NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile is in a completely different performance class than the RTX 3050 Mobile. Across all three directly comparable benchmarks, the RTX 5080 Mobile wins by margins ranging from 233.7% to 1076.2%. The RTX 3050 Mobile does not win a single head-to-head test. The RTX 5080 Mobile should be the choice for any workload where GPU compute or modern DirectX 12 gaming performance matters. The RTX 3050 Mobile remains a legacy part, now marked as end-of-life, and its recorded scores place it far behind the newer part. For users constrained to the older platform, the data shows it still delivers functional performance, but it is not competitive with the 50-series part. The RTX 5080 Mobile's average benchmark score of 38349 versus 33170 for the RTX 3050 Mobile reinforces this gap. The percentile rankings are close, 81st versus 78th, but the raw score difference is substantial. The RTX 5080 Mobile is the clear choice for current generation gaming and compute workloads. The RTX 3050 Mobile is only relevant for legacy systems or scenarios where the 80 W power envelope of the newer part is unacceptable.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different generations and foundries. The RTX 5080 Mobile uses the GB203 chip built on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The RTX 3050 Mobile uses the GA107 chip built on Ampere architecture, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The process node difference is significant: 5 nm versus 8 nm. The transistor counts reflect this. The RTX 5080 Mobile packs 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 120.6 million per square millimeter. The RTX 3050 Mobile has 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, with a density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. The RTX 5080 Mobile has more than five times the transistor count and nearly three times the density.

The execution resources scale accordingly. The RTX 5080 Mobile has 7680 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The RTX 3050 Mobile has 2048 shading units, 64 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The ray tracing and tensor core counts also differ: the RTX 5080 Mobile has 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores, while the RTX 3050 Mobile has 16 RT cores and 64 tensor cores. The memory subsystem is completely different as well. The RTX 5080 Mobile uses 16 GB of GDDR7 on a 256 bit bus, delivering 896.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3050 Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128 bit bus, delivering 192.0 GB/s. The newer part has four times the memory capacity and more than four times the bandwidth.

The RTX 5080 Mobile also uses a newer bus interface: PCIe 5.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x8 on the RTX 3050 Mobile. Both parts expose the same API feature set: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Both are integrated into the portable device package with no power connectors and an IGP slot width. The power envelopes differ: 80 W for the RTX 5080 Mobile versus 45 W for the RTX 3050 Mobile. The production status also differs, with the RTX 5080 Mobile listed as Active and the RTX 3050 Mobile listed as End-of-life. The release dates are April 2025 for the newer part and May 2021 for the older one. The RTX 5080 Mobile succeeds the GeForce 40 Mobile series, while the RTX 3050 Mobile succeeded the GeForce 20 Mobile series.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data shows a dominant performance advantage for the RTX 5080 Mobile. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 5080 Mobile scores 4952 against 421 for the RTX 3050 Mobile. That is a delta of 1076.2%, the largest margin in any test. This is the most important result for modern gaming workloads. The newer architecture plus the memory bandwidth advantage translates into a massive DirectX 12 performance lead.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 5080 Mobile scores 166986 against 50038 for the RTX 3050 Mobile. The delta is 233.7%. Compute workloads that rely on OpenCL see a similarly large improvement, though the percentage gap is smaller than in the 3DMark test. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 5080 Mobile scores 169754 against 49051 for the RTX 3050 Mobile. The delta is 246.1%. The Vulkan gap is slightly larger than the OpenCL gap, suggesting the newer part scales better with the Vulkan API.

The RTX 5080 Mobile also has additional benchmark results recorded in the database that the RTX 3050 Mobile does not share. These include Passmark DirectX 10, 11, 12, and 9 scores, plus Passmark G2D, G3D, and GPU compute scores. The RTX 5080 Mobile scores 171 in DirectX 10, 253 in DirectX 11, 116 in DirectX 12, and 314 in DirectX 9. Its Passmark G2D score is 1095, G3D is 27711, and GPU compute is 12134. The RTX 3050 Mobile has no recorded scores for these tests, so direct comparison is not possible. The average benchmark score for the RTX 5080 Mobile is 38349, while the RTX 3050 Mobile averages 33170. The RTX 5080 Mobile sits at the 81st percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 3050 Mobile sits at the 78th percentile.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification field. The process node is 5 nm for the RTX 5080 Mobile and 8 nm for the RTX 3050 Mobile. The foundry is TSMC for the newer part and Samsung for the older one. Transistor count is 45,600 million versus 8,700 million. Die size is 378 mm² versus 200 mm². Transistor density is 120.6 million per square millimeter versus 43.5 million. Base clock is 975 MHz for the RTX 5080 Mobile versus 1065 MHz for the RTX 3050 Mobile. Boost clock is 1500 MHz versus 1343 MHz. Memory clock is 1750 MHz with 28 Gbps effective for the RTX 5080 Mobile, versus 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective for the RTX 3050 Mobile.

