Testing the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 with 8GB: What are the capabilities of the new RTX-3000 series' entry-level model?
At this point, the GeForce RTX-3000 series has been on the market for a while. Yet, Nvidia still follows up in the beginning of the year, presenting the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050. With this, there is now an affordable representative in the entry-level segment that is supposed to facilitate entry into the RTX-3000 series.
To test it, the manufacturer KFA2 provided us with a corresponding test sample. To be exact, we use the KFA2 GeForce RTX 3050 EX. With the Fan Stop mode, our test unit offers a useful feature that allows for silent 2D operation. In addition, it is also visually appealing with the RGB illumination. For the graphics chip, the GeForce RTX 3050 uses a module from the faster Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. However, the GA106 used is a form that is significantly weaker. In the end, there still remain 2560 shader units that are able to use 8 GB of GDDR6-VRAM overall. With this, Nvidia counters and surpasses the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT in this area, offering as much VRAM as the AMD Radeon RX 6600. In terms of power consumption, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 is relatively efficient with 130 watts. However, the model from KFA2 still demands an 8-pin power connection. Externally, it can serve up to four monitors at the same time. For this, there is a single HDMI connection supporting the newest standard (2.1) and three DisplayPort connections (1.4a).
At the time of its release, Nvidia specified a recommended retail price of 279 Euros (~$304). However, due to the current market situation, it is clear that this price cannot be maintained. Our current test unit costs 389 Euros (~$423), which is significantly more than Nvidia's recommended retail price.
Our test system is based on an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
A current AMD system based on the Asus X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Hero WiFi serves as our test platform. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU offers a good CPU performance, and we are using an AiO (Alphacool Eisbear 360) for cooling. The 32 GB of working memory comes from G.Skill and was provided to us. We use an Acer Predator XB321HK as the monitor, which does not limit us with its UHD capability. At this point, we would like to thank AMD for providing us with our test platform.
The graphics cards of the current RTX-3000 series
| Equipment | RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 Ti | RTX 3080 (12G) | RTX 3080 (10G) | RTX 3070 Ti | RTX 3070 | RTX 3060 Ti | RTX 3060 | RTX 3050 |
| Chip | GA102 | GA102 | GA102 | GA102 | GA104 | GA104 | GA104 | GA106 | GA106 |
| FinFET Process | 8 nm | 8 nm | 8 nm | 8 nm | 8 nm | 8 nm | 8 nm | 8 nm | 8 nm |
| CUDA Cores | 10496 | 10240 | 8960 | 8704 | 6144 | 5888 | 4864 | 3854 | 2560 |
| Texture Units | 328 | 320 | 280 | 272 | 192 | 184 | 152 | 112 | 80 |
| Tensor Cores | 328 3. Gen. | 320 3. Gen. | 280 3. Gen. | 272 3. Gen. | 192 3. Gen. | 184 3. Gen. | 152 3. Gen. | 112 3. Gen. | 80 3. Gen |
| RT Cores | 82 | 80 | 70 | 68 | 48 | 46 | 38 | 28 | 20 |
| GPU Base Clock | 1395 MHz | 1365 MHz | 1260 MHz | 1440 MHz | 1575 MHz | 1500 MHz | 1410 MHz | 1320 MHz | 1552 MHz |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1695 MHz | 1665 MHz | 1710 MHz | 1710 MHz | 1770 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1665 MHz | 1777 MHz | 1777 MHz |
| Memory Bus | 384 bit | 384 bit | 384 bit | 320 bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 bit | 192 bit | 128 bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 936 GB/s | 912.4 GB/s | 912.4 GB/s | 760 GB/s | 608.3 GB/s | 448 GB/s | 448 GB/s | 360 GB/s | 224 GB/s |
| Video Memory | 24 GB GDDR6X | 12 GB GDDR6X | 12 GB GDDR6X | 10 GB GDDR6X | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 12 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 |
| Power Consumption | 350 W | 350 W | 350 W | 320 W | 290 W | 220 W | 200 W | 170 W | 130 W |
We use the following system for the benchmarks and tests below:
- Lian Li O11 Dynamic
- AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
- KFA2 GeForce RTX 3050 EX (Nvidia 511.79)
- Asus X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Hero WiFi (BIOS 2402, Default Settings, XMP 1 for DDR4-4000)
- Corsair RM1000X 1000-Watt power supply
- G.Skill Trident Z Neo RGB DDR4-4000 storage kit 2 x 16 GB
- Corsair MP600 2TB M.2 PCIe-4.0 SSD
- Crucial MX500 2TB (for gaming)
The clock speeds of the INNO3D GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2
In terms of the clock speeds of the KFA2 GeForce RTX 3050 EX, KFA2 slightly exceeds the Boost clock speeds of the Nvidia specifications in our test unit. At the same time, the Boost clock speeds are clearly exceeded in almost all games. The KFA2 GeForce RTX 3050 EX often runs at clock speeds between 1900 MHz and 1960 MHz in our gaming tests. In this model, the power target cannot be increased further, which slightly limits the overclocking options.
