NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the average benchmark scores of the two GPUs compare?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 records an average benchmark score of 17,639, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile averages 8,746. The RTX 4060 holds a 44.2% lead in the Geekbench OpenCL test, one of the largest deltas between the two.

Q: What is the performance percentile ranking for each GPU?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile sits in the 44th percentile of all GPUs, whereas the RTX 4060 ranks in the 61st percentile. This places the RTX 4060 well above the midpoint of the recorded GPU population.

Q: Which GPU wins in compute workloads?

A: The RTX 4060 wins the PassMark GPU Compute test with a score of 9,213 versus 4,419 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a margin of 52%. This is the largest percentage difference in the head-to-head benchmark set.

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in DirectX 12 performance?

A: The RTX 4060 scores 76 in the PassMark DirectX 12 test, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 55. The delta is 27.6% in favor of the RTX 4060, the smallest performance gap among the recorded DirectX tests.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each GPU according to the database?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile's closest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 (average score 8,743, 0% delta), the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8,686, 0.7% delta), and the AMD Radeon R9 M265X (8,851, -1.2% delta). The RTX 4060's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon HD 7790 (17,666, -0.2% delta) and the AMD Radeon 780M (17,588, 0.3% delta).

Q: Do both GPUs support the same DirectX and Vulkan versions?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The API feature sets are identical, so software compatibility at the API level does not differentiate them.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from separate NVIDIA architectures and manufacturing processes. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the Ampere architecture with a GA106 chip fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung, containing 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die. The RTX 4060 shifts to Ada Lovelace with an AD107 chip built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, packing 18,900 million transistors into a smaller 159 mm² die. The transistor density reflects the process jump: the RTX 4060 reaches 118.9M transistors per mm², compared to 43.5M per mm² for the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

Core configurations differ substantially. The RTX 3050 A Mobile carries 1,792 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, 32 raster operation units, 14 ray tracing cores, and 56 tensor cores. The RTX 4060 more than scales these across the board with 3,072 shading units, 96 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 24 ray tracing cores, and 96 tensor cores. The Ada Lovelace part also boosts its FP32 throughput to 15.11 TFLOPS, while the Ampere part delivers 4.813 TFLOPS, a roughly threefold difference in raw shader math.

Clock behavior also separates the two. The RTX 3050 A Mobile runs a base clock of 1,065 MHz and a boost of 1,343 MHz, with memory at 1,500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). The RTX 4060 starts at 1,830 MHz base and boosts to 2,460 MHz, with memory at 2,125 MHz (17 Gbps effective). The RTX 4060 also achieves higher pixel and texture rates: 118.1 GPixel/s and 236.2 GTexel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s and 75.21 GTexel/s for the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

Memory capacity and bandwidth differ, but the bus width remains the same at 128 bit. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the RTX 4060 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth. Both are GDDR6, but the RTX 4060 carries double the capacity and 41.7% more bandwidth.

Form factor and power delivery diverge sharply. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with no slot width, no power connectors, and a 45 W TDP. The RTX 4060 is a dual-slot discrete card with a single 12-pin power connector, a suggested PSU of 300 W, and a 115 W TDP. The RTX 4060 also has defined physical dimensions (240 mm length, 111 mm height, 40 mm width), while the RTX 3050 A Mobile's display outputs are described as portable device dependent, reflecting its mobile integration.

Production status and release timing also differ. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is marked end-of-life with a release date of December 31, 2023, and its predecessor is listed as GeForce 20 Mobile. The RTX 4060 is also end-of-life, released May 17, 2023, with a predecessor of GeForce 30 and a successor of GeForce 50. The RTX 4060 has a recorded launch MSRP of 299 USD, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile has no launch MSRP in the database.

The Verdict

The benchmark data points to a decisive overall winner: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060. It wins all eight head-to-head benchmark comparisons, with deltas ranging from 27.6% in PassMark DirectX 12 to 52% in PassMark GPU Compute. Its average score of 17,639 is more than double the RTX 3050 A Mobile's 8,746. The percentile ranking confirms the gap: 61st percentile versus 44th percentile.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile, however, serves a different role. Its IGP form factor, 45 W TDP, and lack of power connectors indicate a low-power integrated solution for portable devices. Its nearest rivals include the GTX 460 v2 and Quadro P2200, both older or lower-tier parts, suggesting it competes in a legacy or entry-level mobility segment. The RTX 4060, by contrast, sits near the AMD Radeon HD 7790 and Radeon 780M in the database, a much higher performance tier.

