NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile vs NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation Comparison

FAQ

Q: How large is the performance gap between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins all eight head-to-head benchmark comparisons. The largest margin is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 5880 scores 326898 versus 52998 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a delta of -83.8% from the perspective of the mobile card. The smallest gap is in Passmark DirectX 12, with scores of 70 versus 55, a -21.4% difference.

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score and percentile ranking?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation has an average benchmark score of 45972 and sits in the 85th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has an average score of 8746 and sits in the 44th percentile. The RTX 5880's average score is over five times higher than the mobile card's.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each card according to the database?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 v2 (average score 8743, delta 0%), the NVIDIA Quadro P2200 (8686, +0.7%), the AMD Radeon R9 M265X (8851, -1.2%), and the AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100 (8863, -1.3%). The RTX 5880 Ada Generation's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX A2000 (46043, -0.2%), the Intel Arc A730M (45592, +0.8%), the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45384, +1.3%), and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (46601, -1.4%).

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

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 5880 Ada Generation has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What is the difference in FP32 floating-point performance?

A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation delivers 69.27 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile delivers 4.813 TFLOPS. Both cards offer FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32.

Q: What are the production statuses and release dates?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile is marked as End-of-life and was released on 2023-12-31. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation is Active and was released on 2024-01-04.

The Verdict

The data indicates a complete class separation between these two GPUs. The RTX 3050 A Mobile belongs to the mobile GeForce 30-series lineup, built for thin-and-light laptops with a 45 W TDP and an IGP slot width. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation is a dual-slot workstation card with a 285 W TDP, a 16-pin power connector, and a suggested 600 W power supply.

For users constrained to a portable device, the RTX 3050 A Mobile is the only option that fits, given its "Portable Device Dependent" display outputs and no power connectors. It also holds a 44th percentile ranking, meaning it outperforms a minority of the GPU population but remains far below the 85th percentile of the RTX 5880.

For workstation users with desktop space and power budget, the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is the clear choice. Every recorded benchmark shows it ahead, often by wide margins. The Passmark G3D score of 25096 versus 11664 represents more than double the 3D graphics performance. The Geekbench OpenCL score of 326898 versus 52998 shows an even larger compute advantage.

The RTX 5880 also provides a 48 GB memory pool versus 4 GB, a 384-bit bus versus 128-bit, and a texture rate of 1,082.4 GTexel/s versus 75.21 GTexel/s. These are not marginal differences; they represent different tiers of hardware entirely. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is suited for basic mobile graphics tasks, while the RTX 5880 targets professional rendering and compute workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins all eight recorded head-to-head tests. The largest percentage gap appears in Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 5880 scores 326898 against the RTX 3050 A Mobile's 52998, a -83.8% delta. This test measures general-purpose compute through the OpenCL API, and the gap suggests the RTX 5880's 14080 shading units and 440 tensor cores provide a massive throughput advantage.

In Passmark GPU Compute, the RTX 5880 scores 14208 versus 4419, a -68.9% delta. This test focuses on compute workloads such as physics and general-purpose GPU processing. The RTX 5880's 69.27 TFLOPS FP32 output compared to 4.813 TFLOPS explains the order of magnitude difference.

Passmark DirectX 10 shows a -63.5% delta, with scores of 167 versus 61. DirectX 11 follows with a -58.8% delta (228 versus 94). Passmark DirectX 9 shows a -54.6% delta (335 versus 152). The RTX 5880's higher pixel rate of 433.0 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s drives these legacy API advantages.

Passmark G3D, which aggregates overall 3D graphics performance, gives the RTX 5880 a score of 25096 versus 11664, a -53.5% delta. This is the closest relative margin among the compute-heavy tests, but still represents a decisive lead. The RTX 5880's 176 ROPs versus 32 ROPs and 440 TMUs versus 56 TMUs contribute to this outcome.

