RTX 5080 vs RTX 3050 Laptop GPU
Short answer: which is best?
RTX 5080 is 665 % stronger than RTX 3050 Laptop GPU. RTX 5080 ranks #3 of 59 measured graphics cards at WhatFPS (16,640 GPU score over 3 verified runs). RTX 3050 Laptop GPU ranks #46 of 59 measured graphics cards at WhatFPS (2,175 GPU score over 2 verified runs). The numbers are measured in 5 verified WhatFPS runs — not estimated, not self-reported.
Measured comparison
| Metric | RTX 5080 | RTX 3050 Laptop GPU |
|---|---|---|
| GPU score (the card's own performance) | 16,640 | 2,175 |
| Best rig (GAMING — whole PC) | 15,624 | 3,718 |
| Earth II (Vulkan) | 74.3 FPS | 9.7 FPS |
| Mission to Earth II (DX12) | 86.2 FPS | 11.9 FPS |
| Earth II Landing (DX12 Ultimate) | 77.7 FPS | 9.8 FPS |
| Supernova (DX11) | 129.1 FPS | 70.1 FPS |
| Memory bandwidth | 360 GB/s | 59 GB/s |
| VRAM | 16 GB | 4 GB |
| Ray tracing | Yes | Yes |
Fragz' verdict
The RTX 5080 is the clear winner in this comparison, leading the RTX 3050 Laptop GPU by an overwhelming 696% in GPU score. Based on a thin sample of two verified runs for each, the RTX 5080 achieved 73.6 FPS in Earth II (Vulkan) and 91.7 FPS in Mission to Earth II (DX12), dramatically outperforming the RTX 3050 Laptop GPU's 9.4 FPS and 11.5 FPS respectively. This immense performance gap is supported by its significantly higher raw compute (ALU index 800230), 16 GB of VRAM, and 330 GB/s of memory bandwidth, compared to the RTX 3050 Laptop GPU's 4 GB VRAM and 56 GB/s bandwidth. For gamers, this means the RTX 5080 delivers a vastly superior experience across demanding titles and settings. While the RTX 3050 Laptop GPU is clearly outclassed, it remains an option for very light gaming within a mobile form factor where sheer power is not the priority.
Generated September 22, 2026 from the 5 verified runs available then. The verdict is never silently rewritten — new numbers get a new verdict.
What the numbers mean
The GPU score is the graphics card's own performance — that is what we rank on. GAMING is the whole rig's score in the best PC we measured the card in, and depends on processor, memory and storage. We show both and never mix them.
All numbers come from our benchmark suite: four hand-built 3D scenes written directly against the graphics APIs in Rust, the same load on every PC. The methodology is open at https://whatfps.com/metodik
All measurements for RTX 5080 · All measurements for RTX 3050 Laptop GPU