NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB Review: Palit RTX 3050 Dual OC in Full-HD and WQHD with DLSS doping

1 - Intro, Unboxing, Data and Test System 2 - Teardown, PCB Analysis and Cooler Details 3 - Gaming Performance Full-HD 4 - Gaming Performance WQHD 5 - Details: Frames per Second (Curve) 6 - Details: Percentiles (Curve) 7 - Details: Frame Times (Curve) 8 - Details: Frame Times (Bar) 9 - Details: Variances (Bar) 10 - Power Draw of GPU & CPU and Gaming Efficiency 11 - Power Consumption, Transients and PSU Recommendation 12 - Temperatures, Clock Rate and Infrared Tests 13 - Fan Speed, Noise and Frequency Analysis 14 - Summary and Conclusion

Game performance

In the following result overviews, I have cumulated the average FPS of all cards and in all games on the one hand, and then calculated and compared this in percent. I tested a total of 10 games and in Full HD, almost all of them are still going strong. We should never forget that this is not cherry-picking, but that there are games in the selection that can easily break through the fair weather front in any situation. However, the Radeon RX 6500XT that was also tested becomes a side note and politely ensures that the GeForce RTX 3050 does not fall below in the charts, at least visually.

The GeForce RTX 3050 shows that it is the 2/3 card of the full GA106 mentioned at the beginning, because it manages 73% of the performance of a GeForce RTX 3060 on average, which would also be the actual state on paper if you include the OC.

This also continues in the 1% low FPS (P1), where it is even almost 75% of the GeForce RTX 3050. If you want to slim down for the Full HD segment, then do it like this and not like with the Radeon RX 6500X, where Navi 24 is actually a converted notebook graphics. It was already clear before the launch that this would go wrong, unfortunately. Because the GeForce RTX 3050 actually has no real counterpart from AMD. However, since we know that NVUDIA’s spies work well, an Intel card in the performance range of the GeForce RTX 3050 would not be surprising. But we’ll have to wait until Raja and Pat get out of the pots.

Especially at lower resolutions in Full HD (and in certain games also in WQHD with DLSS), this card is a viable alternative in the entry-level segment. Sure, you might want to set the presets to Normal or Medium for some AAA titles when it comes to higher FPS rates, but a lot of stuff is still playable at Maximum or High as well. Especially DLSS has never been as valuable for this battle dwarf as it is today. If you rather focus on performance and dampen the other settings a bit as well as completely forgo the DXR effects, you can even keep up with the flow quite well in WQHD in the suitable games.

Otherwise, DLSS in WQHD also allows DXR in lower levels, which was probably the intention. If you have also looked at the page with the variances, you will also have seen that there is quite a round image progression here. The FPS or percentiles are still much too rough intervals to be able to depict this very subjective impression well.

And while we were on the subject of moving images, the new Ampere cards also natively support AV1 in the decoder (Intel’s Xe will probably do the same). But why AV1? The codec is up to 50% more efficient than H.264, which means you only need half the internet bandwidth to transmit the same quality – including HDR and also 10-bit encoding. That would go up to 8K – theoretically. Unfortunately, the practice even with the cable providers in Germany looks rather lukewarm. But the beginnings are made and the will counts somehow, even if I miss the 8K TV.

Yes, you can even work quite fast with the GeForce RTX 3050, even though the efficiency is still a bit worse than with the GeForce RTX 3060. So, the non-gamers will be happy because the wallet will be noticeably relieved. Because if the software does not require a certified driver, even CAD applications usually run smoothly. Office works anyway, and all the AI stuff is fully supported as well. Which, of course, also applies to video editing. In general, the RTX 3050 does not cut a bad figure, even though it lacks power for higher resolutions above Full HD without DLSS.

Palit RTX 3050 Dual OC 8GB

Visually and haptically, Palit’s graphics card is okay and since the card has at least inherited the genes of the RTX 3060 and 3060 Ti Dual in terms of cooler construction and PCB design, it is still well-sized despite the slimming diet. The cooling fits (except for the VRM in the stress test) and an annoying operating noise is also not present – a graphics card can quite happily come to the customer like this (and sound like this), even if the list price rather belongs to the fable realm and you can rather assume 500 Euros. There is nothing more to report, because she did exactly what you could expect from her.

Of course, the card’s savings measures are noticeable, be it the four fully demanded phases of the GPU power supply or the one at the memory. There are no great lighting effects either and the dress is made of dull plastic instead of alumunium. But what the heck, it counts in the field and there this RTX 3050 is certainly just as good (or bad) as any other OC card from other manufacturers. Unique selling propositions cost extra, and no one wants that.

Conclusion and final remarks

In general, the GeForce RTX 3050 is quite successful, because it is positioned exactly where I had predicted it a long time ago. It is the typical 2/3-salvage and thus better than a GTX 1650 Super, costs (MSRP) not more but less than its counterpart back then, and it has become significantly more performant and efficient. However, for a final assessment, including that of the market positioning, one will fairly have to keep an eye on the street prices.

The MSRP of 279 Euros mentioned by NVIDIA as the starting price for the most basic models is certainly an incentive, but there is also initial information about the board partner cards that they (and especially the OC models) should turn out to be significantly more expensive. And then there is the completely crazy market, which currently drives prices to astronomical heights that have nothing to do with the RRP. If the cards are currently available in the stores at all.

Whether NVIDIA’s trick with the mining brake remains effective at all for a few mining applications will also have to be seen. Let’s hope so, because this is exactly what will strongly influence the customers’ verdict about the new card and NVIDIA will have to measure itself against the statements made in the run-up to the launch. After all, what good is an empty box in the shop window whose contents you couldn’t pay for anyway? And just like with the GeForce RTX 3060, nothing applies. But as we all know, hope dies last.

The card was provided to igorsLAB by Palit under NDA for testing with the condition not to fall below the specified release date for the case of the NDA. There was no possible influence of the manufacturer on the test and the results, nor was there any obligation to publish them. The sample from Nvidia unfortunately arrived too late and will be presented in a later review.