Nvidia RTX 3050 Review ft. Gigabyte and Palit

1. Introduction2. Gigabyte RTX 3050 Eagle3. Palit RTX 3050 StormX OC4. Testing Methodology5. 3DMark Fire Strike & Time Spy6. Assassin's Creed Valhalla7. Cyberpunk 20778. Death Stranding9. Far Cry 610. Forza Horizon 511. Hitman 312. Horizon Zero Dawn13. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy14. Red Dead Redemption 215. Resident Evil Village16. Total War Saga: Troy17. Watch Dogs: Legion18. PCIe 4.0 vs PCIe 3.0 Investigation19. Performance Summary (12-Game Average)20. Ray Tracing21. The DLSS Difference22. Cost Per Frame Analysis23. Gigabyte Eagle Vs Palit StormX OC24. Clock Speed25. GPU Temperatures26. Acoustics27. Noise-Normalised Temperatures28. Power Draw: 1080p29. Power Draw: 1440p30. Performance per Watt: 1080p31. Performance per Watt: 1440p32. Total System Power Draw33. Overclocking34. Closing Thoughts35. View All Pages

Just a week on from the disastrous launch of AMD's RX 6500 XT, today we are checking out something I sincerely hope will be… better. It's admittedly a low bar to clear, but I am of course talking about Nvidia's RTX 3050 – the company's first RTX GPU in the sub-£300 price bracket, arriving with a $249/£239 MSRP.

Officially unveiled back at CES 2022, the RTX 3050 is an important milestone for Nvidia. When it first debuted RTX technology with the 20-series, the most affordable GPU was the RTX 2060, priced at a not-inconsiderable £329. For the RTX 3050, the MSRP is set at £239, and while we know that figure is almost certainly somewhat detached from reality, it's still going to be interesting to see exactly what an ‘entry level' RTX graphics card looks like in 2022.

Unlike on the mobile side, where Nvidia has a dedicated GA107 GPU for RTX 3050/3050 Ti mobile chips, for the RTX 3050 the company is re-using its GA106 GPU, making it – in essence – a cut-down RTX 3060. Is it enough to stand out from 12 months of mediocre product launches? We're about to find out…

GPU	RTX 3080	RTX 3070	RTX 3060 Ti	RTX 3060	RTX 3050
SMs	68	46	38	28	20
CUDA Cores	8704	5888	4864	3584	2560
Tensor Cores	272	184	152	112	80
RT Cores	68	46	38	28	20
Texture Units	272	184	152	112	80
ROPs	96	96	80	48	32
GPU Boost Clock	1710 MHz	1725 MHz	1665 MHz	1777 MHz	1777 MHz
Memory Data Rate	19 Gbps	14 Gbps	14 Gbps	15 Gbps	14 Gbps
Total Video Memory	10GB GDDR6X	8GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6	12GB GDDR6	8GB GDDR6
Memory Interface	320-bit	256-bit	256-bit	192-bit	128-bit
Memory Bandwidth	760 GB/Sec	448 GB/Sec	448 GB/Sec	360 GB/sec	224 GB/sec
PCIe Interface	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x8
TGP	320W	220W	200W	170W	130W

As a cut-down GA106 GPU, the RTX 3050 sports a total of 20 streaming multiprocessors (SMs).Thanks to Ampere’s new SM structure with its two FP32 datapaths, each SM houses 128 CUDA cores, giving a total of 2560.

Ampere also places one RT core, and four Tensor cores, in each SM, giving a total of 20 RT cores and180 Tensor cores. This is accompanied by 80 texture units, and 32 ROPs which are now housed directly within each graphics processing cluster (GPC), with 16 ROPs per GPC, and 2 GPCs in total for RTX 3050.

Rated clock speed is carried over from the RTX 3060, as we find the same 1777MHz boost clock. Of the two cards we are looking at today, the Gigabyte Eagle ships with reference clocks, while the Palit StormX OC sees this increased by 30MHz out of the box.

