GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q vs 256 SDR
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Architecture | Celsius (1999−2005) | Ampere (2020−2024) |
| GPU code name | NV10 A3 | GA107 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 11 October 1999 (25 years ago) | 11 May 2021 (3 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | no data | 2048 |
| Core clock speed | 120 MHz | 712 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 1057 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 17 million | no data |
| Manufacturing process technology | 220 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | no data | 35 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 0.48 | 67.65 |
| Floating-point processing power | no data | 4.329 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 4 | 32 |
| TMUs | 4 | 64 |
| Tensor Cores | no data | 64 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | no data | 16 |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Interface | AGP 4x | PCIe 4.0 x8 |
| Width | 1-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | None |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | SDR | GDDR6 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 32 MB | 4 GB |
| Memory bus width | 64 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 143 MHz | 1375 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 1.144 GB/s | 176.0 GB/s |
Connectivity and outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.
| Display Connectors | 1x VGA | No outputs |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 7.0 | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | no data | 6.6 |
| OpenGL | 1.2 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | N/A | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | N/A | 1.3 |
| CUDA | - | 8.6 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 11 October 1999 | 11 May 2021 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 32 MB | 4 GB |
| Chip lithography | 220 nm | 8 nm |
RTX 3050 Max-Q has an age advantage of 21 year, a 12700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 2650% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between GeForce 256 SDR and GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that GeForce 256 SDR is a desktop card while GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q is a notebook one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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