RTX 3050 in the test: Nvidia’s supposedly cheap entry-level chip

The demand for graphics cards is still huge, the supply is far too small. As a result, prices soar to astronomical heights – the image makers now presented with Nvidia’s brand new GeForce RTX 3050 chip are no exception. The recommended retail price is already at a confident level for an entry-level graphics card, and the market is almost doubling the selling price. But one after anonther. COMPUTER BILD tested one of the first finished graphics cards with an RTX 3050 chip: the Zotac GeForce RTX 3050 Twin Edge.

The RTX 3050 is based on the GA106 Ampere chip, which the RTX 3060 also uses. He may distribute calculations to 2,560 units. That is exactly 1,024 fewer than the next larger model, the RTX 3060. The so-called Cuda processing units work with a base clock of 1,550 megahertz, with boost, individual cores can clock at up to 1,780 megahertz for a short time. Nvidia has made further castrations on the RTX 3050 compared to the RTX 3060: the memory is 8 gigabytes, 4 gigabytes less. After all, Nvidia also uses the fast GDDR6 type for the RTX 3050. However, it can only exchange calculated data with the graphics chip via 128 lines and not like the RTX 3060 via 192 (128-bit interface instead of 192 bit).

And how does the RTX 3050 fare in the test? For gamers who only play games in Full HD anyway, the RTX 3050 is completely sufficient: The Zotac conjured up an average of 116 frames per second on the screen. The GeForce RTX 3050 Twin Edge even has reserves for upcoming, even more complex games. Playing games in WQHD also works, but only with reduced detail reproduction: Here the Zotac managed 79 frames per second. The Zotac, on the other hand, is not suitable for gaming in 4K, the RTX 3050 is too weak for this.

Good for that: The RTX-3050 has a TDP (Thermic Ddesigned Lperformance, energy consumption under the maximum theoretical load) of only 130 watts, so only an 8-pin plug from the power pack is required for the separate power supply. In the test, the maximum power consumption of 133 watts was only marginally above the specified TDP value. The RTX 3050 only consumed 20 watts for simple internet and office applications. Also good: The Zotac works completely silently in office applications, but the fan was clearly audible under full load (7.5 sone).

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 is not a high-flyer – but it doesn’t want to be, after all it comes from the entry-level segment. But the test showed: For gamers who only play games in Full HD anyway, the RTX 3050 is completely sufficient. The Zotac GeForce RTX 3050 Twin Edge tested here even had reserves for upcoming, even more complex titles. Playing games in WQHD also works, but only with reduced detail reproduction. However, the Zotac is not suitable for gaming in 4K. Too bad: The RTX 3050 also met the same fate as all current graphics cards. The price shot up immediately after the market launch due to high demand and low availability. Estimated for well under 300 euros, the price for the Zotac was 530 euros at the time of testing.