Memory is provided by 8GB of GDDR6, clocked at 14Gbps. Over the narrower 128-bit memory interface, we see total memory bandwidth hit 224 GB/s, a reduction of 38% against the RTX 3060. The PCIe interface has also been shaved down, with a PCIe 4.0 x8 connection, instead of the full x16 allocation.

Lastly, for total graphics power, Nvidia rates the RTX 3050 for 130W, a 40W (24%) decrease compared to the RTX 3060 that seems broadly in line with the reduction in core-count. We are using our new GPU power testing methodology in this review, so read on for our most detailed power and efficiency testing yet.

The Gigabyte Eagle ships in a black box, with the familiar robotic eye logo visible on the front. On the back, Gigabyte highlights key features of the card, including the dual-fan cooler and backplate design.

The only included accessory is a small quick start guide.

As for the card itself, it's pretty much identical to the RX 6500 XT Eagle we looked at last week, just a bit bigger. That means we still have a grey plastic shroud, along with two 90mm fans. Gigabyte's ever-present ‘alternate spinning technology’ is also featured, meaning one fan spins clockwise while the other spins anti-clockwise, which Gigabyte claims helps to reduce air turbulence, and thus direct more air down onto the heatsink.

We mentioned the RTX 3050 Eagle is a bit bigger than its 6500 XT counterpart, and that is true as it measures in at 213 x 120x 41mm. The RX 6500 XT's dimensions are 192 x 117 x 38mm. The 3050 isn't large by any stretch of the imagination, it may just be slightly less ITX-friendly.

The GeForce RTX and Gigabyte logos are printed on both the side of the card, and on the backplate. It's only a plastic backplate but it is much better than nothing in my opinion, and we can also see a small cut-out on the right-hand side to allow (some) airflow to pass directly through the heatsink and out of the card.

Power requirements consist of a single 8-pin connector, while we find two DisplayPort 1.4 and two HDMI 2.1 video outputs.

Looking at the Eagle's PCB, we can see it is very compact – the backplate extends a good inch or-so past the board itself. Gigabyte is using what appears to be a 4+2+1 VRM, with four phases feeding the GPU. Four 2GB GDDR6 memory modules from Micron are used, carrying the D9ZPM model code.

As for the heatsink, it is undeniably basic, with a single fin-stack and just one copper heatpipe that makes direct contact with the GPU die. We assess thermal performance later in the review.

Palit's RTX 3050 StormX OC ships in a white box, with ‘3050' lettering visible on the front. On the back, a much of key features are listed in multi-lingual text.

The only included accessory is a basic user manual.

Looking at the card itself, the design is identical to the RTX 3060 StormX we looked at last year. That means we find a glossy, black plastic shroud with little in the way of design frills. A single 100mm fan dominates the front of the card.

In terms of the dimensions, the StormX OC is absolutely tiny, measuring in at 170 x 125 x 40mm. It should fit in basically any case on the market.

The side of the shroud is home to the GeForce RTX and Palit logos, but there is no backplate so we get a direct look at the back of the PCB.

Power is supplied by a single 8-pin PCIe connector, while we find three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1 video outputs.

What strikes me most about the PCB is just how small it really is – it extends no further past the PCIe retention slot, so realistically I don't think it could be any smaller at all. Palit is also using a 4+2+1 VRM setup, with four phases feeding the GPU. We can also note four 2GB GDDR6 modules from Micron, carrying the D9ZPM model code.

As for the heatsink, this appears identical to the one Palit used for the RTX 3060 StormX OC. That means a single aluminium fin-stack, but with three heatpipes – two more than the Gigabyte Eagle. Both the GPU die and VRAM modules contact with a single baseplate.

PCIe Testing

Following on from our PCIe testing in our Day 1 review for the RX 6500 XT, we have also tested the RTX 3050 using both PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0. The RTX 3050 offers a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, so we aren't expecting to see as significant performance variations as we saw with the RX 6500 XT, but it is worth testing nonetheless.

For all of our 1080p and 1440p benchmarks, we therefore tested the RTX 3050 twice – once with PCIe 4.0 and once with PCIe 3.0. This will be reflected in the charts you see on the following pages.

