NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded database contains a single direct benchmark comparison between these two mobile GPUs, the Geekbench OpenCL compute test. In that test, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile scores 84,171, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52,998. The RTX 5050 Mobile wins this test outright, and the delta is substantial: the RTX 3050 A Mobile trails by 37 percent.

This OpenCL result aligns with the broader average benchmark scores in the database. The RTX 5050 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 43,268, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile has an average score of 8,746. That is a large gap, and it places the two cards in very different performance brackets. The RTX 5050 Mobile sits at the 83rd percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile sits at the 44th percentile.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database confirms the separation. The RTX 5050 Mobile's average score of 43,268 is effectively matched by the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB at 43,262, with a delta of 0 percent. It is also near the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 at 43,301, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER at 43,223, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile at 43,667. The RTX 5050 Mobile trades blows with those cards, within a range of roughly 1 percent. The RTX 3050 A Mobile, by contrast, has an average score of 8,746, which places it near the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 at 8,743, the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 at 8,686, the AMD Radeon R9 M265X at 8,851, and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 at 8,863. The deltas here are tiny, all within about 1.3 percent.

The single head-to-head benchmark, therefore, is consistent with the aggregate data. The RTX 5050 Mobile is not merely somewhat faster; it is in a different performance tier entirely. The 37 percent delta in OpenCL is a direct reflection of the hardware differences described in the specification sections below. The RTX 5050 Mobile has more shading units, more texture mapping units, faster memory, and a higher FP32 throughput, and the benchmark result captures that advantage.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile does have some benchmark results in the database that the RTX 5050 Mobile does not, specifically the Passmark suite. The RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 61 in Passmark DirectX 10, 94 in DirectX 11, 55 in DirectX 12, 152 in DirectX 9, 526 in G2D, 11,664 in G3D, and 4,419 in GPU Compute. The RTX 5050 Mobile has no Passmark scores recorded, so a direct comparison on those legacy tests is not possible. The only shared test is Geekbench OpenCL, and the RTX 5050 Mobile takes it decisively.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear conclusion: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile is the significantly faster part. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 84,171 versus 52,998 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a 37 percent lead, is the only direct comparison available, and it is reinforced by the average benchmark scores and percentile rankings. The RTX 5050 Mobile sits at the 83rd percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile sits at the 44th percentile. That is a difference of 39 percentile points, which corresponds to a jump from mid-pack to well above average.

The RTX 5050 Mobile also delivers more memory, 8 GB versus 4 GB, and much higher memory bandwidth, 384.0 GB/s versus 192.0 GB/s. It has more shading units, 2,560 versus 1,792, and more tensor cores, 80 versus 56. The FP32 compute throughput is 7.680 TFLOPS versus 4.813 TFLOPS. Every relevant compute metric in the database favors the RTX 5050 Mobile.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile is an end-of-life product, released in December 2023, while the RTX 5050 Mobile is an active product, released in June 2025. The RTX 5050 Mobile succeeds the GeForce 40 Mobile generation, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile succeeds the GeForce 20 Mobile generation. The production status alone suggests which one a user should be looking at for current workloads.

For a user choosing between these two, the RTX 5050 Mobile is the pick for any compute-heavy or graphics-heavy task. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is a legacy part with a fraction of the performance. There is no scenario in the recorded data where the RTX 3050 A Mobile comes out ahead. It has zero wins in the head-to-head comparison, while the RTX 5050 Mobile has one win. The verdict is unambiguous.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile scores 84,171, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52,998. The RTX 5050 Mobile leads by 37 percent.

Q: What are the average benchmark scores for each GPU?

A: The RTX 5050 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 43,268, and the RTX 3050 A Mobile has an average benchmark score of 8,746.

Q: How do the two GPUs rank against all other GPUs in the database?

A: The RTX 5050 Mobile is at the 83rd percentile, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile is at the 44th percentile.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each GPU?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5050 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 128-bit bus with 384.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The RTX 5050 Mobile has 2,560 shading units, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile has 1,792.

Q: What is the production status of each GPU?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile is end-of-life, released in December 2023. The RTX 5050 Mobile is active, released in June 2025.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification field in the database. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses a GA106 chip built on an 8 nm process at Samsung, with 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die. The RTX 5050 Mobile uses a GB207 chip built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with 16,900 million transistors on a 149 mm² die. The transistor density tells the story: the RTX 5050 Mobile packs 113.4 million transistors per square millimeter, versus 43.5 million for the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

Clock speeds also differ. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1343 MHz. The RTX 5050 Mobile has a lower base clock of 1020 MHz but a higher boost clock of 1500 MHz. Memory clock is the same at 1500 MHz, but the effective data rate differs: 12 Gbps for the RTX 3050 A Mobile versus 24 Gbps for the RTX 5050 Mobile.

