If you are looking for an affordable card with sufficient performance for most games in FullHD, the Nvidia Geforce RTX 3050 is exactly the right model – as long as you get the card for an acceptable price. After all, the RRP of some manufacturers for an RTX 3050 is “only” 279 euros.
For the price an absolute buy recommendation. Because: no card in this price segment offers so much performance. The Radeon RX 6500 XT, quasi the competition from AMD, is significantly slower in comparison.
As with many previous Nvidia series, there is no longer a Founders Edition. The different cooler solutions and boost clocks ex-works are correspondingly diverse. There are models with only one, with two, but also with three fans for cooling.
Usually, two slots are required, but a few cards are only satisfied with 2.5 slots. In terms of features, the RTX 3050 is pretty generous. A total of four connections for monitors are available, some with two HDMI 2.1 and two DP 1.4 connections, but also 1 x HDMI 2.1 and three DP 1.4 connections. The 8 GB GDDR6 memory is a big plus. AMD only donates half of this to the entry-level RX 6500 XT card.
The selection is currently not big with the RTX 3050 models. Above all, the price is currently far above the declared recommended retail price, which is mainly due to the very poor availability.
The HardwareSchotte editorial team has listed the currently best Nvidia Geforce RTX 3050 graphics cards with the current best prices.
The new entry-level graphics cards from nVidia
- GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3050 ELITE 8G
- MSI GeForce RTX 3050 GAMING X 8G
- ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 3050 OC 8GB
- GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3050 GAMING OC 8G
- GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3050 WINDFORCE OC 8G
- Inno3d GeForce RTX 3050 TWIN X2
What do I have to consider when buying a new graphics card?
There are a few things to consider when buying a new graphics card. Many older housings already set a limit, especially with the length of the card. But the slots, e.g. in very small mini ITX cases, can also limit the selection of the graphics card. If you prefer a quieter card, you should also pay attention to a correspondingly quiet cooling solution.
What PSU do I need for an RTX 3050 graphics card?
The RTX 3050 from Nvidia is comparatively frugal in terms of power consumption – not least because only an 8-pin PCIe power connector is required for operation. The average power consumption under load is around 130 watts. As a result, a good 500-watt power supply is completely sufficient to supply an RTX 3050 with sufficient power.
In our power supply purchase advice, you will surely find the right power supply
What is the difference between an RTX 3050 and RTX 3060?
The performance of an RTX 3050 is about 40 percent below that of an RTX 3060 and almost five percent above the older GTX 1660 Super. Thanks to RTX technology but with ray tracing support.
Why is there hardly any nVidia Geforce RTX 3050 left?
The graphics card market, especially at Nvidia, is pretty empty. In addition to the general lack of chips, the reason is also mining. Therefore, many graphics cards do not even find their way into the trade, since they are already bought directly from the manufacturers or distributors by mining farms. The RTX 3050 is also comparatively cheap, which is why many who have been waiting for a relatively cheap gaming graphics card for a long time are now turning to the RTX 3050.
For which resolutions is the Nvidia RTX 3050 optimal?
The RTX 3050 is intended as an entry-level graphics card and therefore makes sense for a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, i.e. FullHD unless you want to play everything on ultra and ray tracing. For keys above this, it can only be used with compromises, i.e. by reducing the settings.
