GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 4 GB vs GTX 950

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Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking374not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation8.72no data
Power efficiency10.72no data
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGM206GA107
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date20 August 2015 (9 years ago)6 July 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$159 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores7682048
Core clock speed1024 MHz757 MHz
Boost clock speed1188 MHz1125 MHz
Number of transistors2,940 million8,700 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)90 Watt35 Watt
Texture fill rate57.0272.00
Floating-point processing power1.825 TFLOPS4.608 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs4864
Tensor Coresno data64
Ray Tracing Coresno data16

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).

Bus supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x8
Length202 mmno data
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slotno data
Recommended system power (PSU)350 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pinNone
SLI options+-

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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount2 GB4 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed6.6 GB/s1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth105.6 GB/s176.0 GB/s
Shared memory--

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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2Portable Device Dependent
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
HDMI+-
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
G-SYNC support+-
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

GameStream+-
GeForce ShadowPlay+-
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+-

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (12_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model6.46.7
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan1.1.1261.3
CUDA+8.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 20 August 2015 6 July 2022
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 4 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 90 Watt 35 Watt

RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 4 GB has an age advantage of 6 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 157.1% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 950 and GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 4 GB. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 950 is a desktop card while GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 4 GB 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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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
GeForce GTX 950
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 4 GB
GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 4 GB

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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3.2 21 vote

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Questions & comments

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