[Comparison] NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 (Laptop, 140W) vs GeForce RTX 3060 (Laptop, 140W) – The 3060 is worth considering

NVIDIA’s got that vice grip on the laptop GPU market, and with AMD’s presence being as small as it is (we’re still having trouble finding any laptops with RX 7000-series graphics to test), Team Green is the only viable option for graphics in 2023. Their newest 4000 series covers the whole range from budget to enthusiast. Today we’re highlighting the newest budget gaming GPU, the RTX 4050, by comparing its most powerful 140W variant against the RTX 3060 from last year, also with a 140W power limit, in order to level the playing field and see if its better to hold off on the 40-series and get a better deal with a 30-series GPU.

You can learn more about both GPUs here: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 (140W) / GeForce RTX 3060 (Laptop)

You can check out our Top Laptop Graphics Ranking to see the top-performing GPUs. 

Specs table

In terms of specs and features, the RTX 4050 has a substantially shorter memory bus, which lowers the bandwidth. On the other hand, it runs at much higher clock speeds and has a much more compact 4nm architecture, which should make it more efficient. However, the 40-series brings new AI-powered features, like DLSS3 and the new Frame Generation feature. So far it works in a selected few titles, but it’s certainly not as good as running the same game at a native high framerate. For nearly all gamers and even creators, both the 30-series and 40-series will offer plenty of performance.

RTX 4050 (Laptop, 140W)RTX 3060 (Laptop, 140W)
ArchitectureAda LovelaceAmpere
Lithography4 nm8 nm
Base / Max Frequency1605MHz / 2370MHz1387MHz / 1702MHz
Memory TypeGDDR6-16000MHzGDDR6-14000MHz
Memory capacity6GB6GB
Cores25603840
Power Consumption140W140W
Memory bus96-bit192-bit
Memory bandwidth192 GB/sec336 GB/sec

GPU benchmarks

From the synthetic benchmarks that we’ve tested the GPUs, you can see that they are fairly close to each other, albeit the RTX 3060 takes first place in three out of the four tests.


Gaming tests

Metro ExodusFull HD, Low (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Extreme (Check settings)
GeForce RTX 4050 (140W)153 fps (+10%)75 fps (+1%)36 fps
GeForce RTX 3060 (140W)139 fps74 fps37 fps (+3%)

Borderlands 3Full HD, Medium (Check settings)Full HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Badass (Check settings)
GeForce RTX 4050 (140W)133 fps (+23%)94 fps (+2%)73 fps
GeForce RTX 3060 (140W)108 fps92 fps76 fps (+4%)

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon WildlandsFull HD, High (Check settings)Full HD, Very High (Check settings)Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
GeForce RTX 4050 (140W)115 fps (+2%)98 fps (+1%)63 fps
GeForce RTX 3060 (140W)113 fps97 fps64 fps (+2%)

Conclusion

While synthetic benchmarks sway more in favor of the RTX 3060, both of these graphics cards offer very similar performance in games, as framerates are super close and almost identical when comparing them at 1080p. Of course, FPS will vary from game to game, so if you want to see even more gameplay of these two GPUs, check out our LaptopMedia Benchmarks channel, which has all the popular graphics cards covered, with gameplay videos in more than 40 of the most popular games, including more both esports games as well as triple-A titles with impressive and immersive visuals. As for prices, laptops with the 40-series have been pretty expensive, so this can show you that you can get similar performance out of last year’s GPUs, which are going on sale very often if not permanently.

All laptops with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 (Laptop, 140W):


All laptops with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (Laptop, 140W):

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