A Mobile has 1,792.
• TMUs: RX 7900M has 288; RTX 3050 A Mobile has 56.
• ROPs: RX 7900M has 192; RTX 3050 A Mobile has 32.
• Ray tracing cores: RX 7900M has 72; RTX 3050 A Mobile has 14.
• Tensor cores: RX 7900M lists none; RTX 3050 A Mobile has 56.
• Pixel rate: RX 7900M is 401.3 GPixel/s; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 42.98 GPixel/s.
• Texture rate: RX 7900M is 601.9 GTexel/s; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 75.21 GTexel/s.
• FP32: RX 7900M is 38.52 TFLOPS; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 4.813 TFLOPS.
• FP16: RX 7900M is 77.05 TFLOPS (2:1); RTX 3050 A Mobile is 4.813 TFLOPS (1:1).
• TDP: RX 7900M is 180 W; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 45 W.
• Bus interface: RX 7900M is PCIe 4.0 x16; RTX 3050 A Mobile is PCIe 4.0 x8.
• Release date: RX 7900M is 2023-10-18; RTX 3050 A Mobile is 2023-12-31.
• Production status: RX 7900M is Active; RTX 3050 A Mobile is End-of-life.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains one direct comparison between these two GPUs. In Geekbench OpenCL, the AMD Radeon RX 7900M scores 129,499 against 52,998 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile. The delta is 144.3% in favor of the AMD part. That score alone is more than double the NVIDIA result.

The broader benchmark sets reinforce the same hierarchy. The RX 7900M records a Geekbench Vulkan score of 158,760 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4,201. Its average benchmark score of 97,487 places it among the top 6% of all GPUs, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 at 101,872 (4.3% ahead of the RX 7900M) and the AMD Radeon Pro VII at 97,131 (0.4% behind).

The RTX 3050 A Mobile's best recorded results are smaller in every available category. Its Passmark G3D score is 11,664, its Passmark GPU Compute score is 4,419, and its Geekbench OpenCL score is 52,998. Its average benchmark score of 8,746 puts it near the 44th percentile, with nearest rivals such as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 at 8,743 (0% delta) and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 at 8,863 (1.3% ahead).

The difference in average benchmark score is roughly 11.1 times in favor of the RX 7900M. No benchmark in the recorded data shows the RTX 3050 A Mobile winning any comparison.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 7900M wins every recorded comparison. The Geekbench OpenCL head-to-head is the only direct shared test, and it goes to the RX 7900M by 144.3%. The RX 7900M also holds decisive advantages in memory capacity, memory bandwidth, shading units, texture rate, pixel rate, and FP32 throughput. Its 16 GB frame buffer and 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth support workloads that require large datasets or high-resolution textures. Its 38.52 TFLOPS FP32 and 77.05 TFLOPS FP16 place it in a performance class that the RTX 3050 A Mobile cannot approach.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile does not win any benchmark in the database. Its wins are structural rather than performance-based. It carries a 45 W TDP, which is one quarter of the RX 7900M's 180 W TDP. It includes 56 tensor cores, a feature the AMD part does not list, which may matter for workloads that rely on tensor operations. Its 4 GB memory and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth are smaller in absolute terms but scale with its lower power budget.

The use-case split follows from the data. The RX 7900M is the choice for compute-heavy rendering, high-resolution graphics, and any workload that benefits from 16 GB of memory and 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is the choice for systems where a 45 W power envelope and tensor core support take priority over raw throughput. The recorded benchmarks do not show any scenario where the RTX 3050 A Mobile outperforms the RX 7900M.