Driver Notes

• All Nvidia GPUs (except RTX 3050) were benchmarked with the 511.23 driver.
• RTX 3050 was benchmarked with the 511.32 driver supplied to press.
• All AMD GPUs (except RX 6500 XT) were benchmarked with the public Adrenalin 22.1.1 driver.
• RX 6500 XT was benchmarked with the Adrenalin 22.1.1 driver supplied to press.

Test System

We test using the a custom built system from Cyberpower, based on Intel's Alder Lake platform. You can buy your own system from Cyberpower HERE.

CPU	Intel Core i9-12900K
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z690 CARBON WIFI
Memory	Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 5200MHz (2 X 16GB) CL 40-40-40-77
Graphics Card	Varies
SSD	2TB Seagate FireCuda 530
Chassis	Corsair 5000D Airflow
CPU Cooler	Corsair H150i Pro XT
Power Supply	Corsair 1200W HX Series Modular 80 Plus Platinum
Operating System	Windows 11 21H2
Resizable BAR	Enabled for all supported GPUs

Comparison Graphics Cards List

• Gigabyte RX 6600 Eagle 8GB
• Gigabyte RX 6500 XT Eagle 4GB
• ASRock RX 5500 XT Challenger 8GB
• Sapphire RX 5500 XT Pulse 4GB
• Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB
• ASUS ROG RX 570 Strix OC 4GB
• Palit RTX 3060 StormX 12GB
• Nvidia RTX 2060 FE 6GB
• Gigabyte GTX 1660 Super Gaming 6GB
• Palit GTX 1650 Super StormX OC 4GB
• Gigabyte GTX 1650 Gaming OC 4GB
• Nvidia GTX 1060 Founders Edition (FE) 6GB

Software and Games List

• 3DMark Fire Strike & Fire Strike Ultra (DX11 Synthetic)
• 3DMark Time Spy (DX12 Synthetic)
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla (DX12)
• Cyberpunk 2077 (DX12)
• Death Stranding (DX12)
• Far Cry 6 (DX12)
• Forza Horizon 5 (DX12)
• Hitman 3 (DX12)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (DX12)
• Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (DX12)
• Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (DXR)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (DX12)
• Resident Evil Village (DX12)
• Total War Saga: Troy (DX11)
• Watch Dogs: Legion (DX12)

We run each benchmark/game three times, and present mean averages in our graphs. We use FrameView to measure average frame rates as well as 1% low values across our three runs.

Fire Strike is a showcase DirectX 11 benchmark for modern gaming PCs. Its ambitious real-time graphics are rendered with detail and complexity far beyond other DirectX 11 benchmarks and games. Fire Strike includes two graphics tests, a physics test and a combined test that stresses the CPU and GPU. (UL).

3DMark Time Spy is a DirectX 12 benchmark test for Windows 10 gaming PCs. Time Spy is one of the first DirectX 12 apps to be built the right way from the ground up to fully realize the performance gains that the new API offers. With its pure DirectX 12 engine, which supports new API features like asynchronous compute, explicit multi-adapter, and multi-threading, Time Spy is the ideal test for benchmarking the latest graphics cards. (UL).

Kicking off with our 3DMark testing, the RTX 3050 doesn't make the best of starts here. It's beaten by the GTX 1660 Super in Fire Strike and is only just ahead of the RX 580. Time Spy does look a bit better however, with the RTX 3050 now edging ahead of the GTX 1660 Super, but it's still well behind the RTX 2060.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is an action role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the twelfth major instalment and the twenty-second release in the Assassin's Creed series, and a successor to the 2018's Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The game was released on November 10, 2020, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Stadia, while the PlayStation 5 version was released on November 12. (Wikipedia).

Engine: AnvilNext 2.0. We test using the Very High preset, DX12 API.

