GeForce RTX 4050 Max-Q vs RTX 3060 12 GB GA104

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Primary details

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

Place in the rankingnot ratednot rated
Place by popularity48not in top-100
ArchitectureAmpere (2020−2024)Ada Lovelace (2022−2024)
GPU code nameGA104AD107
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date1 September 2021 (3 years ago)3 January 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$329 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 cores35842560
Core clock speed1320 MHz1140 MHz
Boost clock speed1777 MHz1605 MHz
Number of transistors17,400 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology8 nm4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)170 Watt35 Watt
Texture fill rate199.0128.4
Floating-point processing power12.74 TFLOPS8.218 TFLOPS
ROPs4832
TMUs11280
Tensor Cores11280
Ray Tracing Cores2820

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).

InterfacePCIe 4.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length242 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 12-pinNone

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 typeGDDR6GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount12 GB6 GB
Memory bus width192 Bit96 Bit
Memory clock speed1875 MHz1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth360.0 GB/s168.0 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 Connectors1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4aPortable Device Dependent
HDMI+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 Ultimate (12_2)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model6.66.7
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL3.03.0
Vulkan1.31.3
CUDA8.68.9

Pros & cons summary


Recency 1 September 2021 3 January 2023
Maximum RAM amount 12 GB 6 GB
Chip lithography 8 nm 4 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 170 Watt 35 Watt

RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 has a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

RTX 4050 Max-Q, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 385.7% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 and GeForce RTX 4050 Max-Q. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104 is a desktop card while GeForce RTX 4050 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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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104
GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB GA104
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Max-Q
GeForce RTX 4050 Max-Q

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Community ratings

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4.2 1711 votes

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3.4 48 votes

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Questions & comments

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