Home / GPU Comparison / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050: What's better?

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050

vs

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 graphics card comparison

GPU Comparison Result

RTX 5050 vs RTX 4050: How Much Faster is the Desktop RTX 5050

By name, the RTX 5050 appears to be a direct replacement for the RTX 4050, but we are comparing different classes of devices here. The RTX 5050 is a desktop graphics card on Blackwell architecture, while the RTX 4050 is a mobile GPU on Ada Lovelace.

They have the same number of CUDA cores, but that's where the similarities end. The RTX 5050 has more memory, a wider bus, and significantly higher bandwidth.

Main Differences

	GeForce RTX 5050	GeForce RTX 4050
Platform	Desktop	Laptop
Architecture	Blackwell	Ada Lovelace
CUDA Cores	2560	2560
Video Memory	8 GB GDDR6	6 GB GDDR6
Memory Bus	128 bit	96 bit
Bandwidth	320 GB/s	192 GB/s
Power Consumption	130 W	35-115 W
Multi Frame Generation	Yes	No

The main limitation of the RTX 4050 today is its 6 GB of video memory. While this is sufficient at 1080p for now, heavy textures and ray tracing quickly consume that reserve.

The advantages of the RTX 5050 extend beyond the additional 2 GB of memory. Its wider bus and 320 GB/s bandwidth provide it with considerably more freedom under heavy loads.

3DMark Time Spy in Graphics Cards and Laptops

Device	GPU	Time Spy Graphics
GALAX GeForce RTX 5050 Shengren OC	RTX 5050	10 279
MSI GeForce RTX 5050 8G Gaming OC	RTX 5050	10 205
ASUS TUF Gaming A15 FA507	RTX 4050 Laptop	8 692
MSI Katana 15 B12VEK	RTX 4050 Laptop	8 500
Acer Nitro V 15 ANV15-51-582S	RTX 4050 Laptop	7 818

Even fast laptops with an RTX 4050 fall short of the desktop RTX 5050.

The RTX 5050 outperforms the ASUS TUF Gaming A15 by approximately 18%, the MSI Katana 15 by 20%, and the Acer Nitro V 15 by 30%.

On average, the RTX 5050 demonstrates a performance advantage of around 23% in this sample.

The systems are different, so this isn't a direct GPU comparison under identical conditions. However, Time Spy Graphics effectively highlights the differences in graphical performance.

The Name RTX 4050 Says Little About the Laptop's Speed

The performance of the RTX 4050 Laptop heavily depends on its TGP.

At a limit of around 35 W, the card scores about 5300 points in Time Spy Graphics. At 65 W, the score rises to around 7500 points, and at about 80 W, it reaches 8100 points.

After that, the gains slow considerably. At 100-115 W, the score is around 8500 points.

Therefore, two laptops with RTX 4050 can differ in graphical performance by tens of percent.

The RTX 4050 should only be evaluated as part of a specific laptop. One must look at the TGP, cooling, and real-world tests of the model.

6 GB vs 8 GB: Where Memory Limitation Begins

Both cards are primarily designed for 1080p gaming, but the 8 GB of the RTX 5050 offer greater freedom in demanding games.

8 GB no longer seems like a large amount, but the 6 GB of the RTX 4050 significantly restricts settings.

The RTX 5050 supports Multi Frame Generation. This technology can noticeably increase the displayed FPS, but it does not provide the same increase in real performance.

It doesn't fix a low base FPS, just as it doesn't remedy a lack of video memory.

The RTX 4050 also offers Frame Generation, but without Multi Frame Generation.

RTX 5050 is Faster, But the RTX 5060 is Nearby

The RTX 5050 firmly outpaces the 4050, but for desktop PCs, a more critical comparison is with the RTX 5060.

The recommended price for the RTX 5050 is $249, while the RTX 5060 started at $299.

With only a $50 difference, the RTX 5050 comes too close to the RTX 5060. If the actual difference in price remains small, there's no point in saving on the RTX 5050.

The RTX 5050 is suitable for 1080p, offers 8 GB of memory, and includes the full suite of Blackwell technologies, but its price should always be compared with the RTX 5060.

Conclusion

The RTX 5050 confidently wins this comparison: it is faster, has 8 GB of memory, and is less dependent on the constraints of specific devices.

In fast laptops, the RTX 4050 trails by about 20%, while at low TGP, the gap exceeds 30%.

However, this is not a typical comparison of two neighboring generations. The RTX 5050 has a desktop TGP of 130 W, while the RTX 4050 Laptop operates within a range of 35-115 W.

For a gaming laptop, the RTX 4050 remains a viable option for 1080p, but only with good TGP and cooling.

For desktop PCs, the RTX 5050 is noticeably more interesting, but with an additional cost of about $50, it’s better to buy the RTX 5060 right away.

Advantages

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050

Larger Memory Size: 8GB (8GB vs 6GB)
Higher Bandwidth: 224.0GB/s (224.0GB/s vs 192.0 GB/s)
Newer Launch Date: January 2025 (January 2025 vs February 2023)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050

Higher Boost Clock: 1605-2370MHz (2520 MHz vs 1605-2370MHz)

Basic

NVIDIA

Label Name

NVIDIA

January 2025

Launch Date

February 2023

Desktop

Platform

Laptop

GeForce RTX 5050

Model Name

GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU

GeForce 50

Generation

GeForce 40

2235 MHz

Base Clock

2520 MHz

Boost Clock

1605-2370MHz

PCIe 5.0 x16

Bus Interface

PCIe 4.0 x8

Unknown

Transistors

RT Cores

Tensor Cores

Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

TSMC

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

TSMC 4N

Blackwell 2.0

Architecture

Ada Lovelace

Memory Specifications

8GB

Memory Size

6GB

GDDR6

Memory Type

GDDR6

128bit

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

96bit

1750 MHz

Memory Clock

2000MHz

224.0GB/s

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

192.0 GB/s

Display and Media

1x HDMI 2.1
3x DisplayPort 1.4a

Outputs

Theoretical Performance

80.64 GPixel/s

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

75.84 GPixel/s

201.6 GTexel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

189.6 GTexel/s

12.90 TFLOPS

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

12.13 TFLOPS

201.6 GFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

189.6 GFLOPS

12.642 TFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

12.13 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

2560

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

2560

128 KB (per SM)

L1 Cache

128 KB (per SM)

32 MB

L2 Cache

12MB

100W

TDP

35-115W

1.3

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

3.0

OpenCL Version

3.0

4.6

OpenGL

4.6

9.1

CUDA

8.9

12 Ultimate (12_2)

DirectX

12 Ultimate (12_2)

1x 16-pin

Power Connectors

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

6.7

Shader Model

6.7

300 W

Suggested PSU