GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB vs RTX 4090 Max-Q
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | 199 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 21 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 75.35 |
| Power efficiency | no data | 27.47 |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace (2022−2024) | Ampere (2020−2024) |
| GPU code name | AD103 | GA107 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 3 January 2023 (1 year ago) | 2 February 2024 (less than a year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $179 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 | 9728 | 2304 |
| Core clock speed | 930 MHz | 1042 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1455 MHz | 1470 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 45,900 million | 8,700 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 4 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 80 Watt | 70 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 442.3 | 105.8 |
| Floating-point processing power | 28.31 TFLOPS | 6.774 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 112 | 32 |
| TMUs | 304 | 72 |
| Tensor Cores | 304 | 72 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | 76 | 18 |
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 | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |
| Length | no data | 242 mm |
| Width | no data | 2-slot |
| 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 | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 16 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 96 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1750 MHz | 1750 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 448.0 GB/s | 168.0 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 | Portable Device Dependent | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |
| HDMI | - | + |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | 6.7 | 6.7 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| CUDA | 8.9 | 8.6 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 3 January 2023 | 2 February 2024 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 16 GB | 6 GB |
| Chip lithography | 4 nm | 8 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 80 Watt | 70 Watt |
RTX 4090 Max-Q has a 166.7% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.
RTX 3050 6 GB, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 year, and 14.3% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q and GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB is a desktop one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
