GPU Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile and the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 are two very different GPUs from different eras, yet their average benchmark scores place them in a similar performance tier. The RTX 3050 Mobile, an Ampere-based laptop chip from 2021, and the Quadro M5000, a Maxwell-based professional desktop card from 2015, deliver comparable overall results, but the data reveals a clear generational shift in where their strengths lie. The RTX 3050 Mobile holds a decisive lead in modern API benchmarks, while the Quadro M5000 counters with superior raw throughput in specific legacy workloads, though the head-to-head data shows the newer card winning both contested tests.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two GPUs were directly compared in two benchmark tests, and the results are lopsided. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile scores 50,038, while the NVIDIA Quadro M5000 trails with 29,481. This represents a delta of 69.7% in favor of the RTX 3050 Mobile. That is not a marginal victory; it is a dominant performance gap that suggests the newer architecture is vastly more efficient at handling the general-purpose compute workloads that OpenCL typically exercises.

The second head-to-head test, Geekbench Vulkan, shows a similar but slightly narrower advantage. The RTX 3050 Mobile posts a score of 49,051 against the Quadro M5000’s 32,931, resulting in a 49% delta. While the gap is smaller than in OpenCL, it is still a decisive win for the RTX 3050 Mobile. This is particularly notable because Vulkan is a modern low-overhead API, and the Quadro M5000’s Maxwell architecture predates the standard’s widespread adoption. The RTX 3050 Mobile’s support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and its 16 dedicated ray-tracing cores give it a structural advantage in these newer rendering paths.

There are no benchmark tests where the Quadro M5000 comes out ahead in the head-to-head data. The scorecard shows two wins for the RTX 3050 Mobile and zero for the Quadro M5000. However, the overall average benchmark scores tell a slightly more nuanced story. The RTX 3050 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 33,170, while the Quadro M5000 sits at 31,206. That is only a 6.3% difference in overall average, which indicates that outside of the two specific head-to-head tests, the older card is competitive in other workloads not captured in this direct comparison.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3050 Mobile wins decisively in modern compute and graphics APIs. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 49,051 is nearly 50% higher than the Quadro M5000’s 32,931, making it the clear choice for applications that leverage Vulkan for rendering or compute. Similarly, its OpenCL performance is almost 70% ahead, which translates to faster performance in OpenCL-based productivity tools, scientific simulations, and machine learning inference tasks that rely on general-purpose GPU compute. The RTX 3050 Mobile also benefits from having 64 tensor cores, a feature entirely absent from the Quadro M5000, giving it a hardware path for AI acceleration that the older card simply cannot match.

The Quadro M5000, despite losing both head-to-head tests, still holds advantages in specific legacy scenarios. Its pixel rate is 66.43 GPixel/s compared to the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 42.98 GPixel/s, a 54.6% advantage in raw fill rate. Its texture rate is also higher, at 132.9 GTexel/s versus 85.95 GTexel/s, a 54.6% lead. These figures indicate that the Quadro M5000 can outperform the RTX 3050 Mobile in older DirectX 11 or OpenGL workloads that are fill-rate bound, particularly at high resolutions with heavy anti-aliasing. The Quadro M5000 also has double the memory capacity, 8 GB versus 4 GB, and a wider 256-bit memory bus compared to the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 128-bit bus. While its memory bandwidth of 211.6 GB/s is only 10.2% higher than the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 192.0 GB/s, the larger capacity makes it more suitable for datasets that exceed 4 GB, such as large 3D scenes or high-resolution texture sets.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is vast. The RTX 3050 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA107 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It contains 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 43.5 million per mm². In contrast, the Quadro M5000 uses the Maxwell 2.0 architecture with the GM204 chip, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 5,200 million transistors on a much larger 398 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of just 13.1 million per mm². The RTX 3050 Mobile is therefore more than three times as dense, a direct consequence of the manufacturing process advantage.

The RTX 3050 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes hardware ray tracing via its 16 RT cores and AI acceleration through its 64 tensor cores. The Quadro M5000 has no RT cores and no tensor cores, and its DirectX support is limited to 12 (12_1), which lacks some of the newer feature-level requirements. Both GPUs support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility for those standards is equal. The RTX 3050 Mobile also has a 1:1 FP16 to FP32 ratio, delivering 5.501 TFLOPS for both formats, whereas the Quadro M5000 has no FP16 data listed, indicating it likely processes FP16 at a reduced rate or not at all.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets reveal significant differences in nearly every category. The RTX 3050 Mobile has a higher base clock of 1065 MHz and a boost clock of 1343 MHz, compared to the Quadro M5000’s 861 MHz base and 1038 MHz boost. Both have 2048 shading units, but the RTX 3050 Mobile has 64 TMUs and 32 ROPs, while the Quadro M5000 has 128 TMUs and 64 ROPs. This doubling of TMUs and ROPs on the Quadro M5000 explains its higher fill rates despite lower clocks.

Memory configurations differ markedly. The RTX 3050 Mobile uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Quadro M5000 uses 8 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 211.6 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3050 Mobile has a memory clock of 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective), while the Quadro M5000 runs at 1653 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective). The newer GDDR6 memory on the RTX 3050 Mobile achieves nearly the same bandwidth with half the bus width. Power consumption differs substantially: the RTX 3050 Mobile has a TDP of 45 W and is an integrated GPU (IGP) with no power connectors, while the Quadro M5000 has a TDP of 150 W, requires a dual-slot cooler, and draws power via a single 6-pin connector with a suggested PSU of 450 W. The RTX 3050 Mobile uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, whereas the Quadro M5000 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs also differ, with the RTX 3050 Mobile being portable-device dependent and the Quadro M5000 offering 1x DVI and 4x DisplayPort 1.2. The Quadro M5000 is a physical card measuring 267 mm in length and 111 mm in height, while the RTX 3050 Mobile has no listed dimensions due to its mobile nature.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 33,170, which is 6.3% higher than the NVIDIA Quadro M5000’s 31,206. The RTX 3050 Mobile also ranks at the 78th percentile among all GPUs, while the Quadro M5000 ranks at the 76th percentile.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3050 Mobile in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 3050 Mobile scores 50,038 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the Quadro M5000 scores 29,481. This gives the RTX 3050 Mobile a 69.7% performance advantage in that test.

Q: Does the Quadro M5000 have any advantage in raw pixel throughput?

A: Yes. The Quadro M5000 has a pixel rate of 66.43 GPixel/s, which is 54.6% higher than the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 42.98 GPixel/s. Its texture rate of 132.9 GTexel/s is also 54.6% higher than the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 85.95 GTexel/s.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference between the two?

A: The Quadro M5000 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the RTX 3050 Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6. The Quadro M5000 also has a wider 256-bit memory bus compared to the RTX 3050 Mobile’s 128-bit bus, though the RTX 3050 Mobile’s bandwidth of 192.0 GB/s is only 10.2% lower than the Quadro M5000’s 211.6 GB/s.

Q: Which GPU supports hardware ray tracing?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile supports hardware ray tracing through its 16 RT cores and also includes 64 tensor cores for AI acceleration. The NVIDIA Quadro M5000 has neither RT cores nor tensor cores.

Q: How do their power requirements compare?

A: The RTX 3050 Mobile has a TDP of 45 W and is an integrated GPU with no power connectors. The Quadro M5000 has a TDP of 150 W, is a dual-slot card, requires a single 6-pin power connector, and has a suggested PSU of 450 W.