Memory capacity doubles, from 4 GB to 8 GB. Memory type advances from GDDR6 to GDDR7. Bus width stays at 128 bit for both, but bandwidth doubles from 192.0 GB/s to 384.0 GB/s.

Compute resources are uniformly higher on the RTX 5050 Mobile. Shading units go from 1,792 to 2,560. TMUs go from 56 to 80. ROPs stay at 32. RT cores go from 14 to 20. Tensor cores go from 56 to 80. Pixel rate rises from 42.98 GPixel/s to 48.00 GPixel/s. Texture rate rises from 75.21 GTexel/s to 120.0 GTexel/s. FP32 compute rises from 4.813 TFLOPS to 7.680 TFLOPS, and FP16 is identical to FP32 for both, at a 1:1 ratio.

Power draw is similar but not identical: the RTX 3050 A Mobile is rated at 45 W, the RTX 5050 Mobile at 50 W. Both use IGP slot width and no power connectors. The bus interface differs: PCIe 4.0 x8 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, PCIe 5.0 x16 for the RTX 5050 Mobile. Display outputs are portable-device-dependent for both. API support is the same: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 for both.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap is generational. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the Ampere architecture, while the RTX 5050 Mobile uses Blackwell 2.0. The chip names reflect this: GA106 versus GB207. The foundry and process node also differ fundamentally, Samsung 8 nm versus TSMC 5 nm. The RTX 5050 Mobile achieves a much higher transistor density, 113.4M per mm² versus 43.5M per mm², on a smaller die, 149 mm² versus 276 mm², while holding more transistors, 16,900 million versus 12,000 million.

The RTX 5050 Mobile doubles the effective memory data rate, from 12 Gbps to 24 Gbps, and moves from GDDR6 to GDDR7. It also doubles memory capacity from 4 GB to 8 GB. The RT core count rises from 14 to 20, and the tensor core count rises from 56 to 80. The shading unit count rises from 1,792 to 2,560, and TMUs rise from 56 to 80. ROPs remain at 32 for both.

The bus interface is a notable difference. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the RTX 5050 Mobile uses PCIe 5.0 x16. That doubles the lane count and moves to a newer generation, which matters for data transfer between the GPU and the rest of the system.

The production status differs as well. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is end-of-life and was released in December 2023. The RTX 5050 Mobile is active and was released in June 2025. The RTX 3050 A Mobile's predecessor is the GeForce 20 Mobile generation, while the RTX 5050 Mobile's predecessor is the GeForce 40 Mobile generation. Neither has a recorded successor.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded benchmark data gives the RTX 5050 Mobile one win in the head-to-head comparison, and the RTX 3050 A Mobile zero wins. The single win is Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 5050 Mobile leads by 37 percent. That is the only test where both cards have scores, so it is the only place where a direct winner can be declared.

Looking at the broader database, the RTX 5050 Mobile is positioned near high-end desktop cards like the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile. Its average score of 43,268 is within 1 percent of all four of its nearest rivals. This places it firmly in a performance tier that the RTX 3050 A Mobile does not approach.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile, by contrast, is positioned near older and lower-end parts like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2, the NVIDIA Quadro P2200, the AMD Radeon R9 M265X, and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100. Its average score of 8,746 is within 1.3 percent of all four of its nearest rivals. This is a much lower tier, consistent with its end-of-life status and smaller memory footprint.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile does have Passmark scores recorded, which the RTX 5050 Mobile lacks. Those scores are 61 in DirectX 10, 94 in DirectX 11, 55 in DirectX 12, 152 in DirectX 9, 526 in G2D, 11,664 in G3D, and 4,419 in GPU Compute. These are standalone figures with no direct comparison available. Without a shared test, no win can be assigned to the RTX 3050 A Mobile on those metrics.

For use cases, the RTX 5050 Mobile is the clear choice for any workload that stresses the GPU: compute, rendering, or modern gaming. The 8 GB memory capacity and 384.0 GB/s bandwidth give it room for larger datasets and higher resolutions. The RTX 3050 A Mobile, with 4 GB and 192.0 GB/s, is limited in those scenarios. The RTX 5050 Mobile also has more RT cores and tensor cores, which matters for ray tracing and AI-accelerated tasks.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile has no use case where the data shows it winning. Its only advantage is a lower TDP, 45 W versus 50 W, a difference of 5 W. That is a minor efficiency edge, but it does not translate into any performance win in the database. For users constrained by power, the RTX 3050 A Mobile draws slightly less, but every performance metric favors the RTX 5050 Mobile. The choice is clear from the data.