AMD's new Radeon RX 9050 is roughly 30% slower than the RTX 5050 in games, early testing shows — the cheapest 8GB RDNA 4 GPU comfortably handles 1080p gaming but doesn't impress

(Image credit: ASRock) AMD officially launched its cheapest RDNA 4 graphics card, the Radeon RX 9050, a few days ago, and we already have some performance numbers for it. Preliminary testing from Japanese outlet GDM puts the GPU up against its closest Nvidia rival, the RTX 5050, in a matchup that sees the AMD offering lose by a big margin. The RX 9050 is fine on its own, especially if you're limited to 1080p gaming, but in the head-to-head it leaves a lot to be desired based on its roughly 30% slower framerates averaged across various titles.The test bench consisted of a Ryzen 7 9800X3D and specifically the ASRock Challenger variant of the 9050, alongside the Gigabyte Windforce OC variant of the RTX 5050. Starting with synthetic benchmarks, the Red Team's GPU is almost 20% slower in the 3DMark suite. The biggest difference lies in Port Royal, where the RTX 5050 scores 6,181 points but the RX 9050 only manages 4,531 points. Time Spy sees the smallest delta, where both cards are separated by about 500 points. Swipe to scroll horizontally Early RX 9050 benchmarks Benchmark Test Type / Focus AMD Radeon RX 9050 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 RX 9050 Deficit 3DMark Time Spy DX12 Rasterization (Overall) 9,441 10,571 -10.7% 3DMark Time Spy Extreme DX12 4K Rasterization (Overall) 4,450 4,952 -10.1% 3DMark Steel Nomad Modern DX12 Non-RT 1,985 2,282 -13.0% 3DMark Speed Way DX12 Ultimate (Ray Tracing) 1,873 2,520 -25.7% 3DMark Port Royal Ray Tracing Benchmark 4,531 6,181 -26.7% Moving onto gaming, the testing was conducted across multiple resolutions, so we've chosen to show the most representative results possible. When talking about esports titles such as Apex Legends and Rainbow Six Siege, the RX 9050 holds its ground well, especially as you scale up the resolution. At 4K Ultra+ settings, both GPUs actually match at 64 FPS. The biggest difference was 20%, reported at 1440p medium, where the RTX 5050 pushed 150 FPS while the RX 9050 could only manage 125 FPS. Swipe to scroll horizontally Game Preset Resolution AMD Radeon RX 9050 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Winner / Gap Apex Legends Max Settings 1080p 147.1 FPS 192.4 FPS RTX 5050 (+30.8%) Apex Legends Max Settings 1440p 101.4 FPS 128.2 FPS RTX 5050 (+26.4%) Apex Legends Max Settings 4K 72.6 FPS 74.8 FPS RTX 5050 (+3.0%) Rainbow Six Siege X Medium 1080p 204.0 FPS 239.0 FPS RTX 5050 (+17.2%) Rainbow Six Siege X Medium 1440p 125.0 FPS 150.0 FPS RTX 5050 (+20.0%) Rainbow Six Siege X Medium 4K 65.0 FPS 73.0 FPS RTX 5050 (+12.3%) Rainbow Six Siege X Ultra+ 1080p 129.0 FPS 141.0 FPS RTX 5050 (+9.3%) Rainbow Six Siege X Ultra+ 1440p 116.0 FPS 126.0 FPS RTX 5050 (+8.6%) Rainbow Six Siege X Ultra+ 4K 64.0 FPS 64.0 FPS Tied The rest of the games show a more underwhelming result for the RX 9050, with DOOM: The Dark Ages acting as an outlier where both GPUs take turns destroying the other. The game has multi-frame gen support at up to 6x for the Nvidia card, while the FSR frame gen is limited to just 2x. Regardless, the RX 9050 wins at higher resolutions in all settings due. As mentioned, however, this is the only test where the 9050 seemed to beat the 5050. Swipe to scroll horizontally Game Title Preset Resolution AMD Radeon RX 9050 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Winner / Gap DOOM Medium 1080p 132.74 FPS 296.63 FPS RTX 5050 (+123.5%) DOOM Medium 1440p 85.11 FPS 17.17 FPS RX 9050 (+395.7%) DOOM Medium 4K 39.71 FPS 9.87 FPS RX 9050 (+302.3%) DOOM Ultra Nightmare 1080p 114.17 FPS 280.13 FPS RTX 5050 (+145.4%) DOOM Ultra Nightmare 1440p 73.79 FPS 10.71 FPS RX 9050 (+589.0%) DOOM Ultra Nightmare 4K 35.56 FPS 9.62 FPS RX 9050 (+269.6%) Row 6 - Cell 0 Row 6 - Cell 1 Row 6 - Cell 2 Row 6 - Cell 3 Row 6 - Cell 4 Row 6 - Cell 5 The remaining titles show rather boring numbers where the RX 9050 loses every single time, no matter the resolution or preset. It comes the closest in Final Fantasy XIV at 1080p, where the internal benchmark separates the two GPUs by 23%, whereas the biggest difference lies in Onimusha, where the RTX 5050 is almost twice as fast. Across these games, on average, the RX 9050 is 31% slower at 1080p, 34% slower at 1440p, and 42% slower at 4K. Swipe to scroll horizontally Game Title Preset Resolution AMD Radeon RX 9050 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Winner / Gap Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Standard 1080p 12895 pts 15847 pts RTX 5050 (+22.9%) Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Standard 1440p 8136 pts 10059 pts RTX 5050 (+23.6%) Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Standard 4K 3994 pts 5102 pts RTX 5050 (+27.7%) Cyberpunk 2077 Medium 1080p 210.79 FPS 300.16 FPS RTX 5050 (+42.4%) Cyberpunk 2077 Medium 1440p 134.45 FPS 185.25 FPS RTX 5050 (+37.8%) Cyberpunk 2077 Medium 4K 64.27 FPS 107.47 FPS RTX 5050 (+67.2%) Cyberpunk 2077 Ultra 1080p 142.01 FPS 241.72 FPS RTX 5050 (+70.2%) Cyberpunk 2077 Ultra 1440p 87.51 FPS 147.39 FPS RTX 5050 (+68.4%) Cyberpunk 2077 Ultra 4K 40.42 FPS 77.19 FPS RTX 5050 (+91.0%) Onimusha: Way of the Sword Medium 1080p 134.97 FPS 166.60 FPS RTX 5050 (+23.4%) Onimusha: Way of the Sword Medium 1440p 103.40 FPS 143.15 FPS RTX 5050 (+38.4%) Onimusha: Way of the Sword Medium 4K 62.09 FPS 103.55 FPS RTX 5050 (+66.8%) Onimusha: Way of the Sword Ultra 1080p 110.07 FPS 149.66 FPS RTX 5050 (+36.0%) Onimusha: Way of the Sword Ultra 1440p 86.43 FPS 128.51 FPS RTX 5050 (+48.7%) Onimusha: Way of the Sword Ultra 4K 53.33 FPS 92.13 FPS RTX 5050 (+72.8%) The RX 9050 scores a win in power consumption, drawing about 8W less when idling and about 35W less under heavy load compared to the RTX 5050. The card seems to run cool and quiet, and can be manufactured to be rather small, making it ideal for SFF builds. Overall, it's an okay experience when it comes to gaming, performing amicably in a vacuum, but disappointing against competition. Thankfully, the 4GB variant of the RX 9050 seems to be limited to OEMs. As always, these are preliminary testing results from one outlet, so take them with the customary grain of salt. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.