Starting the game benchmarks with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, at 1080p we can see the RTX 3050 delivers 63 FPS on average. That puts its pretty neatly between the GTX 1660 Super and the RTX 2060, as it’s 8% faster than the former but 11% slower than the latter. We can also see no practical difference when testing with PCIe 3.0 either.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed and published by CD Projekt. The story takes place in Night City, an open world set in the Cyberpunk universe. Players assume the first-person perspective of a customisable mercenary known as V, who can acquire skills in hacking and machinery with options for melee and ranged combat. Cyberpunk 2077 was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One on 10 December 2020. (Wikipedia).

Engine: REDengine 4. We test using the High preset, DX12 API.

As for Cyberpunk 2077, it is a pretty similar situation overall. The RTX 3050 is beating out the GTX 1660 Super by 6%, though in practice that’s only a difference of 3 FPS so it’s hardly a game changer. The RTX 3050 also a decent amount slower than the RTX 2060, coming in 17% behind, but again we’re seeing no difference when dropping PCIe speeds down to Gen3.

Death Stranding is a 2019 action game developed by Kojima Productions. It is the first game from director Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions after their split from Konami in 2015. It was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 in November 2019 and by 505 Games for Windows in July 2020. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Decima. We test using the Very High preset, DX12 API.

Death Stranding puts the RTX 3050 even closer to the GTX 1660 Super, and in fact the 3050 is marginally slower here… but we’re talking less a single frame, so that means they are just as fast as each other. That said, using the RTX 3050 with PCIe 3.0 did see a reduction in performance – it's only slight, but the 1% lows came down by 6% which is definitely outside our margin for error.

Far Cry 6 is a 2021 action-adventure first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the sixth main instalment in the Far Cry series and the successor to 2018's Far Cry 5. The game was released on October 7, 2021, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia, and Amazon Luna. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Dunia Engine. We test using the Ultra preset, HD Textures off, DX12 API.

It’s more of the same in Far Cry 6. Here the RTX 3050 is just about slower than the 1660 Super, but there’s really not a lot in it. Looking at the PCIe 3.0 results however, the average frame rate is down 7% compared to PCIe 4.0, making it not much faster than the GTX 1650 Super if you have a PCIe Gen3 platform.

Forza Horizon 5 is a 2021 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. The twelfth main instalment of the Forza series, the game is set in a fictionalised representation of Mexico. It was released on 9 November 2021 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. (Wikipedia).

Engine: ForzaTech. We test using the Ultra preset, DX12 API.

The RTX 3050 does creep back ahead of the 1660 Super in Forza Horizon 5, where it averages 76 FPS, which is not bad at all for this title. That makes it 12% slower than the RTX 2060, though frame rates do also drop by around 5% for the RTX 3050 when using PCIe 3.0. It’s only a small decrease, but it’s not nothing.

Hitman 3 (stylized as HITMAN III) is a stealth game developed and published by IO Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Stadia (under the title Hitman: World of Assassination), and Nintendo Switch on 20 January 2021. It is the eighth main instalment in the Hitman series and the final entry in the World of Assassination trilogy, following Hitman (2016) and Hitman 2 (2018). (Wikipedia).

Engine: Glacier. We test using Ultra settings (or High where Ultra is not available), VRS off, DX12 API.

Hitman 3, meanwhile, sees the RTX 3050 comfortably beating the GTX 1660 Super, this time by a 13% margin which is the biggest difference we will see today. Compared to the RTX 2060, it's performing 10% slower on average, though PCIe bandwidth makes basically no difference in this game.

Horizon Zero Dawn is an action role-playing game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The plot follows Aloy, a hunter in a world overrun by machines, who sets out to uncover her past. It was released for the PlayStation 4 in 2017 and Microsoft Windows in 2020. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Decima. We test using the Ultimate Quality preset, DX12 API.

Up next is Horizon Zero Dawn, where we’re looking at an average frame rate almost hitting 70 FPS for the RTX 3050. That still puts it closer to the GTX 1660 Super than it does to the RTX 2060, but performance is decent enough. PCIe bandwidth doesn’t make a big difference to the RTX 3050 here either, which was slightly surprising to me as I remember the drama about PCIe bandwidth when this game first came out, but it’s good news for prospective RTX 3050 buyers.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a 2021 action-adventure game developed by Eidos-Montréal and published by Square Enix. Based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, the game was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 26, 2021. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Dawn Engine. We test using the Very High preset, DX12 API.

