NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 OEM vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark comparison between these two Ampere-based NVIDIA GPUs shows a clear overall winner, with the RTX 3060 Mobile taking 7 of 9 head-to-head tests. The largest margin comes in the Vulkan compute test, where the RTX 3060 Mobile scores 80,344 against the RTX 3050 OEM's 57,103, a 40.7% advantage. This is not a marginal gap; it indicates a substantial difference in raw compute throughput under the Vulkan API.

DirectX 10 performance tells a similar story, with the RTX 3060 Mobile scoring 90 versus 61 for the RTX 3050 OEM, a 47.5% lead, the single biggest percentage delta across all tests. The DirectX 11 result also favors the mobile part, 110 to 86, a 27.9% difference. In the more modern DirectX 12 test, both cards tie at exactly 58 points, showing that API efficiency or driver overhead can neutralize the hardware gap in specific workloads.

The legacy DirectX 9 test shows a narrower margin, 146 to 137, a 6.6% win for the RTX 3060 Mobile. The overall 3D gaming score from Passmark G3D gives the RTX 3060 Mobile an 11.6% lead, 13,230 versus 11,857. That is a meaningful, if not overwhelming, advantage for gaming performance.

The RTX 3050 OEM does secure two wins. The first is in the Passmark G2D (2D graphics) test, where it scores 973 against 588, a 39.6% margin in its favor. This is a notable outlier, given the mobile part's superior specs elsewhere. The second win is in GPU compute, where the OEM card scores 5,779 versus 5,718, a slim 1.1% edge. This near-tie in compute is surprising, as the RTX 3060 Mobile has a higher FP32 rating, but the measured result shows the OEM part edging ahead.

Looking at the broader database context, the RTX 3060 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 18,159, placing it in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the AMD Radeon Pro 5700, scores 18,189, a negligible 0.2% difference. The RTX 3050 OEM, with an average score of 15,199, sits in the 57th percentile. Its closest competitor is the AMD Radeon RX 7600 at 15,171, a 0.2% gap. The 2,960-point difference in average scores between the two NVIDIA parts places them in different performance tiers, despite sharing the same architecture and chip family.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs are built on the Ampere architecture, using the GA106 chip, fabricated on Samsung's 8 nm process. The die size is identical at 276 mm², and both integrate 12,000 million transistors, giving the same transistor density of 43.5M per mm². The fundamental silicon is the same, but NVIDIA has configured it very differently for each product.

The RTX 3060 Mobile is a fuller implementation of the GA106 die. It has 3,840 shading units, 120 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 48 ROPs. The RTX 3050 OEM is a cut-down version, with 2,304 shading units, 72 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This means the mobile part has roughly 67% more shader processors and TMUs, and 50% more ROPs. The ray tracing and tensor core counts scale accordingly: 30 RT cores and 120 tensor cores on the RTX 3060 Mobile, versus 18 RT cores and 72 tensor cores on the RTX 3050 OEM.

Clock speeds reverse the trend. The RTX 3050 OEM runs at a 1,515 MHz base clock and a 1,755 MHz boost clock, while the RTX 3060 Mobile is set to 900 MHz base and 1,425 MHz boost. The OEM card's higher clock speeds partially compensate for its fewer cores, but not enough to overcome the mobile part's raw unit advantage.

The memory subsystem differs in both capacity and bus width. The RTX 3060 Mobile has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3050 OEM has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, which drops to 224.0 GB/s. Both use the same 1,750 MHz memory clock, translating to 14 Gbps effective. The mobile part has 50% more bandwidth, while the OEM part has 33% more capacity.

The power delivery and physical design are also distinct. The RTX 3060 Mobile is rated at 80 W TDP with no power connectors, reflecting its laptop-oriented design. The RTX 3050 OEM is a dual-slot desktop card with a 130 W TDP, requiring a single 8-pin power connector and a 300 W suggested PSU. The OEM card measures 242 mm in length and 112 mm in height. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x16 for the mobile part, PCIe 4.0 x8 for the OEM.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3060 Mobile is the clear choice for general compute and modern API workloads. Its 40.7% lead in Vulkan and 30.9% lead in OpenCL (79,483 versus 60,740) indicate strong performance in compute-heavy tasks like rendering, scientific simulation, or machine learning inference. The DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 wins at 47.5% and 27.9% respectively suggest it handles older DirectX titles with more headroom. The 11.6% lead in Passmark G3D makes it the better option for most gaming scenarios, especially at higher resolutions where memory bandwidth matters.

