GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q vs 305M

Place in the ranking	1261	436
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	1.92	9.68
Architecture	Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013)	Pascal (2016−2021)
GPU code name	GT218	GP107
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	10 January 2010 (15 years ago)	3 January 2018 (7 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	16	640
Core clock speed	525 MHz	1190 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1328 MHz
Number of transistors	260 million	3,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	14 Watt	75 Watt
Texture fill rate	4.200	53.12
Floating-point processing power	0.0368 TFLOPS	1.7 TFLOPS
Gigaflops	55	no data
ROPs	4	16
TMUs	8	40

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	no data	large
Bus support	PCI-E 2.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors	no data	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	GDDR3	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	Up to 512 MB	4 GB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	Up to 700 (DDR3), Up to 700 (GDDR3) MHz	1752 MHz
Memory bandwidth	11.2 GB/s	112.1 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	DisplayPortHDMIVGADual Link DVISingle Link DVI	No outputs
Multi monitor support	+	no data
HDMI	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data

Supported technologies

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

Power management

8.0

no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1 (10_1)	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	4.1	6.4
OpenGL	2.1	4.6
OpenCL	1.1	1.2
Vulkan	N/A	1.2.131
CUDA	+	6.1

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.

GeForce 305M 0.39

GTX 1050 Max-Q 10.52
+2597%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GeForce 305M 150

GTX 1050 Max-Q 4047
+2598%

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:

Full HD	1−2 −4400%	45 +4400%
1440p	1−2 −2600%	27 +2600%
4K	0−1	15

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	8−9 −138%	18−20 +138%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −900%	20−22 +900%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Counter-Strike 2	8−9 −138%	18−20 +138%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −900%	20−22 +900%
Forza Horizon 4	6−7 −600%	40−45 +600%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 −1000%	44 +1000%

Full HD
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	8−9 −138%	18−20 +138%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −900%	20−22 +900%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −829%	65 +829%
Forza Horizon 4	6−7 −600%	40−45 +600%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	7−8 −1714%	127 +1714%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 −225%	13 +225%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 −540%	30−35 +540%
World of Tanks	14−16 −929%	144 +929%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	8−9 −138%	18−20 +138%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −900%	20−22 +900%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −629%	51 +629%
Forza Horizon 4	6−7 −600%	40−45 +600%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	7−8 −271%	26 +271%

1440p
High Preset

PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS

2−3

−2400%

50−55
+2400%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	9−10 −22.2%	10−12 +22.2%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −300%	8−9 +300%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −725%	33 +725%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3 −550%	12−14 +550%
Valorant	5−6 −420%	24−27 +420%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	14−16 −86.7%	28 +86.7%
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 −86.7%	28 +86.7%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	1−2 −3600%	37 +3600%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −86.7%	28 +86.7%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	0−1	9−10
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −200%	3−4 +200%
Dota 2	14−16 −147%	37 +147%
Valorant	1−2 −1000%	10−12 +1000%

Full HD
Low Preset

Elden Ring

30−33

+0%

30−33

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Metro Exodus	39 +0%	39 +0%
Valorant	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Dota 2	68 +0%	68 +0%
Elden Ring	30−33 +0%	30−33 +0%
Fortnite	47 +0%	47 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	45 +0%	45 +0%
Metro Exodus	26 +0%	26 +0%
Valorant	26 +0%	26 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Dota 2	104 +0%	104 +0%
Valorant	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Elden Ring	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
World of Tanks	94 +0%	94 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Metro Exodus	24 +0%	24 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Elden Ring	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Metro Exodus	7 +0%	7 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
World of Tanks	53 +0%	53 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	16 +0%	16 +0%
Fortnite	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%

This is how GeForce 305M and GTX 1050 Max-Q compete in popular games:

GTX 1050 Max-Q is 4400% faster in 1080p
GTX 1050 Max-Q is 2600% faster in 1440p

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

in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 1050 Max-Q is 3600% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GTX 1050 Max-Q is ahead in 32 tests (51%)
there's a draw in 31 test (49%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.39	10.52
Recency	10 January 2010	3 January 2018
Chip lithography	40 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	14 Watt	75 Watt

GeForce 305M has 435.7% lower power consumption.

GTX 1050 Max-Q, on the other hand, has a 2597.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, and a 185.7% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce GTX 1050 Max-Q is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 305M in performance tests.

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