NVIDIA Quietly Launches 6GB GeForce RTX 3050, How The Specs Compare To The 8GB Model
Without much fanfare—or any at all, really—NVIDIA has officially added a cut-down version of its budget GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card to its lineup. As has been extensively leaked and rumored over the past several weeks, the newest entry-level part sheds a couple gigabytes of VRAM for 6GB total, along with some other key changes.
The new part also sports a narrower 96-bit bus (compared to 128-bit on the 8GB model), which results in 168GB/s of memory bandwidth, versus 224GB/s.
Here's an overview of other differences between the 6GB and 8GB variants, plucked direct from NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3050 product page...
As you can see, the 6GB features 10% fewer CUDA cores (2,304 versus 2,560) and slower base and boost clocks—those check in at 1.04GHz and 1.47GHz, respectively, versus 1.78GHz and 1.55GHz, according to NVIDIA's specs table.
One other important change is the power draw. Whereas the 8GB model is a 130W part, the new 6GB model is a lower power card at 70W, which is significantly less. And as such, it doesn't require a supplementary 8-pin PCI Express power connector, or any power connector—simply plugging it into a PCIe slot provides all the power it needs.
It will be interesting to see where pricing lands in the US, assuming the 6GB GeForce RTX 3050 finds it way stateside. So far, we've only seen some listings overseas. For example, Mindfactory.de lists a pair of custom cards from MSI, including the GeForce RTX 3050 Ventus 2X 6G OC at €184.33 (~$199 in USD) and a low profile GeForce RTX 3050 LP 6G OC for €218.99 (~$236 in USD). The Ventus listing erroneously labels it as having 8GB of VRAM despite the "6G" in the model name.
Additionally, the folks at TechPowerUp got their hands on a press release from Gigabyte confirming that it too plans on release at least two models—GeForce RTX 3050 Eagle OC 6G and GeForce RTX 3050 OC Low Profile 6G. It's not surprising to see NVIDIA's partners pounce on low profile designs, given the lower power requirement of the newest budget GPU.
With regards to pricing in the US, as a point of reference the cheapest we found for the 8GB model currently is PNY's GeForce RTX 3050 Verto Dual card for $220 on Amazon. Most cards are closer to its $249 MSRP. Partners and retailers will likely need to get 6GB models priced under $200 for this to be a compelling option, given the specs disparity that extend beyond the amount of VRAM. Naturally, that will depend in large part on how NVIDIA has set the MSRP, which it hasn't publicly announced.