The RTX 3050 OEM's strengths are narrower but real. Its 39.6% win in Passmark G2D points to superior 2D desktop and GUI acceleration, which is relevant for productivity tasks, multi-monitor setups, or CAD-style 2D rendering. Its 1.1% win in GPU compute, while small, is consistent and may benefit workloads that are less sensitive to memory bandwidth and more reliant on clock speed. The 8 GB memory capacity is also an advantage in scenarios that exceed the 6 GB frame buffer of the mobile part, such as high-texture gaming at 4K or certain content creation tasks, though the lower bandwidth may limit that advantage.

The DirectX 12 tie at 58 points is notable. It suggests that in modern, well-optimized titles using DX12, the two GPUs can deliver identical frame rates despite the hardware disparity, likely due to the OEM part's higher clocks offsetting the mobile part's core count advantage. For users targeting DX12-only esports titles at lower settings, the two may be interchangeable.

Specification Differences

The key specification differences are as follows. Shading units: 3,840 on the RTX 3060 Mobile versus 2,304 on the RTX 3050 OEM. TMUs: 120 versus 72. ROPs: 48 versus 32. RT cores: 30 versus 18. Tensor cores: 120 versus 72.

Clock speeds: the RTX 3050 OEM has a 1,515 MHz base and 1,755 MHz boost, while the RTX 3060 Mobile runs at 900 MHz base and 1,425 MHz boost. Memory: 6 GB versus 8 GB GDDR6, bus width 192-bit versus 128-bit, bandwidth 336.0 GB/s versus 224.0 GB/s.

Pixel rate: 68.40 GPixel/s on the mobile part versus 56.16 GPixel/s on the OEM. Texture rate: 171.0 GTexel/s versus 126.4 GTexel/s. FP32 performance: 10.94 TFLOPS versus 8.087 TFLOPS. Both have the same FP16 rating as their FP32 (1:1 ratio).

TDP: 80 W for the mobile part, 130 W for the OEM. Physical attributes: the OEM is dual-slot with a 1x 8-pin connector and a 300 W suggested PSU, while the mobile part has no connectors and no slot width specified. The OEM requires PCIe 4.0 x8, the mobile part uses x16. Display outputs: the OEM has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the mobile part's outputs are portable device dependent. Release dates differ, with the mobile part launching earlier, and the OEM's predecessor is listed as GeForce 20 with a successor of GeForce 40.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile leads in FP32, rated at 10.94 TFLOPS versus 8.087 TFLOPS for the RTX 3050 OEM. This is reflected in the Vulkan test, where the mobile part wins by 40.7%.

Q: Does the RTX 3050 OEM have any advantages in memory capacity?

A: Yes, the OEM card has 8 GB of GDDR6 compared to 6 GB on the mobile part. However, the mobile part has a wider 192-bit bus and higher bandwidth at 336.0 GB/s versus 224.0 GB/s.

Q: Why does the RTX 3050 OEM win the Passmark G2D test?

A: The OEM scores 973 versus 588 for the mobile part, a 39.6% margin. This is likely due to its higher clock speeds and desktop-oriented design, which can boost 2D rendering performance.

Q: Are these GPUs in the same performance tier?

A: No. The RTX 3060 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 18,159 and sits in the 62nd percentile, while the RTX 3050 OEM scores 15,199 and sits in the 57th percentile. The mobile part is roughly 19% faster on average.

Q: What is the DirectX 12 performance difference?

A: Both GPUs score exactly 58 points in the Passmark DirectX 12 test, resulting in a 0% delta. This indicates that DX12 workloads can perform identically despite other hardware differences.

Q: Which GPU has better power efficiency?

A: The RTX 3060 Mobile is rated at 80 W TDP, while the RTX 3050 OEM is rated at 130 W. Despite the lower power draw, the mobile part delivers higher performance in most benchmarks, suggesting better efficiency per watt.