Nvidia RTX 5050 and RTX 5060 registered at EEC as potential RTX 50 series budget GPUs
Graphics cards are usually the main obstacle to building an affordable gaming rig. Recently, the industry's attention has been on the Nvidia RTX 5080 and RTX 5090, which are far from budget GPUs. The RTX 5070 Ti will be released on February 20th but at a $749 or higher MSRP. However, some Zotac EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission) filings hint that the RTX 5050 is coming, which may become an enticing GPU for lower-end systems.
Along with the RTX 5050, the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti are listed at the regulatory body. It's important to realize that not all products filed at the EEC end up hitting the markets. Still, the prevailing wisdom is that the RTX 50 series will eventually need more inexpensive options. Until now, it was believed that the RTX 5050 would be a laptop-exclusive GPU. Zotac has other plans, indicating that it will manufacture a desktop variant.
The possibility of an RTX 5050 is somewhat surprising, considering Nvidia skipped the RTX 4050 for desktops. The RTX 3050 and RTX 3060 remained the company's budget-friendly GPUs, with MSRPs of $249- $330. Otherwise, cash-strapped gamers have had to turn to the Intel Battlemage series or an AMD card like the Radeon RX 7600. Most observers speculate that a desktop RTX 5050 would not cost gamers much more than $250.
Assuming the RTX 5050 supports all RTX 50 series DLSS 4 features, multi-frame generation could especially benefit the GPU. Instead of relying on the raw power of CUDA cores, less capable graphics cards would use Nvidia's AI technology to boost frame rates. Unfortunately, the Zotac EEC filing didn't include any specs. The hot debate is whether the RTX 5050 will use DDR6 or DDR7 memory, with conflicting laptop specs leaking.
The RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti are more certain to see the light of day in the coming months. Still, Nvidia production delays could push their release date past March or April. If Zotac's RTX 5050 becomes a reality, it likely won't arrive until the summer.
