NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 records an average benchmark score of 79842, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile averages 8746. The RTX 5090 sits in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, compared to the 44th percentile for the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

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

A: In the Passmark DirectX 12 test, the RTX 5090 scores 185 versus 55 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile. The delta shows the RTX 5090 leading by 70.3% in that specific workload.

Q: What memory configurations do they use?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5090 uses 32 GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has the higher transistor density?

A: The RTX 5090, built on a 5 nm TSMC process, reaches 122.9M transistors per mm². The RTX 3050 A Mobile, on Samsung's 8 nm process, has 43.5M transistors per mm².

Q: Are both GPUs still in production?

A: No. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is marked as end-of-life, while the RTX 5090 is active. The RTX 3050 A Mobile released in 2023, and the RTX 5090 released in 2025.

Q: What is the launch MSRP of the RTX 5090?

A: The RTX 5090 has a launch MSRP of 1,999 USD. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has no recorded launch MSRP in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different architectural generations. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the GA106 chip built on Ampere architecture, produced by Samsung on an 8 nm process. The RTX 5090 uses the GB202 chip built on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, produced by TSMC on a 5 nm process. This process shift explains the massive density gap: the RTX 5090 packs 92,200 million transistors into a 750 mm² die, achieving 122.9M transistors per mm², while the RTX 3050 A Mobile contains 12,000 million transistors on a 276 mm² die at 43.5M transistors per mm².

The functional units differ by an order of magnitude. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 1792 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, 32 ROPs, 14 RT cores, and 56 tensor cores. The RTX 5090 has 21760 shading units, 680 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 170 RT cores, and 680 tensor cores. The RTX 5090's RT core count is over 12 times higher, and its tensor core count is over 12 times higher as well.

Both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The bus interface differs: the RTX 3050 A Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the RTX 5090 uses PCIe 5.0 x16. The RTX 5090 also features a dual-slot design with a 16-pin power connector and a 950 W suggested PSU, whereas the RTX 3050 A Mobile is an IGP with no power connectors and a 45 W TDP.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX 5090 wins all eight recorded head-to-head benchmarks. The largest margin appears in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 5090 scores 334370 against 52998 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a delta of 84.1% in favor of the newer card. The Passmark GPU Compute test shows a similar gap: 26756 versus 4419, a delta of 83.5%.

The smallest relative gap is in Passmark DirectX 9, where the RTX 5090 scores 395 versus 152, a delta of 61.5%. DirectX 10 shows 226 versus 61 (delta 73%), DirectX 11 shows 341 versus 94 (delta 72.4%), and DirectX 12 shows 185 versus 55 (delta 70.3%). The Passmark G2D test (2D graphics) shows 1413 versus 526, a delta of 62.8%. The Passmark G3D test (3D graphics) shows 39650 versus 11664, a delta of 70.6%.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile's best result relative to the RTX 5090 comes in DirectX 9, where it achieves 38.5% of the RTX 5090's score. Its worst relative result is in Geekbench OpenCL, where it achieves only 15.9% of the RTX 5090's score. Across all tests, the RTX 5090's dominance is consistent, with deltas ranging from 61.5% to 84.1%.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every measured specification. The process node changes from 8 nm (Samsung) to 5 nm (TSMC). Transistor count jumps from 12,000 million to 92,200 million. Die size grows from 276 mm² to 750 mm². Transistor density improves from 43.5M per mm² to 122.9M per mm².

Clock speeds: the RTX 3050 A Mobile has a base clock of 1065 MHz and boost clock of 1343 MHz, while the RTX 5090 has a base clock of 2017 MHz and boost clock of 2407 MHz. Memory clocks differ as well: 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) versus 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective).

Memory capacity goes from 4 GB GDDR6 to 32 GB GDDR7. Bus width expands from 128-bit to 512-bit. Bandwidth grows from 192.0 GB/s to 1.79 TB/s.

Compute resources: shading units 1792 versus 21760, TMUs 56 versus 680, ROPs 32 versus 176, RT cores 14 versus 170, tensor cores 56 versus 680. Pixel rate goes from 42.98 GPixel/s to 423.6 GPixel/s. Texture rate goes from 75.21 GTexel/s to 1,636.8 GTexel/s. FP32 and FP16 performance both jump from 4.813 TFLOPS to 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio in both).

Power and physical specs: TDP rises from 45 W to 575 W. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is an IGP with no power connectors; the RTX 5090 is dual-slot with a 16-pin connector and a 950 W suggested PSU. The RTX 5090 measures 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has no recorded dimensions. Display outputs differ: portable device dependent versus 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5090 wins every benchmark category in the database. Its dominance is most pronounced in compute-heavy workloads: Geekbench OpenCL (334370 vs 52998) and Passmark GPU Compute (26756 vs 4419) show the largest deltas. The RTX 5090 also leads decisively in 3D graphics (39650 vs 11664 in Passmark G3D) and across all DirectX versions, with the smallest margin in DirectX 9 (395 vs 152).

The RTX 5090's 32 GB GDDR7 memory with 1.79 TB/s bandwidth provides 8 times the capacity and roughly 9.3 times the bandwidth of the RTX 3050 A Mobile's 4 GB GDDR6 at 192.0 GB/s. The RTX 5090's 21760 shading units and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 throughput make it suitable for high-resolution rendering, ray tracing with 170 RT cores, and AI workloads with 680 tensor cores.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile's specific advantages are confined to power efficiency and form factor. Its 45 W TDP allows integration as an IGP with no power connectors, making it suitable for thin portable devices. The RTX 5090, at 575 W TDP with a 950 W suggested PSU and dual-slot dimensions, requires a desktop chassis with substantial cooling and power delivery. The RTX 3050 A Mobile also has a lower transistor density requirement (43.5M per mm²) which may simplify thermal management in constrained environments.

For users targeting legacy DirectX 9 workloads, the RTX 3050 A Mobile comes closest to the RTX 5090's performance, achieving 38.5% of the newer card's score. In all other tests, the RTX 3050 A Mobile falls to between 15.9% and 30% of the RTX 5090's results. The RTX 3050 A Mobile's nearest rival, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2, has an average score of 8743 (delta 0%), placing it in a different performance stratum entirely from the RTX 5090, whose nearest rival, the NVIDIA Tesla P100 PCIe 16 GB, averages 79605 (delta 0.3%).

The RTX 5090's production status is active with a successor listed (GeForce 60), while the RTX 3050 A Mobile is end-of-life with no successor in the database. The RTX 5090's launch MSRP is 1,999 USD. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has no recorded launch MSRP.