Likewise in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, PCIe bandwidth makes no difference, with average frame rates for the RTX 3050 coming in just under 70 FPS. That puts it firmly behind the RTX 2060, and barely ahead of the GTX 1660 Super, beating the latter card by less than a 5% margin.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the Red Dead series and is a prequel to the 2010 game Red Dead Redemption. Red Dead Redemption 2 was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2018, and for Microsoft Windows and Stadia in November 2019. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Rockstar Advance Game Engine (RAGE). We test by manually selecting High settings, TAA, DX12 API.

As for Red Dead Redemption 2, this shows us basically the same thing. We’re talking small improvements over the GTX 1660 Super, with the RTX 3050 just a handful of frames faster, while the RTX 2060 is a good 13% faster than the 3050. We can’t complain about overall performance, but we would have hoped for slightly more over two years on from the 1660 Super.

Resident Evil Village is a survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. The sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), players control Ethan Winters, who is searching for his kidnapped daughter; after a fateful encounter with Chris Redfield, he finds himself in a village filled with mutant creatures. The game was announced at the PlayStation 5 reveal event in June 2020 and was released on May 7, 2021, for Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Stadia. (Wikipedia).

Engine: RE Engine. We test using the Max preset, with V-Sync disabled, DX12 API.

Moving onto Resident Evil Village, as expected from this game frame rates are very high indeed, and even at maximum settings we’re seeing over 90 FPS on average for the RTX 3050. That makes it 8% faster than the GTX 1660 Super, but still 13% slower than the RTX 2060.

Total War Saga: Troy is a 2020 turn-based strategy video game developed by Creative Assembly Sofia and published by Sega. The game was released for Windows on 13 August 2020 as the second instalment in the Total War Saga subseries, succeeding Thrones of Britannia (2018). (Wikipedia).

Engine: TW Engine 3 (Warscape). We test using the Ultra preset, with unlimited video memory enabled, DX11 API.

Meanwhile in Total War Saga: Troy, this is the game where we see the biggest hit to performance when testing the RTX 3050 with PCIe Gen3 speeds. It’s actually 13% slower here on PCIe 3.0 compared to PCIe 4.0, meaning the GTX 1650 Super is faster on PCIe Gen3. On PCIe 4.0, the RTX 3050 is on par with the GTX 1660 Super, averaging around 72 FPS.

Watch Dogs: Legion is a 2020 action-adventure game published by Ubisoft and developed by its Toronto studio. It is the third instalment in the Watch Dogs series, and the sequel to 2016's Watch Dogs 2. Legion was released on October 29, 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia. (Wikipedia).

Engine: Disrupt. We test using the Very High preset, DX12 API.

Lastly, we come to Watch Dogs: Legion and by now the results are not a surprise. The RTX 3050 is only a handful of frames faster than the GTX 1660 Super, while it’s a solid 12% slower than the RTX 2060. We can also see a small difference when testing on PCIe 3.0 as well, with performance dropping by 4% on average.

To illustrate the difference made by running the RTX 3050 on a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface, instead of PCIe 4.0 x8, below we can see a chart showing the RTX 3050's PCIe 3.0 performance, relative to its PCIe 4.0 performance.

Broadly speaking, PCIe 3.0 is not going to be a limitation for the RTX 3050. In all but three of the games we tested, we saw less than a 5% differential between PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0. However, the likes of Forza Horizon 5, Far Cry 6 and particularly Total War Saga: Troy do see some benefit to using this card on a PCIe 4.0 platform. Even then, the results are clearly nowhere near as disastrous as using the RX 6500 XT on a PCIe 3.0 platform, but it is worth noting.

Here we present frame rate figures for each graphics card, averaged across all 12 games on test today. These figures can disguise significant variations in performance from game to game, but provide a useful overview of the sort of performance you can expect at each resolution tested.

