AMD Radeon RX 6800 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in the database's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 scores 3188, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 421. The AMD card wins by 86.8%, a massive margin in this modern DX12 workload.

Q: Which GPU performs better in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile wins decisively with a score of 50038, which is 104.2% higher than the AMD Radeon RX 6800's score of 24508. OpenCL is the one workload where NVIDIA holds the advantage.

Q: What about Geekbench Vulkan performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 takes that test with a score of 115107, versus the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile's 49051. That is a 57.4% lead for AMD.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 33170, while the AMD Radeon RX 6800 averages 30095. Despite losing two of the three head-to-head tests, NVIDIA holds a higher average across all recorded benchmarks.

Q: What are the memory capacities of these two GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 has 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, with 192.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: How do their power requirements differ?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is rated at a 250 W TDP with a suggested PSU of 600 W and uses dual 8-pin power connectors. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is rated at 45 W TDP, has no power connectors, and is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) form factor.

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data splits these two GPUs into very different usage profiles. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 dominates modern graphics workloads. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3188 is over seven times higher than the NVIDIA's 421, indicating the AMD card is built for demanding, current-generation gaming and rendering. Vulkan is another clear AMD stronghold: 115107 versus 49051, a 57.4% edge. For anyone running DX12 titles, ray-traced content, or Vulkan-based games, the RX 6800 is the obvious choice based on these measurements.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile wins in one specific, important area: OpenCL compute. Its score of 50038 is more than double the RX 6800's 24508. This suggests the RTX 3050 Mobile is better suited for applications that rely heavily on OpenCL acceleration, which can include certain professional workloads, video processing, or compute tasks that do not use modern graphics APIs. The RTX 3050 Mobile also holds the higher average benchmark score overall (33170 versus 30095), meaning that across a broad range of tests, it performs more consistently relative to its baseline than the AMD card.

The trade-off is stark. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is a high-power, dual-slot desktop card that excels at pushing frames in modern graphics APIs. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is a low-power integrated part that punches above its weight in OpenCL compute. Users optimizing for gaming should look at the AMD card; users prioritizing OpenCL compute in a compact, low-power package should favor the NVIDIA part.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from opposite architectural philosophies. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile uses the GA107 chip built on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. It packs 8,700 million transistors into a 200 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 uses the Navi 21 chip based on RDNA 2.0, manufactured by TSMC on a 7 nm process. It holds 26,800 million transistors on a 520 mm² die, with a density of 51.5 million per square millimeter. AMD's chip is roughly three times larger in transistor count and over two and a half times larger in die area.

The core configurations differ dramatically. NVIDIA's GA107 has 2048 shading units, 64 texture mapping units, 32 ROPs, 16 ray tracing cores, and 64 tensor cores. AMD's Navi 21 has 3840 shading units, 240 TMUs, 96 ROPs, and 60 ray tracing cores. AMD has no tensor cores listed, which reflects RDNA 2.0's lack of dedicated AI hardware, while NVIDIA's tensor cores support its AI-accelerated features. The AMD card has roughly 87% more shading units, 275% more TMUs, and 200% more ROPs.

Clock behavior also differs. NVIDIA runs at a base of 1065 MHz and boosts to 1343 MHz. AMD runs at a base of 1700 MHz, a game clock of 1815 MHz, and boosts to 2105 MHz. AMD's higher clock speeds, combined with far more execution units, explain its massive lead in rasterization throughput. The memory subsystem reinforces this: AMD uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), while NVIDIA uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus at 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective). Bandwidth is 512.0 GB/s versus 192.0 GB/s.

Specification Differences

The specification sheet reveals two products with almost no overlap in physical design. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no slot width, no power connectors, and a 45 W TDP. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 is a dual-slot card measuring 267 mm in length, 120 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, requiring two 8-pin power connectors and a 600 W suggested PSU. Its TDP is 250 W.

