Introducing a Trimmed-down GeForce RTX 3050 with 6GB Memory for $179 – A Blow to Ryzen 7 8700G

The Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 now officially has an affordable 6GB version. This variant reveals a decrease in video memory volume, fewer CUDA cores, less power, and a more accessible price tag, compared to the 8GB version. Nevertheless, the card’s gaming functionality provided at the affordable rate is expected to reduce the need for the AMD Ryzen 7 8700G hybrid processor.

Nvidia has not yet registered the 6GB GeForce RTX 3050 on their website, but its existence has been confirmed from other sources. The German retailer Mindfactory recently listed two 6GB MSI GeForce RTX 3050 cards for sale, priced from €185 ($179), confirming rumors about the card’s price point in the US. These offerings, however, have been removed, suggesting premature release.

Moreover, Gigabyte’s press release about a pair of new 6GB versions, including the GeForce RTX 3050 Eagle OC 6G, validated the 6GB GeForce RTX 3050’s imminent release. Both cards, repeating the design of the 8GB version, have fundamental cooling systems, two HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs, requiring no additional power.

Interestingly, the MSI GeForce RTX 3050 6GB versions only have three display connectors and also lack additional power connectors. Normal as well as a low-profile version will be provided by MSI.

Significantly, a sneak peak of Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3050 Eagle OC 6G’s circuit board on Goofish revealed a new GPU, GA107-325 not utilized in any RTX 3050 versions till now. Presence of this 8GB version’s GPU also indicates lack of power connectors.

The renewed GeForce RTX 3050 version has a CPU with only 2304 CUDA cores, 10% less than the 8GB version. The card works with a power restriction of 70 watts – a 40% decrease in power consumption. The video memory volume decrease has also affected the memory bus width that was curtailed from 128-bit to 96-bit.

Moreover, this latest offering is expected to perform better than the built-in Radeon 780M graphics in the Ryzen 7 8700G hybrid processor, which was unsuccessful in challenging the GeForce GTX 1650, even when overclocked and with faster operating memory. It now allows consumers to obtain the Nvidia’s offering with an Intel Core i5-12400 at a similar cost of $329 to the AMD processor.