The smallest margin is in Passmark DirectX 12, where the RTX 5880 scores 70 against 55, a -21.4% delta. This test appears to be less favorable to the RTX 5880's architecture, yet the workstation card still wins. Passmark G2D shows a -32.3% delta (777 versus 526), indicating the RTX 5880 also leads in 2D graphics throughput.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the GA106 chip with an 8 nm process from Samsung, while the RTX 5880 Ada Generation uses the AD102 chip with a 5 nm process from TSMC. Transistor counts are 12,000 million for the mobile card and 76,300 million for the workstation card. Die sizes are 276 mm² versus 609 mm², and transistor density is 43.5M per mm² versus 125.3M per mm².

Clock speeds differ significantly. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has a base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost of 1343 MHz. The RTX 5880 has a lower base clock of 975 MHz but a much higher boost of 2460 MHz. Memory clocks also differ: 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for the mobile card versus 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective) for the workstation card.

Memory capacity and bus width are vastly different. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 4 GB GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5880 has 48 GB GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth.

The shading unit count is 1792 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile and 14080 for the RTX 5880. TMU counts are 56 versus 440, and ROP counts are 32 versus 176. RT cores are 14 versus 110, and tensor cores are 56 versus 440.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile has a TDP of 45 W, no power connectors, an IGP slot width, and PCIe 4.0 x8. The RTX 5880 has a TDP of 285 W, one 16-pin connector, a dual-slot width, and PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are "Portable Device Dependent" for the mobile card and 4x DisplayPort 1.4a for the workstation card. The RTX 5880 is 267 mm long and 112 mm high.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 3050 A Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture from the GeForce 30 Mobile generation. It uses the GA106 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process. The RTX 5880 Ada Generation uses the Ada Lovelace architecture from the Workstation Ada (x000A) generation, built on the AD102 chip with a 5 nm TSMC process.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 5880's predecessor is listed as Workstation Ampere, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile's predecessor is GeForce 20 Mobile. The RTX 5880 has a successor listed as Blackwell PRO W, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile has no successor listed.

The RTX 5880's higher transistor density of 125.3M per mm² versus 43.5M per mm² reflects the newer 5 nm process. The RTX 5880 also carries 110 RT cores and 440 tensor cores, compared to 14 RT cores and 56 tensor cores on the RTX 3050 A Mobile. Texture rate is 1,082.4 GTexel/s versus 75.21 GTexel/s, and pixel rate is 433.0 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s.

FP16 performance matches FP32 on both cards at a 1:1 ratio. The RTX 5880 delivers 69.27 TFLOPS for both, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile delivers 4.813 TFLOPS for both. The RTX 5880's 440 TMUs and 176 ROPs enable its higher texture and pixel throughput, which the benchmark results confirm.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins in every recorded benchmark category. It dominates compute-heavy workloads, as evidenced by Geekbench OpenCL (326898 versus 52998) and Passmark GPU Compute (14208 versus 4419). Its 48 GB memory capacity and 864.0 GB/s bandwidth support large datasets and high-resolution textures, while the 384-bit bus provides the bandwidth needed for professional rendering tasks.

The RTX 5880 also wins in all DirectX API tests. DirectX 9 scores 335 versus 152, DirectX 10 scores 167 versus 61, DirectX 11 scores 228 versus 94, and DirectX 12 scores 70 versus 55. The 2D graphics test (Passmark G2D) shows 777 versus 526, and the overall 3D graphics test (Passmark G3D) shows 25096 versus 11664.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile's only advantages are physical and power-related. It operates at 45 W TDP with no external power connectors, fitting into an IGP slot width. Its display outputs are dependent on the portable device, making it suitable for laptops. The RTX 5880 requires 285 W, a 16-pin connector, a 600 W suggested power supply, and a dual-slot chassis.

For use cases involving mobile productivity, light gaming, or basic graphics acceleration in a thin laptop, the RTX 3050 A Mobile is the applicable choice. For professional 3D modeling, GPU compute, large memory footprint workloads, or any task that benefits from 69.27 TFLOPS of FP32 power, the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is the only reasonable option based on the recorded data. The benchmark results show no scenario where the mobile card outperforms the workstation card.