Following Team Green’s introduction of the RTX 40 Super series back at CES 2024, we have been eagerly awaiting the release of this mysterious budget gaming GPU, which has finally revealed today! Nvidia has updated its RTX 30 series portfolio with a new RTX 3050 graphics card with 6GB memory!
A new RTX 3050 with a reduced 6GB GDDR6 VRAM capacity was in the works, as we previously reported, and it has finally launched at a cheaper price! Several of the details that were leaked before today, like its VRAM capacity and lower power needs, have proven to be accurate.
On the specifications page for GeForce RTX 3050 6GB, Nvidia mentions this GPU requires only a 300W power supply. On the other hand, the RTX 3050 8GB is known to require a 550W power supply instead. After the original 8GB variant was released two years ago, Nvidia updated its RTX lineup of GPUs further to give users an option under $200. This is now the cheapest RTX graphics card.
The RTX 3050 6GB is downgraded from the original 8GB variant. The 6GB variant of RTX 3050 has a total graphics power (TGP) of 70W, which is almost halved from its 8GB variant (130W). The other key differences include a lower 2304 CUDA core count on the 6GB model as compared to 2560 on the 8GB.
Moreover, the clocks are lower at 1.04 GHz (Base) and 1.47 GHz (Boost) for the RTX 3050 6GB. The original 8GB model goes up to 1.78 GHz, so the new 6GB model has a 21% lower boost clock speed.
The supplementary power connectors section mentions that the 8GB card demands one 8-pin PCIe power connector. No such dedicated power requirement is mentioned for the RTX 3050 6GB. In this case, the RTX 3050 6GB GPU will pull power from the motherboard’s PCIe slot it is installed in. The lower VRAM is paired with a smaller Memory Interface Width at 96-bit.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6GB: Price & Availability
The official price for the RTX 3050 6GB hasn’t been revealed just yet. According to leaks, the price is going to be under $200. The RTX 3050 6GB should cost somewhere around $179. Moreover, we are already seeing various retailer listings. German hardware retailer Mindfactory.de has listed the RTX 3050 with 6GB VRAM capacity visible on the box as well.