Looking at the big picture overview, after all of our game benchmarks it is not a surprise to see the RTX 3050 is 5% faster on average than the GTX 1660 Super, though that drops to basically nothing if testing the RTX 3050 on PCIe 3.0. Compared to the RTX 2060, the RTX 3050 comes in 14% slower on average, so it is a decent chunk behind the 2060. The RX 6600, meanwhile, is 32% faster, despite the MSRP only being 25% higher, but as we know MSRP doesn’t mean anything these days.

To assess the RTX 3050’s ray tracing, we tested it in Cyberpunk 2077, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition and Resident Evil Village. In each case, ray tracing was set to its lowest in-game setting:

• Cyberpunk 2077: Ray Traced Lighting at Medium. Ray traced reflections and ray traced shadows turned off.
• Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition:  Ray Tracing set to Normal.
• Resident Evil Village: Ray traced reflections and shadows set to Low.

For games that support the technology, we have added an extra data point for the RTX 3050 when benchmarked with DLSS set to Quality mode.

We will also touch on ray tracing – after all, the RTX 3050 is Nvidia’s first sub-£300 card to feature the technology. I’m not sure how many people will want to turn it on, but it can do a decent-enough job when using lower RT quality settings, as we can see in Cyberpunk and Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, but turning on DLSS goes a long way to making things more playable.

Generally, we are looking at RT performance below the RTX 2060 so I wouldn’t say it is a killer addition for the RTX 3050, but at least you can enable the technology without absolutely tanking the frame rate.

DLSS is certainly a much bigger selling point for a GPU of this class. To illustrate that, we have re-tested three games at 1080p and 1440p, but this time with DLSS Quality mode enabled. Of course, actual image quality plays a huge part as to whether or not you would want to use DLSS and we have conducted numerous image quality analyses in the past, but these benchmarks show the performance gains on offer.

In Cyberpunk 2077, DLSS Quality mode provides a whopping 53% performance uplift over native resolution at 1080p, and it’s the difference between a pretty choppy 33 FPS on average versus a smooth 53 FPS average when we step up to 1440p.

The gains may not be as big in Horizon Zero Dawn, but an extra 28% performance at 1080p is not to be scoffed at all, plus that increases to a 42% frame rate boost at 1440p.

Lastly, in Watch Dogs: Legion, we see a 22% increase to frame rates at 1080p, taking the RTX 3050 above the RTX 2060’s native performance. Up at 1440p, with DLSS Quality the RTX 3050 can now hit over 60 FPS, with frame rates receiving a 32% boost.

Using the average frame rate data presented earlier in the review, here we look at the cost per frame using the USD ($) MSRP launch prices for each GPU.

Cost per frame based on MSRP pricing is only useful in an academic sense these days, but it is interesting to look at nonetheless. It doesn't paint a pretty picture for the RTX 3050, with a cost per frame increase compared to the likes of the GTX 1660 Super and RTX 3060. Even the RX 6600 is offering superior value in terms of the rasterised performance, at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions.

Here we test both the Gigabyte RTX 3050 Eagle and the Palit RTX 3050 StormX OC. You can see why we didn't benchmark both cards in every single game – the only difference between the two is that the StormX OC ships with a 30MHz factory overclock, but across our tests we did not see more than a 0.7% difference between the two models.

Here we present the average clock speed for each graphics card while running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes. We use GPU-Z to record the GPU core frequency during gameplay. We calculate the average core frequency during the 30 minute run to present here.

Clock speed analysis tells us exactly what we expected to see – the Palit RTX 3050 StormX OC does run fractionally faster than the Eagle as a result of its factory overclock, but we're talking the difference between 1902MHz and 1876MHz. In other words, there's basically no difference, which is why real-world performance between the two is so similar.

For our temperature testing, we measure the peak GPU core temperature under load. A reading under load comes from running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

Interestingly, thermal results are also very similar between these two models. Both saw a peak GPU temperature of 65C, but the StormX OC's hot spot temperature hit 76C, compared to 80C for the Eagle. I would have expected the Eagle to run cooler as it is a bigger card, with 2x 90mm fans instead of a single 100mm fan as well. We have to remember the StormX OC heatsink was designed for the RTX 3060 however, and actually has an extra two heatpipes than the Eagle, which can make a big difference.

