NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile vs NVIDIA Quadro P4000 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Quadro P4000 records a higher average benchmark score of 9665, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile averages 8746. The Quadro P4000 also sits at the 47th percentile of all GPUs, compared to the 44th percentile for the RTX 3050 A Mobile.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap between the two cards?

A: The largest gap is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52998 versus 36212 for the Quadro P4000, a difference of 31.7%. The second largest gap is in Passmark G2D, where the Quadro P4000 leads by 49.4% with 786 points against 526.

Q: How do the two cards compare in DirectX 12 workloads?

A: The GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile wins in Passmark DirectX 12 with a score of 55, compared to 40 for the Quadro P4000, a 27.3% advantage. However, the Quadro P4000 has the higher DirectX feature level support at 12_1, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2).

Q: Which card has more memory, and does that affect its compute score?

A: The Quadro P4000 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus. Despite the smaller memory capacity, the RTX 3050 A Mobile wins in Passmark G3D (11664 vs 11466) but loses in Passmark GPU Compute (4419 vs 4913, an 11.2% win for the Quadro).

Q: Are there any legacy API tests where the older Quadro card is clearly ahead?

A: Yes. In Passmark DirectX 9, the Quadro P4000 scores 181 versus 152 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a 19.1% lead. The Quadro also wins in Passmark DirectX 10 with 66 versus 61, and in Passmark G2D with 786 versus 526.

Q: What is the release timeline for these two products?

A: The Quadro P4000 was released on February 5, 2017, while the GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile was released on December 31, 2023. Both are now marked as end-of-life in the database.

Architecture Differences

The two NVIDIA parts come from entirely different architectural generations, and the database reflects a major shift in design philosophy between them. The Quadro P4000 is built on the Pascal architecture, manufactured on a 16 nm process at TSMC. Its chip, the GP104, integrates 7,200 million transistors on a 314 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 22.9 million per square millimeter. In contrast, the GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. The GA106 chip packs 12,000 million transistors into a smaller 276 mm² die, achieving a much higher density of 43.5 million per square millimeter.

The compute feature sets diverge sharply. The Quadro P4000 has no dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile includes 14 ray tracing cores and 56 tensor cores. This reflects Ampere's focus on real-time ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads, neither of which are present in the Pascal-based Quadro. The shading unit count is identical at 1792, but the supporting hardware differs: the Quadro has 112 texture mapping units and 64 render output units, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile has 56 TMUs and 32 ROPs.

The FP16 capability is a major architectural differentiator. The Quadro P4000 delivers only 82.88 GFLOPS of FP16 performance, a 1:64 ratio relative to its FP32 rate of 5.304 TFLOPS, meaning FP16 is heavily deprioritized. The RTX 3050 A Mobile, by contrast, provides 4.813 TFLOPS of FP16 with a 1:1 ratio to its FP32 throughput of 4.813 TFLOPS. This makes the mobile Ampere part far more capable in half-precision compute tasks.

API support also reflects the generational gap. The Quadro supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 3050 A Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The bump from 12_1 to 12_2 is significant, as it unlocks advanced features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading, which are hardware features of the Ampere architecture.

The physical and power characteristics are equally divergent. The Quadro P4000 is a single-slot workstation card with a 105 W TDP, a 1x 6-pin power connector, and a suggested PSU of 300 W. It measures 241 mm in length and 111 mm in height. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is an integrated graphics processor for laptops, with a 45 W TDP, no power connectors, and no listed dimensions. The Quadro connects via PCIe 3.0 x16, while the mobile part uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs also differ: the Quadro offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile's outputs are described as portable device dependent.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head results show a split exactly four wins each, but the margins tell a more nuanced story. The GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile dominates the OpenCL compute test. Its score of 52998 is 31.7% higher than the Quadro P4000's 36212. This is the single largest delta in either direction and suggests the Ampere architecture's compute capabilities, particularly with its tensor cores and 1:1 FP16 support, translate into strong OpenCL performance.

The mobile RTX card also wins the DirectX tests that matter for modern gaming. In Passmark DirectX 12, it scores 55 versus 40, a 27.3% advantage. In Passmark DirectX 11, it scores 94 versus 86, an 8.5% lead. The overall 3D graphics score, Passmark G3D, goes to the RTX 3050 A Mobile at 11664, but only by 1.7% over the Quadro's 11466. That narrow margin suggests that in rasterized 3D workloads, the two cards are nearly equivalent despite their architectural differences.

The Quadro P4000 counters with wins in several legacy and compute-oriented tests. Its Passmark DirectX 9 score of 181 beats the RTX 3050 A Mobile's 152 by 19.1%. In Passmark DirectX 10, the Quadro scores 66 versus 61, an 8.2% win. The 2D graphics test, Passmark G2D, is a lopsided affair: the Quadro's 786 is 49.4% higher than the mobile card's 526, reflecting the workstation card's stronger display and rasterization pipeline for traditional desktop workloads.

