NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop) vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop)

NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 (Desktop)

The Nvidia GeForce GT 1030 (sometime GTX 1030 called) is an entry level dedicated graphics card for desktops. It is based on the GP108 chip using the Pascal architecture in 14nm FinFET. It features three streaming multiprocessors (SMs) and therefore 384 shader cores, 24 texture units and 16 ROPs. The 2 GB GDDR5 memory are connected with two 32 Bit memory controller (48 GBit/s). The shaders are identical to other Pascal cards like the GTX 1050 and therefore also the support for DirectX 12 FL 12_1.

The performance is slightly below the Radeon RX 550 from AMD and therefore only suited for low to medium detail settings of modern games like Battlefield 1.

The TDP of the GT1030 is specified as 30 Watt.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Mobile

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 for laptops (GN20-S7) is a fast mid-range gaming graphics card for laptops. The RTX 2050 is based on the modern Ampere GA107 chip (like the RTX 3050) which is manufactured on an 8nm Samsung process (8N). Compared to the similar GeForce MX570, the RTX2050 offers Raytracing and DLSS support.

Compared to the old Geforce RTX 2060 Mobile, the 2050 offers more shaders (2,048) but a greatly reduced memory bus (64 Bit). It is available in different versions with with TGPs ranging from 30 to 45 Watt. The maximum boost clock ranges from 1155 to 1477 MHz. It features up to 4 GB GDDR6 graphics memory (14 Gbps leading to 112 GB/s max throughput).

The gaming performance of the mobile RTX 2050 should be clearly lower than the RTX 2060 thanks to the greatly reduced graphics memory bus. First benchmarks position a fast version slightly above a GeForce GTX 1650 and on the same level of a GeForce MX570. However, games that support DLSS can offer clear performance advantages thanks to the Tensor cores.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (Desktop)

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 is a graphics card for desktops and high end laptops (upcoming, see our article for the mobile GTX 1060 for benchmarks and specs). It is based on the Pascal architecture and manufactured in 16 nm FinFET at TSMC. The GPU is be based on the smaller GP106 chip. In laptops it has the codename N17E-G1 and will be the successor to the old GTX 970M (predecessor). The laptop version should be launched in August 2016. The desktop version is already out.

The performance of the 6 GB version is on par with an older GeForce GTX 980 (desktop and laptop). Therefore, 1080p gaming at highest detail is currently the best use case for the card. A comprehensive review of the desktop GeForce GTX 1060 Founders Edition with 6 GB GDDR5 can be found here. Beware, the upcoming 3 GB desktop variant should feature 128 shader less but clocked slightly higher. Still the performance should be definately slower than the 6 GB version.