GeForce RTX 3050 Review With EVGA: Potent, Mainstream PC Gaming

We spent some  time overclocking the new EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC Black Gaming to see what kind of additional performance we could wring-out of the card. Before we get to our results, though, we'd like to provide some additional background as it relates to overclocking Ampere-based GeForce cards...

Overclocking The EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC

Ampere-based GeForce RTX 30-series cards like the EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC Black feature GPU Boost just like previous-gen GeForces. GPU Boost scales frequencies and voltages up and down based on the GPU's workload and environmental conditions at the time, within predetermined power and thermal limits. Should a temperature or power limit be reached, GPU Boost will drop down to the previous boost frequency/voltage stepping, in an attempt to bring power and temperatures down gradually, without causing any drastic performance swings, and remain within that card's particular thermal and power envelopes.

As we've mentioned in previous coverage, NVIDIA has segmented the core and memory power rails with its latest GPUs. It has also significantly tweaked and tuned interfaces on RTX 30-series to optimize signal integrity and power delivery to the GPU and GDDR6 memory, which should help with overclocking when there is power headroom available. With that said, like previous-gen Turing-based cards, the GeForce RTX 30-series is still typically power-limited to prevent damage and ensure longevity, and that power limit is what will usually determine a card's overclocking capabilities, if it hasn't been modified in any way.


NVIDIA offers an automatic overclocking scanner tool should users want to generate a specifically tailored frequency and voltage curve for their card. But, you can also overclock manually, which is what we did here. In lieu of using the NVIDIA Scanner, we kept things simple and used the frequency and voltage offsets, and the power and temperature target sliders, available in EVGA's latest Precision X utility, to manually push the EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC Black beyond stock.

First, we cranked up the temperature and power targets, then we increased the GPU and memory clock offsets until the test system was no longer stable, showed on-screen artifacts, or performance peaked due to hitting the power limit. With the EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC Black, the power target can be increased by 13% and the temperature target from 83°C to 90°C. Even while overclocked though, the card never hit its power limit and didn't even come close to the target temperature -- this thing runs nice and cool.


When all was said and done, the EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC Black nearly hit the 2.2GHz mark on the GPU, with an effective memory speed just over 14.6Gbps. While we had our card overclocked, we re-ran a few tests and saw some marked performance increases; not enough to overtake the next fastest card, but enough to close the gap a bit.

Total System And Power Consumption

EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC Summary And Verdict

The big two GPU makers both came out of CES 2022 gunning for mainstream gamers with 1080p displays. While AMD targeted a sub-$200 price point (with its MSRP at least), the Radeon RX 6500 XT failed to impress. It’s an adequate GPU for budget gaming, but its 4GB frame buffer holds it back with many modern games and effectively neuters its ray tracing support. This launch from NVIDIA, however, ticks all of the right boxes. As the “GeForce RTX 3050” series branding implies, the RTX 3050 should be a generational leap over the previous-gen GTX 1650 it supplants in NVIDIA’s GPU line-up. And NVIDIA hit that target – the GeForce RTX 3050 is a huge upgrade over older xx50-series cards that not only offers much better performance, but additional feature support as well. The GA106 isn’t hamstrung in any way versus other 30-series cards either; it’s simply scaled down to address more affordable price points.

Of course, in the current market, “affordable price points” is relative. The GeForce RTX 3050 has a base MSRP of $249. And the EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC Black is one of the partner boards that will carry that $249 MSRP. We are told, however, that some partners (like ASUS), will have decked-out, overclocked GeForce RTX 3050s with MSRPs as high at $489. Regardless of MSRP though, the current reality in the GPU market means scoring one of these cards will likely be difficult, as it has been for virtually every current-gen GPU for a while now, and that insatiable demand will likely drive up street pricing. Where the GeForce RTX 3050’s retail pricing and availability lands, will play out in the coming days and weeks.

All of that said, NVIDIA strikes all of the right chords with the GeForce RTX 3050. The card offers plenty of performance for its target audience, it’s overclockable, it runs cools and quiet, and it doesn’t lack feature support relative to its higher-end counterparts in the RTX 30-series. If you’re in the market for a mainstream GPU and happen to find an RTX 3050 at a reasonable price, we can easily recommend it.

	Cool And Quiet Respectable Performance Full Ampere Feature Set 8GB Of Memory Good Overclocker	Won't Appeal To RTX 20-Series Owners Wide Range Of Expected Prices From Partners (some nearly double NVIDIA MSRP)