NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile vs NVIDIA L4 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 A Mobile and the NVIDIA L4 occupy different corners of the GPU landscape. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is an end-of-life mobile part built on the Ampere architecture, while the L4 is an active server accelerator using the newer Ada Lovelace design. The recorded data shows a substantial performance gulf between them, with the L4 delivering roughly 2.7 times the average benchmark score of the mobile chip. The RTX 3050 A Mobile sits at the 44th percentile of all GPUs in the database, whereas the L4 reaches the 95th percentile. This places the L4 in company with the RTX 3090 Ti, which scores nearly identically at 131938 versus the L4’s 131072 average. The mobile chip, by contrast, is bracketed by the GTX 460 v2 and Quadro P2200, both within a percentage point of its average score.

The Verdict

The data indicates a clear split in intended use cases. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is built for portable systems, with its integrated form factor and lack of power connectors. Its 45 W power draw suits thin laptops where space and thermal budget are constrained. The L4, meanwhile, is a single-slot server card with no display outputs, designed for datacenter workloads where compute throughput matters more than video output. Its 72 W power draw is modest for a server accelerator, and the suggested 250 W power supply reflects its deployment in rack environments.

Benchmark results confirm the L4’s dominance in raw compute. In the only shared test, Geekbench OpenCL, the L4 scores 140838 against the RTX 3050 A Mobile’s 52998, a delta of 62.4 percent in favor of the L4. The mobile chip wins no head-to-head tests. For users needing a GPU for gaming or portable graphics, the RTX 3050 A Mobile provides the necessary display outputs and fits into laptops. For server inference, rendering, or compute tasks, the L4’s massive lead in OpenCL performance makes it the only viable choice from this pairing.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile’s end-of-life status also matters. Its predecessor is the GeForce 20 Mobile series, and no successor is listed. The L4 remains active, with a successor in Server Hopper already named. This suggests the L4 is a current product with ongoing support, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile represents a legacy option. The data shows no scenario where the mobile chip outperforms the L4, so the verdict hinges on form factor and workload: portable display-dependent tasks versus rack-mounted compute.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural generations and foundries. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the GA106 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, while the L4 uses the AD104 chip on a 5 nm TSMC node. The transistor counts reflect the gap: the L4 packs 35,800 million transistors against the mobile chip’s 12,000 million. Die sizes are closer, 276 mm² for the mobile chip and 294 mm² for the L4, but the density difference is stark. The L4 achieves 121.8 million transistors per square millimeter, nearly three times the 43.5 million of the RTX 3050 A Mobile. This density advantage comes directly from the newer 5 nm process.

Shader resources diverge sharply. The L4 has 7424 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 80 raster operation units. The RTX 3050 A Mobile offers 1792 shading units, 56 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. That is a 4.1 times difference in shader count, 4.3 times in TMUs, and 2.5 times in ROPs. Ray tracing cores follow the same pattern: 60 on the L4 versus 14 on the mobile chip. Tensor cores are 240 versus 56, giving the L4 a 4.3 times advantage in AI-related hardware. These ratios explain why the L4’s FP32 throughput reaches 30.29 TFLOPS while the RTX 3050 A Mobile manages 4.813 TFLOPS, a 6.3 times gap.

Memory architecture also differs. The L4 uses 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, yielding 300.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 4 GB on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s. The L4’s capacity is six times larger, and its bandwidth is 56 percent higher. Clock behavior diverges as well. The L4 has a lower base clock of 795 MHz but boosts to 2040 MHz, while the RTX 3050 A Mobile runs at 1065 MHz base and 1343 MHz boost. The L4’s boost clock is 52 percent higher, which combines with its larger shader count to produce the compute advantage.

Power and physical design reflect their roles. The RTX 3050 A Mobile is an integrated GPU package with no power connectors and no slot width, designed to be soldered onto a motherboard. The L4 is a single-slot card measuring 169 mm in length and 56 mm in height, also with no power connectors but with a suggested 250 W power supply. The L4 supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the mobile chip uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is identical.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains only one direct comparison between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. The L4 scores 140838, and the RTX 3050 A Mobile scores 52998. The delta is 62.4 percent, meaning the L4 is roughly 2.7 times faster in this compute workload. This single result aligns with the average benchmark scores, where the L4 averages 131072 and the mobile chip averages 8746. The difference in averages is even larger, about 15 times, but that figure includes different test sets, so the OpenCL result is the cleanest apples-to-apples comparison.

Looking at the L4’s other benchmark, Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 121306. This is below its OpenCL result but still far beyond anything the mobile chip can produce. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has no Vulkan score in the database, only OpenCL. Its other benchmarks are all Passmark tests: DirectX 10 at 61, DirectX 11 at 94, DirectX 12 at 55, DirectX 9 at 152, G2D at 526, G3D at 11664, and GPU Compute at 4419. These scores are not directly comparable to the L4’s Geekbench results, but they paint a picture of a low-end mobile part. The G3D score of 11664 is its highest, while compute performance trails at 4419.

The L4’s nearest rivals in the database include the RTX 3090 Ti at 131938 average score, just 0.7 percent ahead, and the RTX 4000 Ada Generation at 135218, which is 3.1 percent ahead. The RTX 3050 A Mobile’s rivals are far weaker: the GTX 460 v2 matches its average score at 8743, the Quadro P2200 is 0.7 percent ahead, and the Radeon R9 M265X is 1.2 percent behind. The L4’s performance class is desktop flagship territory, while the mobile chip competes with decade-old discrete cards. The data shows no overlap between these performance tiers.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance?