In GPU compute, the Quadro P4000 wins Passmark GPU Compute with 4913 points against 4419, an 11.2% lead. This is notable because the RTX 3050 A Mobile has the higher raw FP32 throughput (4.813 TFLOPS vs 5.304 TFLOPS is actually lower, but the Ampere part has tensor cores), yet the Quadro still manages a win in this particular compute benchmark. The data shows that raw TFLOPS do not always translate directly into benchmark wins.

The averages align with the head-to-head results. The Quadro P4000's average of 9665 puts it just 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 and 0.2% ahead of the GeForce GTX 960M, while it trails the Tesla C2070 by 0.5%. The RTX 3050 A Mobile's average of 8746 is exactly level with the GeForce GTX 460 v2, 0.7% ahead of the Quadro P2200, and 1.2% to 1.3% behind the AMD Radeon R9 M265X and Radeon Pro WX 5100. This places the two cards in different competitive tiers: the Quadro sits among mid-range workstation parts, while the mobile RTX card is closer to older desktop gaming GPUs.

Specification Differences

The specification sheet shows fundamental differences in nearly every category. The process node is 16 nm for the Quadro versus 8 nm for the RTX 3050 A Mobile. The foundry is TSMC for the Quadro and Samsung for the mobile part. Transistor counts are 7,200 million versus 12,000 million, and die sizes are 314 mm² versus 276 mm². Transistor density is 22.9M per mm² versus 43.5M per mm².

Clock speeds differ: the Quadro has a base clock of 1202 MHz and a boost of 1480 MHz, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile has a base of 1065 MHz and a boost of 1343 MHz. Memory clocks are 1901 MHz (7.6 Gbps effective) for the Quadro versus 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for the mobile card. The Quadro offers 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 243.3 GB/s of bandwidth; the RTX 3050 A Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s.

The compute units differ in count and throughput. Both have 1792 shading units, but the Quadro has 112 TMUs and 64 ROPs, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile has 56 TMUs and 32 ROPs. Pixel rates are 94.72 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 165.8 GTexel/s versus 75.21 GTexel/s. FP32 is 5.304 TFLOPS versus 4.813 TFLOPS, but FP16 is dramatically different: 82.88 GFLOPS (1:64) versus 4.813 TFLOPS (1:1).

Power and physical specs are also distinct. The Quadro has a 105 W TDP, is single-slot, requires a 1x 6-pin connector and a 300 W PSU. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has a 45 W TDP, is an IGP, requires no connectors, and has no suggested PSU. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 for the Quadro versus PCIe 4.0 x8 for the mobile card. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 1.4a versus portable device dependent. The Quadro has dimensions of 241 mm by 111 mm; the mobile part has none listed. Release dates are February 5, 2017 versus December 31, 2023.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear decision path for different use cases. The Quadro P4000 is the pick for workstation-oriented 2D and legacy DirectX workloads. Its 49.4% lead in Passmark G2D, 19.1% lead in DirectX 9, and 11.2% lead in GPU compute make it the stronger choice for older applications and desktop rendering tasks that rely on those APIs. Its 8 GB of VRAM and 256-bit bus also provide double the memory capacity and 26.7% more bandwidth (243.3 GB/s vs 192.0 GB/s) than the mobile part, which matters for large datasets in professional applications.

The GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile is the pick for modern compute and API-accelerated workloads. Its 31.7% OpenCL lead and 27.3% DirectX 12 advantage show a clear edge in contemporary compute and gaming paths. The inclusion of 14 ray tracing cores and 56 tensor cores, absent in the Quadro, makes it the only one of the two capable of hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI inference. The 1:1 FP16 ratio of 4.813 TFLOPS is a massive upgrade over the Quadro's 1:64 ratio of 82.88 GFLOPS, making the mobile part far more suitable for half-precision machine learning tasks.

The overall 3D performance is nearly identical, with the RTX 3050 A Mobile leading Passmark G3D by just 1.7% (11664 vs 11466). The average benchmark scores favor the Quadro (9665 vs 8746), but the percentile rankings are close at 47 versus 44. The decisive factors are not raw scores but feature support and workload targeting. For a fixed workstation environment with legacy software, the Quadro P4000's higher pixel rate (94.72 GPixel/s vs 42.98 GPixel/s), double ROP count, and larger memory pool are persuasive. For a mobile platform running modern DirectX 12 Ultimate titles or GPU-accelerated compute, the RTX 3050 A Mobile's architectural advantages in ray tracing, tensor operations, and FP16 throughput are decisive. The database shows a tie in wins, but the nature of those wins indicates two different tools for two different jobs.