GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Refresh vs GTX 680

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking355not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.95no data
Power efficiency5.12no data
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGK104GA107
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date22 March 2012 (12 years ago)6 July 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499 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 cores15362048
Core clock speed1006 MHz1237 MHz
Boost clock speed1058 MHz1492 MHz
Number of transistors3,540 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)195 Watt75 Watt
Texture fill rate135.495.49
Floating-point processing power3.25 TFLOPS6.111 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs12864
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
Length254 mmno data
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pinno data
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 amount2048 MB6 GB
Memory bus width256-bit GDDR596 Bit
Memory clock speed1502 MHz1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth192.2 GB/s144.0 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 ConnectorsOne Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPortNo outputs
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
HDMI+-
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_0)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.6
OpenGL4.24.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan1.1.1261.3
CUDA+8.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 22 March 2012 6 July 2022
Maximum RAM amount 2048 MB 6 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 195 Watt 75 Watt

RTX 3050 Mobile Refresh has an age advantage of 10 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 160% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 680 and GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Refresh. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 680 is a desktop card while GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Refresh 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 680
GeForce GTX 680
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Refresh
GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile Refresh

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Community ratings

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