For a user constrained by a 45 W power envelope and integrated design, the RTX 3050 A Mobile is the only one of the two that fits. For anyone needing discrete performance, the RTX 4060 delivers 40.3% higher PassMark G3D score and 46.3% higher DirectX 11 score. The data does not support choosing the RTX 3050 A Mobile on performance grounds alone. The RTX 4060 also carries 8 GB memory versus 4 GB, and its 272.0 GB/s bandwidth versus 192.0 GB/s further widens the practical gap in texture-heavy workloads.

The RTX 4060's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 output and 24 ray tracing cores provide a clear architectural advantage over the RTX 3050 A Mobile's 4.813 TFLOPS and 14 ray tracing cores. The database shows no benchmark where the RTX 3050 A Mobile wins, so the verdict is unambiguous for raw performance. The RTX 3050 A Mobile remains relevant only in its specific low-power mobile context.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every hardware specification. The process node shifts from 8 nm (Samsung) on the RTX 3050 A Mobile to 5 nm (TSMC) on the RTX 4060. Transistor count rises from 12,000 million to 18,900 million, while die size shrinks from 276 mm² to 159 mm². Transistor density more than doubles from 43.5M per mm² to 118.9M per mm².

Clock speeds are higher on the RTX 4060: base clock 1,830 MHz versus 1,065 MHz, boost clock 2,460 MHz versus 1,343 MHz, and memory clock 2,125 MHz (17 Gbps effective) versus 1,500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). Memory capacity doubles from 4 GB to 8 GB, and bandwidth increases from 192.0 GB/s to 272.0 GB/s. The bus width stays constant at 128 bit, and both use GDDR6.

Compute resources scale up on the RTX 4060: shading units go from 1,792 to 3,072, TMUs from 56 to 96, ROPs from 32 to 48, ray tracing cores from 14 to 24, and tensor cores from 56 to 96. Pixel rate jumps from 42.98 GPixel/s to 118.1 GPixel/s, texture rate from 75.21 GTexel/s to 236.2 GTexel/s, and FP32 from 4.813 TFLOPS to 15.11 TFLOPS. FP16 matches FP32 on both (1:1).

Power and physical specs diverge completely. TDP goes from 45 W to 115 W. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is an IGP with no slot width and no power connectors, while the RTX 4060 is dual-slot with a 12-pin connector and a suggested PSU of 300 W. The RTX 4060 has dimensions of 240 mm by 111 mm by 40 mm; the RTX 3050 A Mobile has none listed. Display outputs are portable device dependent for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, whereas the RTX 4060 provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The PCIe interface is identical (PCIe 4.0 x8). API support matches as well: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Release timing differs by roughly seven months, with the RTX 3050 A Mobile dated late December 2023 and the RTX 4060 dated mid-May 2023. The RTX 3050 A Mobile lists a predecessor of GeForce 20 Mobile, while the RTX 4060 lists GeForce 30 as predecessor and GeForce 50 as successor. The RTX 4060 has a launch MSRP of 299 USD; the RTX 3050 A Mobile has none recorded.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX 4060 dominates every recorded benchmark, but the margins vary by workload. The largest gap appears in PassMark GPU Compute, where the RTX 4060 scores 9,213 against 4,419, a 52% difference. This indicates a strong advantage in general-purpose compute tasks, likely driven by the higher shader count, tensor core count, and memory bandwidth.

The second-largest gap is in PassMark G2D, a 2D graphics test, where the RTX 4060 scores 1,037 versus 526, a 49.3% delta. This suggests the RTX 4060 handles 2D rasterization and desktop composition more efficiently, possibly due to its higher ROP count and pixel rate. The DirectX 11 test shows a 46.3% delta (175 versus 94), and Geekbench OpenCL shows a 44.2% delta (95,057 versus 52,998). These results align with the raw FP32 and memory bandwidth advantages of the RTX 4060.

The DirectX 10 test yields a 40.8% delta (103 versus 61), and the PassMark G3D test yields a 40.3% delta (19,545 versus 11,664). The G3D score, a composite of several 3D workloads, confirms that the RTX 4060 delivers roughly 68% more performance in typical gaming-oriented 3D tasks. The DirectX 9 test shows a 35.6% delta (236 versus 152), and the smallest margin is in DirectX 12 at 27.6% (76 versus 55). Even the closest test leaves the RTX 3050 A Mobile more than a quarter behind.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile records zero wins across all eight head-to-head tests. Its best relative showing is in DirectX 12, where the 27.6% delta is still substantial. The RTX 4060's worst relative showing is also DirectX 12, but the absolute scores (76 versus 55) remain low for both, suggesting that the newer API may not fully utilize either GPU's hardware in this particular benchmark. The overall pattern is consistent: the RTX 4060 outperforms the RTX 3050 A Mobile in every measured category, with compute and 2D workloads showing the largest gaps and the DirectX 12 test showing the smallest.