NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU delivers the higher raw compute throughput?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile far outpaces the RTX 3050 A Mobile. The RTX 4080 Mobile reaches 24.72 TFLOPS FP32, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile manages 4.813 TFLOPS. This difference also appears in FP16, where both GPUs run at a 1:1 ratio, meaning the RTX 4080 Mobile again delivers 24.72 TFLOPS versus 4.813 TFLOPS.

Q: How much memory does each mobile GPU offer?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile ships with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3050 A Mobile offers 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, which yields 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 4080 Mobile therefore has triple the memory capacity and more than double the bandwidth.

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

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile sits at the 81st percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile ranks at the 44th percentile. The average benchmark score for the RTX 4080 Mobile is 38,135, compared to 8,746 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

Q: Which GPU has a higher boost clock?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile boosts to 1665 MHz, whereas the RTX 3050 A Mobile boosts to 1343 MHz. The base clocks also differ, with the RTX 4080 Mobile starting at 1290 MHz and the RTX 3050 A Mobile starting at 1065 MHz.

Q: How many ray tracing and tensor cores does each GPU include?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile includes 58 ray tracing cores and 232 tensor cores. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 14 ray tracing cores and 56 tensor cores. The RTX 4080 Mobile thus provides more than four times the ray tracing cores and four times the tensor cores.

Q: What are the production statuses of these two GPUs?

A: The RTX 4080 Mobile is marked as Active in the database, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile is listed as End-of-life. The RTX 4080 Mobile's predecessor is the GeForce 30 Mobile series and its successor is the GeForce 50 Mobile series, whereas the RTX 3050 A Mobile's predecessor is the GeForce 20 Mobile series.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 3050 A Mobile and RTX 4080 Mobile come from entirely different NVIDIA generations and manufacturing processes. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the GA106 chip built on Ampere architecture, manufactured by Samsung on an 8 nm process node. In contrast, the RTX 4080 Mobile uses the AD104 chip built on Ada Lovelace architecture, manufactured by TSMC on a 5 nm process node. This newer process allows the Ada Lovelace GPU to pack far more transistors into a similar physical footprint.

Transistor counts tell the story clearly. The RTX 3050 A Mobile contains 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. The RTX 4080 Mobile contains 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, achieving a density of 121.8 million per square millimeter. The RTX 4080 Mobile therefore holds nearly three times the transistors with only a slightly larger die area.

The shading unit counts differ dramatically. The RTX 4080 Mobile has 7,424 shading units, 232 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operations pipelines. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 1,792 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 raster operations pipelines. These structural differences drive the compute and rendering capabilities apart.

Both GPUs support the same API set: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Memory technology is also shared, with both using GDDR6. However, the RTX 4080 Mobile runs its memory at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), while the RTX 3050 A Mobile runs at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). The bus interface also differs: the RTX 3050 A Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the RTX 4080 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

Power characteristics diverge as well. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has a TDP of 45 W, while the RTX 4080 Mobile has a TDP of 110 W. Both are classified as IGP slot width with no power connectors, and both have display outputs marked as Portable Device Dependent, meaning those outputs depend on the specific laptop design.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmark data shows the RTX 4080 Mobile winning all eight head-to-head comparisons. There are no benchmark categories where the RTX 3050 A Mobile takes a win. The RTX 4080 Mobile leads across every DirectX version tested, general 2D and 3D graphics, compute workloads, and the OpenCL test.

The RTX 4080 Mobile's largest advantages appear in compute-intensive and modern API tests. Its lead over the RTX 3050 A Mobile is 66.8% in Geekbench OpenCL, 61.5% in Passmark DirectX 11, 61.1% in Passmark DirectX 10, and 60.5% in Passmark GPU Compute. These margins indicate that the Ada Lovelace architecture's additional shading units, tensor cores, and ray tracing cores translate into substantial compute headroom.

The RTX 4080 Mobile also wins decisively in 3D graphics. In Passmark G3D, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 24,926 versus 11,664 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a 53.2% advantage. In Passmark DirectX 12, the RTX 4080 Mobile scores 96 versus 55, a 42.7% lead. The DirectX 9 and G2D tests show smaller but still clear margins, with the RTX 4080 Mobile ahead by 46.9% and 43.4%, respectively.

For the RTX 3050 A Mobile, its role is defined by its limits. It holds the 44th percentile in the database and an average benchmark score of 8,746. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 (avg score 8,743, 0% delta), the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (avg score 8,686, 0.7% delta), and two AMD GPUs with average scores around 8,851 and 8,863. This places the RTX 3050 A Mobile in a performance tier roughly equivalent to older desktop graphics cards, suitable for lighter workloads.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ on nearly every specification field in the database. The process node shifts from 8 nm (Samsung) to 5 nm (TSMC). Transistor count rises from 12,000 million to 35,800 million. Die size grows from 276 mm² to 294 mm². Transistor density increases from 43.5M per mm² to 121.8M per mm².