We take our noise measurements with the sound meter positioned 1 foot from the graphics card. I measured the noise floor to be 32 dBA, thus anything above this level can be attributed to the graphics cards. The power supply is passive for the entire power output range we tested all graphics cards in, while all CPU and system fans were disabled. A reading under load comes from running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

The extra heatpipes seem to help the StormX OC run its single fan at a lower speed, too. We saw the fan hit 41%, or 1270rpm, where the Eagle ramped its fans up to 1910rpm (79%), resulting in slightly higher noise levels. Neither card is what I would describe as ‘loud', but the StormX OC is a couple of decibels quieter.

Following on from our stock thermal and acoustic testing, here we re-test the operating temperature of the GPU, but with noise levels normalised to 40dBa. This allows us to measure the efficiency of the overall cooling solution as varying noise levels as a result of more aggressive fan curves are no longer a factor.

To put all of that into perspective, our noise-normalised thermals do show us that the StormX OC's heatsink is the more efficient design. Both are absolutely good enough to cool an 130W RTX 3050, but the StormX OC ran 2C cooler on the GPU and 5C cooler for the hot spot temperature.

Here we present power draw figures for the graphics card-only, on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 1080p. This is measured using Nvidia's Power Capture Analysis Tool, also known as PCAT. You can read more about our updated power draw testing methodology HERE.

Per-Game Results at 1080p:

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 1080p:

Over the twelve games we tested, the RTX 3050 averaged 119W power draw, meaning it is fractionally less power hungry than the GTX 1660 Super, and just a bit above the RX 5500 XT 8GB.

Here we present power draw figures for the graphics card-only, on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 1440p. This is measured using Nvidia's Power Capture Analysis Tool, also known as PCAT. You can read more about our updated power draw testing methodology HERE.

Per-Game Results at 1440p:

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 1440p:

Average power draw does increase slightly at 1440p, up to 124W, putting the RTX 3050 within a single Watt of the GTX 1660 Super.

Using the graphics card-only power draw figures presented earlier in the review, here we present performance per Watt on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 1080p.

Per-Game Results at 1080p:

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 1080p:

Performance per Watt is OK for the RTX 3050, but it is no better than the RTX 3060 and barely ahead of the GTX 1650 Super. The RX 6600 is the clear market leader in this class, offering 27% better performance per Watt.

Using the graphics card-only power draw figures presented earlier in the review, here we present performance per Watt on a per-game basis for all twelve games we tested at 1440p.

Per-Game Results at 1440p:

Click to enlarge.

12-Game Average at 1440p:

Not much changes at 1440p either. The RTX 3060 is still fractionally more efficient, while the RTX 3050 offers less than 5% more performance per Watt than the GTX 1650 Super.

We measure system-wide power draw from the wall while running Cyberpunk 2077 for 30 minutes.

Both RTX 3050s we tested have the same 130W power limit, and total system power draw hit just over 260W for those cards.

For our manual overclocking tests, we used MSI Afterburner. Our best results are as below.

RTX 3050 Eagle:

RTX 3050 StormX OC:

Both cards were able to increase their operating clock speeds by over 150MHz, though we can note the Eagle clocked slightly higher as its power limit can be increased by 10%, whereas the StormX OC's remains locked at 130W.

Both cards saw performance increases of between 8-11%, which is not bad at all and shows there is some untapped headroom in the RTX 3050 – as demonstrated in Hitman 3, where we saw over a 10 FPS boost.

Power draw did increase by 13W for the Eagle, but as the StormX OC's power limit cannot be increased, there was no real difference shown.

Almost a year on from the release of the RTX 3060, Nvidia has finally brought the RTX 3050 to the desktop market. We know graphics card pricing is a mess right now – though we are cautiously optimistic – but even so, this is the first sub-£300/$300 RTX dGPU to hit the market, three and a half years on from the technology's introduction.

