GeForce RTX 3050 6GB Mobile vs Radeon HD 7970M

Place in the ranking	475	218
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	6.40	28.94
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Wimbledon	GN20-P0-R 6 GB
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	24 April 2012 (12 years ago)	6 January 2023 (2 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	1280	2560
Core clock speed	850 MHz	1237 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1492 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	no data
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	60 Watt (35 - 80 Watt TGP)
Texture fill rate	68.00	no data
Floating-point processing power	2.176 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	32	no data
TMUs	80	no data

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	large
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	no data
Supplementary power connectors	None	no data

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	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	6 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	96 Bit
Memory clock speed	1200 MHz	12000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 GB/s	no data
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 outputs

no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	12_2
Shader Model	5.1	no data
OpenGL	4.6	no data
OpenCL	1.2	no data
Vulkan	1.2.131	-

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.

HD 7970M 9.28

RTX 3050 6GB Mobile 25.19
+171%

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.

HD 7970M 5645

RTX 3050 6GB Mobile 17421
+209%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

HD 7970M 4694

RTX 3050 6GB Mobile 11960
+155%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

HD 7970M 31869

RTX 3050 6GB Mobile 72486
+127%

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	84 −162%	220−230 +162%
Full HD	61 −16.4%	71 +16.4%
1440p	12−14 −200%	36 +200%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	16−18 −194%	45−50 +194%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 −326%	81 +326%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	30−33 −157%	75−80 +157%
Counter-Strike 2	16−18 −200%	48 +200%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 −68.4%	32 +68.4%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −184%	105 +184%
Forza Horizon 5	21−24 −191%	65−70 +191%
Metro Exodus	24−27 −164%	65−70 +164%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 −120%	55−60 +120%
Valorant	35−40 −189%	100−110 +189%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30−33 −157%	75−80 +157%
Counter-Strike 2	16−18 −150%	40 +150%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 −21.1%	23 +21.1%
Dota 2	30−35 −84.8%	61 +84.8%
Far Cry 5	35−40 −149%	97 +149%
Fortnite	50−55 −133%	120−130 +133%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −132%	86 +132%
Forza Horizon 5	21−24 −191%	65−70 +191%
Grand Theft Auto V	30−35 −176%	91 +176%
Metro Exodus	24−27 −164%	65−70 +164%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	70−75 −119%	150−160 +119%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 −120%	55−60 +120%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	27−30 −193%	80−85 +193%
Valorant	35−40 −189%	100−110 +189%
World of Tanks	121 −114%	250−260 +114%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	30−33 −157%	75−80 +157%
Counter-Strike 2	16−18 −113%	34 +113%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 +0%	19 +0%
Dota 2	30−35 −164%	85−90 +164%
Far Cry 5	35−40 −97.4%	75−80 +97.4%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −105%	76 +105%
Forza Horizon 5	21−24 −191%	65−70 +191%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	70−75 −119%	150−160 +119%
Valorant	35−40 −189%	100−110 +189%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	12−14 −233%	40 +233%
Grand Theft Auto V	12−14 −233%	40 +233%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	45−50 −289%	170−180 +289%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 −188%	21−24 +188%
World of Tanks	65−70 −148%	160−170 +148%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18 −200%	50−55 +200%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +52.4%	21 −52.4%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 −200%	21−24 +200%
Far Cry 5	20−22 −270%	70−75 +270%
Forza Horizon 4	20−22 −185%	57 +185%
Forza Horizon 5	14−16 −186%	40−45 +186%
Metro Exodus	16−18 −235%	55−60 +235%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −208%	37 +208%
Valorant	21−24 −196%	65−70 +196%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	4−5 −475%	21−24 +475%
Dota 2	20−22 −120%	40−45 +120%
Grand Theft Auto V	18−20 −132%	40−45 +132%
Metro Exodus	5−6 −280%	18−20 +280%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	27−30 −185%	75−80 +185%
Red Dead Redemption 2	6−7 −167%	16−18 +167%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −132%	40−45 +132%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	8−9 −225%	24−27 +225%
Counter-Strike 2	4−5 −475%	21−24 +475%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −200%	9−10 +200%
Dota 2	20−22 −120%	40−45 +120%
Far Cry 5	10−12 −200%	30−35 +200%
Fortnite	10−11 −210%	30−35 +210%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −225%	35−40 +225%
Forza Horizon 5	6−7 −250%	21−24 +250%
Valorant	9−10 −267%	30−35 +267%

This is how HD 7970M and RTX 3050 6GB Mobile compete in popular games:

RTX 3050 6GB Mobile is 162% faster in 900p
RTX 3050 6GB Mobile is 16% faster in 1080p
RTX 3050 6GB Mobile is 200% faster in 1440p

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

in Counter-Strike 2, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 7970M is 52% faster.
in Counter-Strike 2, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RTX 3050 6GB Mobile is 475% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

HD 7970M is ahead in 1 test (2%)
RTX 3050 6GB Mobile is ahead in 62 tests (97%)
there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	9.28	25.19
Recency	24 April 2012	6 January 2023
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	6 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	60 Watt

RTX 3050 6GB Mobile has a 171.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 66.7% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 3050 6GB Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7970M in performance tests.

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