Clock speeds differ on both base and boost. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1343 MHz. The RTX 4080 Mobile starts at 1290 MHz and boosts to 1665 MHz. Memory clocks also differ, with 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) on the RTX 3050 A Mobile versus 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) on the RTX 4080 Mobile.

Memory configuration changes completely. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 4 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4080 Mobile has 12 GB GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4080 Mobile also has a wider PCIe interface, using PCIe 4.0 x16 instead of PCIe 4.0 x8.

Compute unit counts all favor the RTX 4080 Mobile: shading units go from 1,792 to 7,424, TMUs from 56 to 232, ROPs from 32 to 80, ray tracing cores from 14 to 58, and tensor cores from 56 to 232. Pixel rate jumps from 42.98 GPixel/s to 133.2 GPixel/s, texture rate from 75.21 GTexel/s to 386.3 GTexel/s, and FP32 from 4.813 TFLOPS to 24.72 TFLOPS.

TDP is the only specification where the RTX 3050 A Mobile is lower, at 45 W versus 110 W. Release dates also differ, with the RTX 3050 A Mobile released on 2023-12-31 and the RTX 4080 Mobile on 2023-01-02. Production status separates them as End-of-life versus Active.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows the clearest separation. The RTX 4080 Mobile scores 159,575, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52,998. That represents a 66.8% deficit for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, the largest gap in the entire benchmark set. This test measures general GPU compute performance across diverse workloads, and the results indicate the Ada Lovelace GPU delivers more than three times the OpenCL throughput.

Passmark GPU Compute shows a similar pattern. The RTX 4080 Mobile scores 11,191 against 4,419 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a 60.5% difference. This reinforces that the compute advantage is consistent across different benchmarking tools, not an artifact of a single test.

DirectX 11 performance also heavily favors the RTX 4080 Mobile. Its score of 244 compares to 94 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a 61.5% lead. DirectX 10 shows 157 versus 61, a 61.1% advantage. These legacy API tests still matter for compatibility with older games and applications, and the RTX 4080 Mobile dominates there as well.

DirectX 12 shows a smaller but still decisive margin. The RTX 4080 Mobile scores 96 versus 55 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a 42.7% difference. DirectX 9 similarly favors the RTX 4080 Mobile at 286 versus 152, a 46.9% lead. The G2D test, which measures 2D graphics performance, shows 929 versus 526, a 43.4% advantage.

Passmark G3D, the overall 3D graphics benchmark, gives the RTX 4080 Mobile 24,926 points against 11,664 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a 53.2% difference. This test aggregates many 3D rendering workloads and confirms that the RTX 4080 Mobile delivers more than double the 3D performance of the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

The complete head-to-head table shows the RTX 4080 Mobile winning all eight comparisons. The RTX 3050 A Mobile records zero wins. The deltas range from 42.7% to 66.8%, with the larger deltas appearing in compute-oriented tests like OpenCL, DirectX 11, DirectX 10, and GPU Compute.

The Verdict

The database measurements place these two GPUs in separate performance classes. The RTX 4080 Mobile ranks at the 81st percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile sits at the 44th percentile. The average benchmark scores confirm the separation: 38,135 for the RTX 4080 Mobile versus 8,746 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

For workloads that stress compute capabilities, the RTX 4080 Mobile is the clear choice. Its 24.72 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, 58 ray tracing cores, and 232 tensor cores provide the hardware foundation for demanding rendering, AI inference, and compute tasks. The 12 GB memory capacity and 432.0 GB/s bandwidth also support larger datasets and higher resolution textures.

For the RTX 3050 A Mobile, the data positions it as a lighter option. Its 4.813 TFLOPS FP32, 14 ray tracing cores, and 56 tensor cores handle more modest workloads. The 4 GB memory and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth limit its ability to run modern games at high settings or process large compute jobs. Its nearest rivals, including the GeForce GTX 460 v2 and Quadro P2200, show it competes with older desktop parts rather than current mobile flagships.

The RTX 4080 Mobile wins every benchmark category, with the largest margins in compute-heavy tests. Its smallest advantage, 42.7% in DirectX 12, still represents a substantial performance gap. The RTX 3050 A Mobile offers lower power consumption at 45 W versus 110 W, which may matter for battery life in thin laptops, but the performance trade-off is severe.

The data suggests a straightforward verdict. The RTX 4080 Mobile suits users who need high-end mobile graphics for gaming, rendering, or compute workloads. The RTX 3050 A Mobile fits systems where lower power draw takes priority and performance expectations align with its 44th percentile ranking. The RTX 4080 Mobile's 81st percentile ranking and eight benchmark wins make it the superior performer by every recorded measure.