Putting RTX to one side for now, many gamers will be eager to see how the RTX 3050 performs in rasterised titles, especially after the disappointment of last week's RX 6500 XT launch. Well, the RTX 3050 is the faster card – but that's not saying much. Compared to the GTX 1660 Super, it is 5% faster on average, while it's 14% slower than the RTX 2060. It's solid enough performance for a 1080p card, and in fact 1440p gaming isn't out of the question. You won't be hitting 60 FPS at max settings in titles like Cyberpunk 2077 or Red Dead Redemption 2, but plenty of games we tested saw average frame rates in the 40-50 FPS region when using High settings.

Those with PCIe 3.0 systems will also be glad to know that Nvidia's decision to use a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface is of little consequence for gaming. Three of the twelve games we tested saw performance decrease by 5% or more when using PCIe 3.0, with Total War Saga: Troy being the biggest offender, but by and large it doesn't really matter, particularly with 8GB GDDR6 memory on board which we feel should be the new standard for this class of GPU.

I am not so sure many people will bother with the card's ray tracing features though. RT performance is really just ‘OK', but it is always slower than the RTX 2060 in the titles we tested, so you won't be enabling the most taxing ray tracing features anyway. DLSS on the other hand really is a big inclusion as it can make a massive difference to your frame rates, even when sticking with the Quality mode. In fact, DLSS in many cases could get this card up to a solid 60 FPS at 1440p which just isn't possible at native resolution.

With no Founders Edition released for either the RTX 3060 or RTX 3050, today we have tested both the Gigabyte RTX 3050 Eagle and the Palit RTX 3050 StormX OC. Both are solid options, offering low noise levels and sub-70C GPU temperatures. In fact, the StormX OC did prove slightly more efficient in its heatsink design, thanks to its use of three heatpipes, instead of just the one in the Eagle. Neither will let you down but we do like just how compact the StormX OC really is.

We were also able to extract a decent chunk of extra performance via overclocking, with the Eagle hitting clock speeds of over 2100MHz, while the StormX OC averaging just under that. That resulted in performance increases of 8-11% in the games we re-tested, so overclocking the card is well worth doing.

On the whole, the RTX 3050 isn't a bad product – certainly not in the same way as the RX 6500 XT – but I couldn't really be more generous than that. I'd put it in the same category as the RX 6600 and RX 6600 XT, cards that I would describe as ‘pandemic GPUs' – meaning both AMD and Nvidia know pretty much anything will sell in this market, so there's no real incentive to push things forward.

That's illustrated by the comparison to the GTX 1660 Super. In a fiercely competitive market, we would certainly have seen more than a 5% improvement to average frame rates, and while DLSS is a great addition for the RTX 3050, rasterisation performance in this price class hasn't moved forward since October 2019.

We're also hearing that supply is going to be very limited in the UK, with just a handful of cards expected to hit the £239 MSRP – and once they're gone, prices will increase significantly. I wouldn't be surprised to see street pricing of £350 in a few weeks, maybe even higher. Considering second-hand GTX 1660 Supers sell for around £290-350, the real-world cost is worth keeping a close eye on. Even the RX 6600 at £440 could be worth a look if 3050s get too expensive, considering the Radeon GPU is over 30% faster.

The RTX 3050 goes on sale tomorrow, January 27th, at 2PM GMT. You can view a range of cards from Overclockers UK HERE. We've been told both Palit and Gigabyte are aiming to have cards at MSRP for launch, but they are not expected to last long.

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Gigabyte RTX 3050 Eagle

Pros

• Decent 1080p performance.
• DLSS is a great addition.
• Overclocked well.
• Cool and quiet.

Cons

• Hardly faster than GTX 1660 Super from October 2019.
• Significantly less power efficient than RX 6600.

Palit RTX 3050 StormX OC

Pros

• Decent 1080p performance.
• DLSS is a great addition.
• Overclocked well.
• Cool and quiet.
• Very compact.

Cons

• Hardly faster than GTX 1660 Super from October 2019.
• Significantly less power efficient than RX 6600.

KitGuru says: RTX 3050 isn't a bad product, but it's not great either.

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