Nvidia may launch two RTX 3050 GPUs with 4GB and 8GB of memory

We've been hearing rumours about the RTX 3050 desktop graphics card for a little while now, although most have focused on a variant with 4GB of VRAM. As it turns out, Nvidia may have a second version of this card planned with 8GB of memory and more CUDA cores. 

According to Twitter leaker, @kopite7kimi, this GPU was supposed to feature a variant of the GA107 GPU, the same die as the laptop models. However, this was apparently later changed to the GA106, the same die as the RTX 3060.

RTX 3050
GA106-150, 2560FP32, 8G
GA106-140, 2304FP32, 4G

— kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi) December 16, 2021

Now, the story has changed slightly again, with the leaker claiming that the RTX 3050 4GB graphics card will use a GA106-140 GPU with 2304 CUDA cores. Then, there will be a higher-end 8GB version using the GA106-150 GPU with 2560 CUDA cores, as well as 20 RT cores and 80 Tensor Cores.

For now, Nvidia has not officially announced the RTX 3050 for desktop. However, Nvidia will be making a number of announcements at CES in January, so we may get a proper announcement then.

KitGuru says: It's strange to see Nvidia using the GA106 GPU in these SKUs, considering the GA107 GPU has 2560 CUDA cores and a 128-bit memory bus already. Perhaps the decision could be down to yield rates, but we won't know for sure unless Nvidia confirms one way or the other. 

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