Memory size is 16 GB versus 4 GB. Memory type is GDDR7 versus GDDR6. Bus width is 256 bit versus 128 bit. Bandwidth is 896.0 GB/s versus 192.0 GB/s. Shading units are 7680 versus 2048. TMUs are 240 versus 64. ROPs are 96 versus 32. RT cores are 60 versus 16. Tensor cores are 240 versus 64. Pixel rate is 144.0 GPixel/s versus 42.98 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 360.0 GTexel/s versus 85.95 GTexel/s. FP32 is 23.04 TFLOPS versus 5.501 TFLOPS. FP16 is 23.04 TFLOPS versus 5.501 TFLOPS, both at a 1:1 ratio. TDP is 80 W versus 45 W. Bus interface is PCIe 5.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x8. The architecture names differ: Blackwell 2.0 versus Ampere. The chip names differ: GB203 versus GA107. The generations differ: GeForce 50 Mobile versus GeForce 30 Mobile. The production status differs: Active versus End-of-life. The release dates differ. The predecessor series differ: GeForce 40 Mobile versus GeForce 20 Mobile.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in DirectX 12 gaming?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile scores 4952 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 1076.2% ahead of the RTX 3050 Mobile's score of 421.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5080 Mobile in OpenCL compute?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile scores 166986 in Geekbench OpenCL, a 233.7% advantage over the RTX 3050 Mobile's 50038.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256 bit bus with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3050 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128 bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Are these GPUs still in production?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile is listed as Active. The RTX 3050 Mobile is listed as End-of-life.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile has a TDP of 80 W. The RTX 3050 Mobile has a TDP of 45 W.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile averages 38349 across its recorded benchmarks. The RTX 3050 Mobile averages 33170. The RTX 5080 Mobile sits at the 81st percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 3050 Mobile sits at the 78th percentile.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5080 Mobile wins in every directly comparable benchmark. Its largest win is in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it is 1076.2% ahead. This makes it the clear choice for modern DirectX 12 gaming, ray tracing workloads, and any application that leverages the Blackwell 2.0 architecture's RT and tensor cores. The 60 RT cores and 240 tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for these tasks. The 16 GB GDDR7 memory with 896.0 GB/s bandwidth supports high resolution textures and large datasets. The 23.04 TFLOPS of FP32 and FP16 compute makes it suitable for compute-heavy workloads. The 144.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 360.0 GTexel/s texture rate handle high resolution rendering. Its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA GeForce MX570, RTX 4080 Mobile, MX570 A, and AMD Radeon Pro 580X, all within roughly 1% of its average score. This places it in a competitive tier with those parts, despite its dominant lead over the RTX 3050 Mobile.

The RTX 3050 Mobile does not win any head-to-head benchmark against the RTX 5080 Mobile. Its strengths are relative to its own generation and power class. It has a 45 W TDP versus 80 W for the newer part, which may make it suitable for thinner or more power-constrained portable devices. It is built on the older Ampere architecture with 2048 shading units and 16 RT cores. It still supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Its 5.501 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 192.0 GB/s bandwidth are sufficient for lighter workloads. Its nearest rivals are the NVIDIA T550 Mobile, AMD Radeon Pro 570, NVIDIA P104-100, and NVIDIA T600 Mobile, all within 1% of its average score. The data shows that the RTX 3050 Mobile belongs in a much lower performance tier. The 78th percentile ranking versus the 81st for the RTX 5080 Mobile understates the actual score gap, which is roughly 15.6% in average benchmark score. The RTX 3050 Mobile is best suited for legacy systems or workloads where the lower power envelope is a hard requirement. For any performance-sensitive application, the RTX 5080 Mobile is the only choice supported by the recorded data. The database shows no metric where the older part comes out ahead.