Nvidia RTX 3050 evaluation: For an overpriced 1080p GPU, this might’ve been worse

Till one thing modifications, we are going to assume the worst concerning the supply-and-demand curves of the present graphics card market. Probably the most pessimistic signal of issues to return, sadly, comes from GPU producers themselves, as each Nvidia and AMD have begun pricing new merchandise a bit extra in step with market realities.

January has already seen some woeful GPU launches. The mildly tweaked RTX 3080, now with 12GB of VRAM as an alternative of 10GB, arrived earlier this month at an MSRP of roughly $1,200—a whopping 42 % soar over the extremely reviewed launch mannequin’s recommended value. On the opposite aspect of the worth spectrum, final week’s AMD RX 6500XT, at an MSRP of $199, has confirmed fairly underwhelming to date in opinions. Between its 64-bit reminiscence interface, its 4GB of VRAM, and its penalties for PCIe 3.0 techniques, the cardboard’s efficiency pales even compared to the $199 RX 5500XT… which launched in 2019.

Not desirous to be omitted of the most recent low-end headlines, Nvidia arrives this week with the RTX 3050, which continues the longtime GPU producer observe of repurposing “binned” GPUs. The cardboard’s $249 MSRP is the bottom but within the RTX desktop sequence, beneath the $329 MSRP connected to the almost one-year-old RTX 3060 however above the $229 MSRP of 2019’s GTX 1660 Tremendous. I get the sensation that this GPU is the monkey’s paw proposition PC avid gamers get once we scream issues like, “Please produce extra graphics playing cards!”

Beginning with the decision: This can be a 1080p card

Will you discover RTX 3050 playing cards within the wild, not to mention at costs 25 % decrease than the 3060? We’re not optimistic. However should you do, be warned: even with proprietary tips like Nvidia DLSS in its pocket, the RTX 3050 will nonetheless typically go away you fidgeting with settings menus to get trendy video games working at 60 frames per second… at 1080p decision. This can be a card that, for essentially the most half, maxes out at 1080p for affordable PC efficiency, not just for the latest video games however for among the greatest video games of the previous seven years.

In case your PC’s GPU is especially lengthy within the tooth and also you’re glad maxing out your favourite PC video games at 1080p decision, you would possibly—out of desperation—wish to head to a brick-and-mortar store when the RTX 3050 goes on sale. Shops traditionally do a greater job with “one GPU per buyer” limits and different affordable measures than on-line ones do.

Moreover, I like to recommend setting a value restrict someplace across the $329 mark, since OEMs could select to pile onto Nvidia’s MSRP with extras like ornate followers and overclock guarantees—and we all know at the least one overclocked RTX 3050 mannequin will launch at a $329 value. However that advice is extra about market issues than it’s about this GPU being a cut price in any sense of the phrase.

GTX 1070 flashbacks

Relying on the sport or benchmark in query, the RTX 3050’s closest efficiency peer in the marketplace is the Nvidia GTX 1070, which launched at roughly $379 again in June 2016. If we lean on Ars Technica’s regular battery of assessments, which largely look at in-game efficiency, the outcomes align remarkably near that older card:

Not like the RTX 2060 Tremendous, which offered efficiency upticks throughout the board in comparison with the GTX 1070, the RTX 3050 merely can not muster the identical progress this a few years later. For some rendering situations, the silicon shortcomings of the RTX 3050 are very noticeable.

However the above and beneath charts emphasize one thing that’s vital in any graphics card benchmarking assessments: how a GPU handles overkill settings and better resolutions so {that a} given workload is GPU-specific and will be in contrast throughout playing cards. That default situation sadly assumes that you’ve got plenty of decisions within the market. Within the right here and now, nonetheless, seeing that the RTX 3050 disappoints in all-settings-maxed 1440p conditions is not essentially helpful; you’ll be able to’t anticipate to purchase a rival card that’s both cheaper or extra more likely to be future-proof.

If you happen to’re nonetheless studying this evaluation, you are probably keen to only get a working graphics card with 1080p efficiency as a baseline. Will the RTX 3050 reduce it? In a phrase: principally. I’ve discovered that its strengths emerge on a case-by-case foundation, however there are few legit 1440p purposes.