A: The NVIDIA L4. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is 140838 against 52998 for the RTX 3050 A Mobile, a 62.4 percent advantage. The L4 also reaches 30.29 TFLOPS FP32 versus 4.813 TFLOPS for the mobile chip.

Q: How do their memory configurations differ?

A: The L4 has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus with 300.1 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 192.0 GB/s. The L4 offers six times the capacity and 56 percent more bandwidth.

Q: Are both GPUs from the same architecture generation?

A: No. The RTX 3050 A Mobile uses the Ampere architecture on an 8 nm Samsung process with the GA106 chip. The L4 uses Ada Lovelace on a 5 nm TSMC process with the AD104 chip.

Q: What is the production status of each GPU?

A: The RTX 3050 A Mobile is end-of-life with no successor listed. The L4 is active and has a successor named Server Hopper.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same graphics APIs?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. API capability is identical even though performance differs greatly.

Q: Which GPU has more ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: The L4 has 60 ray tracing cores and 240 tensor cores. The RTX 3050 A Mobile has 14 ray tracing cores and 56 tensor cores. The L4 leads by 4.3 times in both categories.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3050 A Mobile wins in portability. It is an integrated GPU package with no slot width and no power connectors, making it suitable for thin laptops. Its 45 W power draw is lower than the L4’s 72 W, and it includes display outputs, though they are listed as portable device dependent. The L4 has no display outputs, so it cannot drive a monitor directly. For any scenario requiring built-in display capability, the mobile chip is the only option.

The L4 wins decisively in compute performance. Its FP32 throughput of 30.29 TFLOPS dwarfs the mobile chip’s 4.813 TFLOPS. Texture rate is 489.6 GTexel/s versus 75.21 GTexel/s, and pixel rate is 163.2 GPixel/s against 42.98 GPixel/s. The L4 also has a much larger memory pool at 24 GB, which matters for large models or datasets. Its 240 tensor cores provide 4.3 times the AI compute hardware of the mobile chip. For server workloads such as inference, rendering, or scientific computing, the L4 is the only viable part.

The L4 also wins on efficiency per watt in raw performance. At 72 W, it delivers 30.29 TFLOPS, while the 45 W mobile chip delivers 4.813 TFLOPS. That is about 0.42 TFLOPS per watt for the L4 versus 0.11 TFLOPS per watt for the mobile chip. The newer 5 nm process and higher boost clock of 2040 MHz contribute to this advantage. The mobile chip’s boost clock of 1343 MHz is 52 percent lower, limiting its throughput despite its lower power draw.

The RTX 3050 A Mobile wins on physical integration. It requires no power supply guidance, while the L4 suggests a 250 W power supply. The mobile chip uses PCIe 4.0 x8, which is sufficient for its bandwidth needs, while the L4 uses x16. The mobile chip’s predecessor relationship to the GeForce 20 Mobile series indicates continuity with laptop GPUs, whereas the L4 follows Server Ampere and precedes Server Hopper, a different product lineage entirely.

Specification Differences

The table below isolates the fields where the two GPUs differ, using only recorded data.

| Specification | RTX 3050 A Mobile | L4 |

| --- | --- | --- |

| Architecture | Ampere | Ada Lovelace |

| Chip | GA106 | AD104 |

| Process node | 8 nm | 5 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | TSMC |

| Transistors | 12,000 million | 35,800 million |

| Die size | 276 mm² | 294 mm² |

| Transistor density | 43.5M / mm² | 121.8M / mm² |

| Base clock | 1065 MHz | 795 MHz |

| Boost clock | 1343 MHz | 2040 MHz |

| Memory clock | 1500 MHz, 12 Gbps effective | 1563 MHz, 12.5 Gbps effective |

| Memory size | 4 GB | 24 GB |

| Memory bus width | 128 bit | 192 bit |

| Memory bandwidth | 192.0 GB/s | 300.1 GB/s |

| Shading units | 1792 | 7424 |

| TMUs | 56 | 240 |

| ROPs | 32 | 80 |

| RT cores | 14 | 60 |

| Tensor cores | 56 | 240 |

| Pixel rate | 42.98 GPixel/s | 163.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture rate | 75.21 GTexel/s | 489.6 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 4.813 TFLOPS | 30.29 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 4.813 TFLOPS (1:1) | 30.29 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 45 W | 72 W |

| Slot width | IGP | Single-slot |

| Suggested PSU | None | 250 W |

| Bus interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Display outputs | Portable Device Dependent | No outputs |

| Dimensions | Not recorded | 169 mm length, 56 mm height |

| Production status | End-of-life | Active |

| Release date | 2023-12-31 | 2023-03-20 |

| Predecessor | GeForce 20 Mobile | Server Ampere |

| Successor | None | Server Hopper |

| Geekbench OpenCL | 52998 | 140838 |

| Percentile vs all GPUs | 44 | 95 |

| Average benchmark score | 8746 | 131072 |

The release dates differ by about nine months, with the L4 appearing first in March 2023 and the mobile chip following in December 2023. The L4’s production status remains active, while the mobile chip is already end-of-life. The transistor density gap is the most telling architectural difference: 121.8M per mm² on the L4 versus 43.5M on the mobile chip, a direct result of the 5 nm versus 8 nm process. The boost clock advantage of the L4, 2040 MHz against 1343 MHz, compounds with its larger shader array to produce the six-fold FP32 difference. Memory bandwidth favors the L4 by 56 percent, and capacity favors it by six times. The RTX 3050 A Mobile retains an advantage in base clock, 1065 MHz versus 795 MHz, but this does little to close the performance gap. The data confirms these are different classes of hardware serving different markets.