Memory is a major differentiator: 4 GB versus 16 GB, 128-bit versus 256-bit bus, and 192.0 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. Shader resources also diverge: 2048 versus 3840 shading units, 64 versus 240 TMUs, 32 versus 96 ROPs, 16 versus 60 ray tracing cores. NVIDIA has 64 tensor cores while AMD has none. PCIe interface differs as well: PCIe 4.0 x8 for NVIDIA, PCIe 4.0 x16 for AMD. Display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent" for NVIDIA and a specific set (1x HDMI 2.1, 2x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x USB Type-C) for AMD. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Release dates are close: NVIDIA on 2021-05-10, AMD on 2020-10-27. Both are end-of-life products.

The raw compute figures tell the story. AMD's FP32 throughput is 16.17 TFLOPS versus NVIDIA's 5.501 TFLOPS. AMD's texture rate is 505.2 GTexel/s versus 85.95 GTexel/s, and its pixel rate is 202.1 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s. AMD's FP16 performance of 32.33 TFLOPS (2:1) dwarfs NVIDIA's 5.501 TFLOPS (1:1). Every measured specification, except for the absence of tensor cores, favors AMD.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The three recorded head-to-head tests show a clear pattern of one-sided results. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, AMD wins with 3188 versus NVIDIA's 421, a delta of -86.8% for NVIDIA. This is the largest single margin in the comparison. The test is modern, DX12-based graphics work, and AMD absolutely dominates.

In Geekbench Vulkan, AMD wins again with 115107 against NVIDIA's 49051, a delta of -57.4% for NVIDIA. Vulkan workloads also favor AMD. The Geekbench OpenCL test flips the narrative completely: NVIDIA wins with 50038 versus AMD's 24508, a delta of +104.2% for NVIDIA. AMD's Vulkan score is higher than its OpenCL score, but NVIDIA's OpenCL score is over twice its Vulkan score. NVIDIA wins this one, and decisively.

The database's wins tally reflects this: AMD wins two tests, NVIDIA wins one. Yet NVIDIA's average benchmark score (33170) is higher than AMD's (30095). The reasons become clear when looking at the percentile rankings and nearest rivals. The RTX 3050 Mobile sits at the 78th percentile among all GPUs, while the RX 6800 sits at the 75th percentile. NVIDIA's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA T550 Mobile (33161, 0% delta), AMD Radeon Pro 570 (33207, -0.1% delta), NVIDIA P104-100 (32982, 0.6% delta), and NVIDIA T600 Mobile (32849, 1% delta). AMD's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (29945, 0.5% delta), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Mobile (29928, 0.6% delta), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (29783, 1% delta), and AMD Radeon RX 6700 (30433, -1.1% delta). The RX 6800 sits within 1% of several strong competitors, but its average is pulled down by low scores in some tests, particularly the Passmark DX10 (128), DX12 (89), and G2D (990) results.

The Verdict

The data points to two completely different buying decisions. If the priority is modern gaming performance, DX12, or Vulkan, the AMD Radeon RX 6800 is the only choice. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 3188 is 86.8% higher than NVIDIA's, and its Vulkan score of 115107 is 57.4% higher. The RX 6800 has 16 GB of memory, a 256-bit bus, and 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth, all of which support heavy, high-resolution workloads. It also has 60 ray tracing cores versus NVIDIA's 16.

If the priority is OpenCL compute in a low-power, integrated form factor, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile wins. Its OpenCL score of 50038 is 104.2% higher than AMD's 24508. It runs at 45 W TDP with no power connectors, making it suitable for compact systems where power and space are constrained. It also holds a higher average benchmark score (33170 versus 30095) and a higher percentile rank (78 versus 75).

The two products are not really competitors in the traditional sense. The RX 6800 is a high-end desktop card with the power budget and thermal capacity to match; the RTX 3050 Mobile is an integrated mobile-class part. The benchmark data confirms that AMD wins raw graphics performance, while NVIDIA wins a specific compute workload and overall consistency across a mixed benchmark suite. Choose the RX 6800 for gaming and modern API performance. Choose the RTX 3050 Mobile for OpenCL-heavy tasks and low-power integration. The recorded measurements do not support a single winner; they support two distinct winners for two distinct use cases.