Looking for an affordable gaming GPU? The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 6GB may not be your best option. Leaked specs suggest that this budget GPU, based on last-gen technology, will struggle to run the latest games at decent settings. Despite its rumored price of $179, investing in a second-hand GeForce RTX 3060 or even saving up for the AMD Radeon RX 7600 would provide a better gaming experience.
According to board partners, the GeForce RTX 3050 6GB will have 2GB less memory and just 2,304 Ampere CUDA cores, compared to its 8GB counterpart. Additionally, the base and boost clock speeds are reported to be significantly lower. The memory bandwidth will also be reduced due to a narrower memory interface. These specs imply that the RTX 3050 6GB will have limited power for features like ray tracing and DLSS in games.
The leaked information suggests that the total board power of the RTX 3050 6GB will be just 70W, much lower than the 130W of the 8GB version. It is even possible that the 6GB variant will have no additional power connectors.
Although no benchmarks have been released yet, it is safe to assume that the RTX 3050 6GB will be slower than its 8GB counterpart, which is already known for its poor gaming performance. With reduced memory bandwidth, lower clock speeds, and fewer CUDA cores, RT cores, and Tensor Cores, the RTX 3050 6GB will significantly lag behind.
While the idea of a gaming GPU under $200 is enticing, it might be wise to steer clear of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 6GB for now. Hopefully, Nvidia will release a more promising option like the rumored GeForce RTX 4050 based on the Ada architecture. In the meantime, consider checking out our comprehensive review of the GeForce RTX 4060 for the best possible deal on an Nvidia Ada GPU.
The source of the article is from the blog smartphonemagazine.nl