A GeForce RTX 3050 With 6GB Of VRAM Lands At Retail, Fanless Model Coming Too
With the new year upon us, gamers are highly anticipating several new GPU releases such as NVIDIA's GeForce RTX Super refresh slated to be coming soon (perhaps at CES next week). Keen not to ignore the entry-level offerings, there may also be new GeForce RTX 3050 6GB GPUs on the way to balance out the market.
Three Palit GeForce RTX 3050 cards purportedly with 6GB of VRAM have been spotted on a Russian retail website. The GeForce RTX 3050 6GB Kalm X (NE63050018JE-1070H), GeForce RTX 3050 Storm X (NE63050018JE-1070F), and an overclocked GeForce RTX 3050 Storm X OC (NE63050S18JE-1070F). The existing GeForce RTX 3050 comes with 8GB of VRAM, so we'd expect some kind of price drop for gamers to be content with 6GB.
Three Palit GeForce RTX 3050 cards purportedly with 6GB of VRAM have been spotted on a Russian retail website. The GeForce RTX 3050 6GB Kalm X (NE63050018JE-1070H), GeForce RTX 3050 Storm X (NE63050018JE-1070F), and an overclocked GeForce RTX 3050 Storm X OC (NE63050S18JE-1070F). The existing GeForce RTX 3050 comes with 8GB of VRAM, so we'd expect some kind of price drop for gamers to be content with 6GB.
While overclocked models make more sense on higher-end GPUs, here it is used to differentiate the models by some minor changes. The GeForce RTX 3050 Storm X OC gets a 1,024 MHz base clock and boosts to 1,777 MHz. Of interest to note is that all three of these GPUs are not using the full x16 PCIe lane connector found on most other GPUs. Instead, they are limited to only 8 PCIe lanes at Gen 4.0 speeds, which is likely fine for the performance offered.
The existing GeForce RTX 3050 with 8GB of VRAM has a 128-bit memory bus, which is likely to be cut down to a narrower 96-bit memory bus on these 6GB variants. This may also bring in a slightly lower TDP for its power draw, which is currently unconfirmed. A lower heat output would make sense for the fanless Palit GeForce RTX 3050 Kalm X that has also appeared, with passive cooling in place of any active fans.
The existing GeForce RTX 3050 with 8GB of VRAM has a 128-bit memory bus, which is likely to be cut down to a narrower 96-bit memory bus on these 6GB variants. This may also bring in a slightly lower TDP for its power draw, which is currently unconfirmed. A lower heat output would make sense for the fanless Palit GeForce RTX 3050 Kalm X that has also appeared, with passive cooling in place of any active fans.
While gamers often obsess about competition between the GPU brands in the mid and especially high-end range, this entry-level sector is also vital due to being more budget friendly (and therefore accessible to a wider audience). AMD's Radeon GPUs have been putting a lot of pressure on NVIDIA in this segment of the market. While models such as AMD's Radeon RX 7600 and RX 7600 XT are competitive with NVIDIA's latest offerings, they help to put pressure on lowering prices for products such as the GeForce RTX 3050.
Intel has been blazing a trail recently as well, with its various GPUs such as the Intel Arc A750 getting significant driver updates to make it more compelling. With VRAM being a key factor, even for budget-minded gamers, 6GB variants from NVIDIA are likely to remain less popular and have particular use cases that account for lower pricing and power draw.
Intel has been blazing a trail recently as well, with its various GPUs such as the Intel Arc A750 getting significant driver updates to make it more compelling. With VRAM being a key factor, even for budget-minded gamers, 6GB variants from NVIDIA are likely to remain less popular and have particular use cases that account for lower pricing and power draw.
