GeForce GT 420M vs RTX 3050 4GB Mobile

Place in the ranking	224	1101
Place by popularity	60	not in top-100
Power efficiency	28.43	3.12
Architecture	Ampere (2020−2024)	Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code name	GN20-P0	GF108
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	11 May 2021 (3 years ago)	3 September 2010 (14 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	2048	96
Core clock speed	1238 MHz	500 MHz
Boost clock speed	1500 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	no data	585 million
Manufacturing process technology	8 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	60 Watt (35 - 80 Watt TGP)	23 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	8.000
Floating-point processing power	no data	0.192 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	4
TMUs	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).

Laptop size	large	medium sized
Interface	no data	PCIe 2.0 x16

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	GDDR6	DDR3
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	12000 MHz	800 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	25.6 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 Connectors

no data

No outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12_2	12 API
Shader Model	no data	5.1
OpenGL	no data	4.5
OpenCL	no data	1.1
Vulkan	-	N/A
CUDA	-	+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

RTX 3050 4GB Mobile 24.47
+2276%

GT 420M 1.03

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

RTX 3050 4GB Mobile 15712
+2194%

GT 420M 685

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

RTX 3050 4GB Mobile 43216
+1316%

GT 420M 3051

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p	280−290 +2233%	12 −2233%
Full HD	63 +271%	17 −271%
1440p	44 +4300%	1−2 −4300%
4K	29 +2800%	1−2 −2800%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

66
+2100%

3−4

−2100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	55−60 +1000%	5−6 −1000%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	58 +2800%	2−3 −2800%
Battlefield 5	80−85 +2633%	3−4 −2633%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +1175%	4−5 −1175%
Cyberpunk 2077	52 +1633%	3−4 −1633%
Far Cry 5	55−60 +5600%	1−2 −5600%
Far Cry New Dawn	65−70 +3150%	2−3 −3150%
Forza Horizon 4	140−150	0−1
Hitman 3	57 +1040%	5−6 −1040%
Horizon Zero Dawn	110−120 +785%	12−14 −785%
Metro Exodus	126 +2420%	5−6 −2420%
Red Dead Redemption 2	87 +8600%	1−2 −8600%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	80−85 +1100%	7−8 −1100%
Watch Dogs: Legion	186 +481%	30−35 −481%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	55−60 +1000%	5−6 −1000%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	32 +3100%	1−2 −3100%
Battlefield 5	80−85 +2633%	3−4 −2633%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +1175%	4−5 −1175%
Cyberpunk 2077	41 +1267%	3−4 −1267%
Far Cry 5	55−60 +5600%	1−2 −5600%
Far Cry New Dawn	65−70 +3150%	2−3 −3150%
Forza Horizon 4	140−150	0−1
Hitman 3	55 +1000%	5−6 −1000%
Horizon Zero Dawn	110−120 +785%	12−14 −785%
Metro Exodus	95 +3067%	3−4 −3067%
Red Dead Redemption 2	63 +6200%	1−2 −6200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	94 +1243%	7−8 −1243%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	50−55 +391%	10−12 −391%
Watch Dogs: Legion	180 +463%	30−35 −463%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	55−60 +1000%	5−6 −1000%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24 +2300%	1−2 −2300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +1175%	4−5 −1175%
Cyberpunk 2077	34 +1033%	3−4 −1033%
Far Cry 5	55−60 +5600%	1−2 −5600%
Forza Horizon 4	140−150	0−1
Hitman 3	51 +920%	5−6 −920%
Horizon Zero Dawn	74 +469%	12−14 −469%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	81 +1057%	7−8 −1057%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	46 +318%	10−12 −318%
Watch Dogs: Legion	26 −23.1%	30−35 +23.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

72
+7100%

1−2

−7100%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	45−50 +4600%	1−2 −4600%
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40 +3700%	1−2 −3700%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 +2500%	1−2 −2500%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	22	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	27−30 +2700%	1−2 −2700%
Cyberpunk 2077	18 +1700%	1−2 −1700%
Far Cry 5	27−30 +2800%	1−2 −2800%
Forza Horizon 4	140−150 +2283%	6−7 −2283%
Hitman 3	37 +429%	7−8 −429%
Horizon Zero Dawn	59 +1375%	4−5 −1375%
Metro Exodus	52 +2500%	2−3 −2500%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	56 +2700%	2−3 −2700%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35	0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion	166 +4050%	4−5 −4050%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

53
+1225%

4−5

−1225%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 +2400%	1−2 −2400%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20	0−1
Hitman 3	15	0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn	120−130 +2460%	5−6 −2460%
Metro Exodus	37 +3600%	1−2 −3600%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	29 +2800%	1−2 −2800%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +1400%	1−2 −1400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	6	0−1
Far Cry 5	14−16	0−1
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +3300%	1−2 −3300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	34 +3300%	1−2 −3300%
Watch Dogs: Legion	10−12	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

25
+1150%

2−3

−1150%

This is how RTX 3050 4GB Mobile and GT 420M compete in popular games:

RTX 3050 4GB Mobile is 2233% faster in 900p
RTX 3050 4GB Mobile is 271% faster in 1080p
RTX 3050 4GB Mobile is 4300% faster in 1440p
RTX 3050 4GB Mobile is 2800% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

in Red Dead Redemption 2, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RTX 3050 4GB Mobile is 8600% faster.
in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GT 420M is 23% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RTX 3050 4GB Mobile is ahead in 42 tests (98%)
GT 420M is ahead in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	24.47	1.03
Recency	11 May 2021	3 September 2010
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Chip lithography	8 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	60 Watt	23 Watt

RTX 3050 4GB Mobile has a 2275.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 400% more advanced lithography process.

GT 420M, on the other hand, has 160.9% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 3050 4GB Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GT 420M in performance tests.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.