GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile vs Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire

Place in the ranking	296	238
Place by popularity	not in top-100	44
Power efficiency	6.38	21.63
Architecture	GCN (2012−2015)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Neptune CF	GA107
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	1 May 2012 (12 years ago)	11 May 2021 (3 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	2560	2048
Core clock speed	850 MHz	712 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	1057 MHz
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	200 Watt	75 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	67.65
Floating-point processing power	no data	4.329 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	40
TMUs	no data	64
Tensor Cores	no data	64
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	16

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	no data	PCIe 4.0 x16

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	no data	4 GB
Memory bus width	2x 256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	4800 MHz	1500 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	192.0 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 Connectors

no data

No outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	no data	6.6
OpenGL	no data	4.6
OpenCL	no data	3.0
Vulkan	-	1.2
CUDA	-	8.6

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 8970M Crossfire 18.62

RTX 3050 Mobile 23.67
+27.1%

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 8970M Crossfire 12424

RTX 3050 Mobile 21358
+71.9%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

HD 8970M Crossfire 34215

RTX 3050 Mobile 77234
+126%

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 8970M Crossfire 10354

RTX 3050 Mobile 15685
+51.5%

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 8970M Crossfire 70114

RTX 3050 Mobile 90224
+28.7%

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

HD 8970M Crossfire 269832

RTX 3050 Mobile 580370
+115%

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	67 −38.8%	93 +38.8%
1440p	35−40 −42.9%	50 +42.9%
4K	24−27 −37.5%	33 +37.5%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

30−33

−253%

106
+253%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	40−45 −20.9%	50−55 +20.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 −134%	75 +134%
Battlefield 5	60−65 −23.8%	75−80 +23.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 −23.1%	45−50 +23.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 −177%	83 +177%
Far Cry 5	45−50 −22.2%	55−60 +22.2%
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55 −21.6%	60−65 +21.6%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 −17.6%	140−150 +17.6%
Hitman 3	35−40 −27%	45−50 +27%
Horizon Zero Dawn	90−95 −18.3%	110−120 +18.3%
Metro Exodus	65−70 −22.7%	80−85 +22.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2	50−55 −21.6%	60−65 +21.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65 −27%	80−85 +27%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 −12.4%	100−105 +12.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	40−45 −20.9%	50−55 +20.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 −93.8%	62 +93.8%
Battlefield 5	60−65 −23.8%	75−80 +23.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 −23.1%	45−50 +23.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 −103%	61 +103%
Far Cry 5	45−50 −22.2%	55−60 +22.2%
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55 −21.6%	60−65 +21.6%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 −17.6%	140−150 +17.6%
Hitman 3	35−40 −27%	45−50 +27%
Horizon Zero Dawn	90−95 −18.3%	110−120 +18.3%
Metro Exodus	65−70 −22.7%	80−85 +22.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2	50−55 −21.6%	60−65 +21.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65 −95.2%	123 +95.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	40−45 −18.6%	50−55 +18.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 −12.4%	100−105 +12.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	40−45 −20.9%	50−55 +20.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 −65.6%	53 +65.6%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 −23.1%	45−50 +23.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 −103%	61 +103%
Far Cry 5	45−50 −22.2%	55−60 +22.2%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 −17.6%	140−150 +17.6%
Hitman 3	35−40 −27%	45−50 +27%
Horizon Zero Dawn	90−95 −15.1%	107 +15.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65 −68.3%	106 +68.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	40−45 −51.2%	65 +51.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 +25.4%	71 −25.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

50−55

−21.6%

60−65
+21.6%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 −21.6%	45−50 +21.6%
Far Cry New Dawn	27−30 −24.1%	35−40 +24.1%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 −26.3%	24−27 +26.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	16−18 −135%	40 +135%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −28.6%	27−30 +28.6%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −173%	30 +173%
Far Cry 5	21−24 −22.7%	27−30 +22.7%
Forza Horizon 4	100−110 −27.6%	130−140 +27.6%
Hitman 3	21−24 −27.3%	27−30 +27.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −100%	78 +100%
Metro Exodus	35−40 −97.1%	69 +97.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	35−40 −105%	78 +105%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 −31.8%	27−30 +31.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion	110−120 −18.4%	130−140 +18.4%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

30−35

−21.9%

35−40
+21.9%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	18−20 −21.1%	21−24 +21.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	14−16 −28.6%	18−20 +28.6%
Hitman 3	14−16 −143%	34 +143%
Horizon Zero Dawn	95−100 −24.5%	120−130 +24.5%
Metro Exodus	20−22 −30%	24−27 +30%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −132%	44 +132%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 −27.3%	14−16 +27.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−11 −140%	24 +140%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−11 −30%	12−14 +30%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 −200%	12 +200%
Far Cry 5	10−11 −30%	12−14 +30%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 −23.1%	30−35 +23.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	21−24 −114%	45 +114%
Watch Dogs: Legion	8−9 −138%	19 +138%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18

−23.5%

21−24
+23.5%

This is how HD 8970M Crossfire and RTX 3050 Mobile compete in popular games:

RTX 3050 Mobile is 39% faster in 1080p
RTX 3050 Mobile is 43% faster in 1440p
RTX 3050 Mobile is 38% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 8970M Crossfire is 25% faster.
in Cyberpunk 2077, with 1080p resolution and the Low Preset, the RTX 3050 Mobile is 253% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

HD 8970M Crossfire is ahead in 1 test (1%)
RTX 3050 Mobile is ahead in 71 test (99%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	18.62	23.67
Recency	1 May 2012	11 May 2021
Chip lithography	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	200 Watt	75 Watt

RTX 3050 Mobile has a 27.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 166.7% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire in performance tests.

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