According to a recent leak, a new version of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card may be launching soon. Adorned with a lower energy envelope (TGP of 115 W), it will however be difficult to differentiate the two models.
The GeForce RTX 3050 is one of Nvidia’s latest babies for small PC configurations. If this entry-level graphics card has already been fitted to laptops for several months, it only arrived very recently on desktop computers. Based on a GA106 GPU – like the RTX 3060 – it offers, as our tests have shown, performance roughly equivalent to that of a GTX 1660 Super. On the other hand, she takes advantage of raytracing and DLSS in compatible games.
Not one, but two RTX 3050s?
A leak of Igor’s Lab suggests that the manufacturer is preparing a second revision of this model, this time based on the GA107 GPU currently found on the GeForce RTX 3050 and 3050 Ti for laptops. For the moment, the RTX 3050 is indeed from the same GPU as that of the RTX 3060 desktop – the GA106 chip – somewhat amputated however to deliver 2560 calculation units, 80 texture units and 32 rendering units, all with a TGP (thermal envelope) of 130 W.
Nvidia is used to multi-sourcing its graphics cards to adapt to the demand for this or that model, and with the GA107, the characteristics will remain identical, except that the TGP will be a little lower (115 W). In terms of performance, nothing should change, but the references based on the GA107 GPU will therefore be a bit less energy-intensive. Unfortunately, it will no doubt be difficult for future buyers to know which model they are getting their hands on, unless Nvidia and the OEMs play along by clearly specifying it.
However, we allow ourselves to doubt it, when we see the imbroglio around the TGPs of the various mobile graphics cards and the reluctance of manufacturers to provide explicit information on their products. For the moment, no release date supposed for this new variant of RTX 3050, which remains in the state of rumor, we remind you. We are therefore awaiting further information from Nvidia.