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. Early RX 9050 benchmarksBenchmark TestType / FocusAMD Radeon RX 9050NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050RX 9050 Deficit3DMark Time SpyDX12 Rasterization (Overall)9,44110,571-10.7%3DMark Time Spy ExtremeDX12 4K Rasterization (Overall)4,4504,952-10.1%3DMark Steel NomadModern DX12 Non-RT1,9852,282-13.0%3DMark Speed WayDX12 Ultimate (Ray Tracing)1,8732,520-25.7%3DMark Port RoyalRay Tracing Benchmark4,5316,181-26.7%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. GamePresetResolutionAMD Radeon RX 9050NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050Winner / GapApex LegendsMax Settings1080p147.1 FPS192.4 FPSRTX 5050 (+30.8%)Apex LegendsMax Settings1440p101.4 FPS128.2 FPSRTX 5050 (+26.4%)Apex LegendsMax Settings4K72.6 FPS74.8 FPSRTX 5050 (+3.0%)Rainbow Six Siege XMedium1080p204.0 FPS239.0 FPSRTX 5050 (+17.2%)Rainbow Six Siege XMedium1440p125.0 FPS150.0 FPSRTX 5050 (+20.0%)Rainbow Six Siege XMedium4K65.0 FPS73.0 FPSRTX 5050 (+12.3%)Rainbow Six Siege XUltra+1080p129.0 FPS141.0 FPSRTX 5050 (+9.3%)Rainbow Six Siege XUltra+1440p116.0 FPS126.0 FPSRTX 5050 (+8.6%)Rainbow Six Siege XUltra+4K64.0 FPS64.0 FPSTiedThe 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. Game TitlePresetResolutionAMD Radeon RX 9050NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050Winner / GapDOOMMedium1080p132.74 FPS296.63 FPSRTX 5050 (+123.5%)DOOMMedium1440p85.11 FPS17.17 FPSRX 9050 (+395.7%)DOOMMedium4K39.71 FPS9.87 FPSRX 9050 (+302.3%)DOOMUltra Nightmare1080p114.17 FPS280.13 FPSRTX 5050 (+145.4%)DOOMUltra Nightmare1440p73.79 FPS10.71 FPSRX 9050 (+589.0%)DOOMUltra Nightmare4K35.56 FPS9.62 FPSRX 9050 (+269.6%)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. Game TitlePresetResolutionAMD Radeon RX 9050NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050Winner / GapFinal Fantasy XIV: DawntrailStandard1080p12895 pts15847 ptsRTX 5050 (+22.9%)Final Fantasy XIV: DawntrailStandard1440p8136 pts10059 ptsRTX 5050 (+23.6%)Final Fantasy XIV: DawntrailStandard4K3994 pts5102 ptsRTX 5050 (+27.7%)Cyberpunk 2077Medium1080p210.79 FPS300.16 FPSRTX 5050 (+42.4%)Cyberpunk 2077Medium1440p134.45 FPS185.25 FPSRTX 5050 (+37.8%)Cyberpunk 2077Medium4K64.27 FPS107.47 FPSRTX 5050 (+67.2%)Cyberpunk 2077Ultra1080p142.01 FPS241.72 FPSRTX 5050 (+70.2%)Cyberpunk 2077Ultra1440p87.51 FPS147.39 FPSRTX 5050 (+68.4%)Cyberpunk 2077Ultra4K40.42 FPS77.19 FPSRTX 5050 (+91.0%)Onimusha: Way of the SwordMedium1080p134.97 FPS166.60 FPSRTX 5050 (+23.4%)Onimusha: Way of the SwordMedium1440p103.40 FPS143.15 FPSRTX 5050 (+38.4%)Onimusha: Way of the SwordMedium4K62.09 FPS103.55 FPSRTX 5050 (+66.8%)Onimusha: Way of the SwordUltra1080p110.07 FPS149.66 FPSRTX 5050 (+36.0%)Onimusha: Way of the SwordUltra1440p86.43 FPS128.51 FPSRTX 5050 (+48.7%)Onimusha: Way of the SwordUltra4K53.33 FPS92.13 FPSRTX 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.