GeForce RTX 3050 vs. GTX 1660 Ti: Two GPUs for two different purposes

In our recent review of the Lenovo Slim 7 Pro, we noted that its GeForce RTX 3050 GPU would provide just minimal benefits over the older GeForce GTX 1660 Ti. No single laptop is a perfect representation of a GPU, however, and so we became interested in how the RTX 3050 and 1660 Ti would compare to each other across a variety of laptops. Our comparison charts below list every laptop in our database equipped with either the RTX 3050 (non Ti) or GTX 1660 Ti in order from fastest to slowest. Is the RTX 3050 really slower than the GTX 1660 Ti?

The answer depends on your usage scenario. For gaming purposes, the GTX 1660 Ti offers faster clock rates and a wider bus (192-bit vs. 128-bit) for a raw frame rate boost of about 20 to 25 percent on average over the RTX 3050. The higher clocks are achievable because most GTX 1660 Ti laptops target an 80 W TGP whereas the RTX 3050 can range anywhere between 40 W and 80 W in comparison. RTX 3050 owners would have to resort to DLSS in order to close the gaming performance gap between the GTX 1660 Ti and RTX 3050.

For content creation purposes, the RTX 3050 becomes the better value. Its dedicated RT cores are nigh useless when running games since the GPU lacks the performance overhead to compensate for the disadvantages of enabling RT. It is nonetheless beneficial for acceleration purposes. Similarly, its much higher CUDA core count (2560 vs. 1536) enables faster rendering acceleration than the GTX 1660 Ti for programs like Blender. Most laptops with the RTX 3050 are marketed as Studio laptops and not as gaming laptops for this very reason.

HDMI 2.1 is only supported on the RTX 3050 whereas the GTX 1660 Ti supports up to 2.0b. It's a minor but notable difference since most laptops these days support DisplayPort 1.4a or lack HDMI completely.

If you mostly game, then it would be better to stick to the GTX 1660 Ti or opt for a dedicated gaming laptop with the RTX 2060 or 3060 instead. For purely content creation purposes, the RTX 3050 balances performance and thinness better than the GTX 1660 Ti. The RTX 3050 and its Ti variants are therefore best seen as a Studio GPU rather than a gaming GPU based on our data and observations.