Synthetic benchmarks
In the first tests we ran for the synthetic benchmarks, the KFA2 GeForce RTX 3050 EX places exactly where we had expected in advance. Due to its technical data, we had already expected a significant disadvantage to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. However, the GeForce RTX 3050 did surprisingly well compared to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super, which it is able to keep in check in most tests. Compared to AMD, our test unit is able to place between the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT and the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT. At this point, we were unable to get our hands on an entry-level model of the current AMD Radeon RX-6000 series (AMD Radeon RX 6400 or AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT) yet.
| 3DMark 05 Standard | 61355 points | |
| 3DMark 06 Standard Score | 47305 points | |
| 3DMark Vantage P Result | 72487 points | |
| 3DMark 11 Performance | 21488 points | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 203833 points | |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 53465 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Score | 14754 points | |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score | 7307 points | |
| 3DMark Time Spy Score | 6694 points | |
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Gaming benchmarks
In the gaming tests, the KFA2 GeForce RTX 3050 EX does fairly well, losing only 15% in the performance rating compared to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. Our test unit easily surpasses the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super, and you can expect about 10% more performance. The AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT has no chance against the GeForce RTX 3050, even if our test model from KFA2 is unable to compete with an AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT.
Taking a look at all the games we tested with the KFA2 GeForce RTX 3050 EX shows that this model is clearly a 1080p gaming graphics card. The newest games, such as God of War for example, pose high demands on the graphics card in maximum settings. We only measured 38 FPS here. However, those are only some separate outliers, since most games can be enjoyed with maximum details in FullHD at 60 to 100 FPS. You can play some games smoothly at times even in 1440p.
The built-in 8-GB VRAM are good and reassuring, since the FPS rates drop noticeably when the VRAM limit is reached. This doesn't happen while gaming in 1080p with the amount of VRAM here. As usual, we use the game "The Witcher 3" (1080p Ultra preset) to measure the frame rates and their development. While recording our measurements, there are some separate outliers, but those don't have a significant influence on the latencies. The frame rate development is also inconspicuous, only dropping slightly in the middle, but this can be traced back to the gaming scene. At 59.4 FPS on average, the game runs smoothly at all times in maximum detail settings.
| low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GTA V (2015) | 187 | 186 | 170 | 78.2 | 54.7 | 55.8 |
| The Witcher 3 (2015) | 361 | 337 | 207 | 62.8 | 43.8 | |
| Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 203.9 | 177.4 | 169.2 | 154.7 | 93.1 | |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016) | 215 | 138 | 84.7 | 35 | ||
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 167 | 91 | 67.3 | 48.6 | 28.2 | |
| X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 160 | 137 | 110 | 91.6 | ||
| Far Cry 5 (2018) | 191 | 117 | 104 | 96 | 66 | 34 |
| Strange Brigade (2018) | 340 | 151 | 121 | 104 | 76.2 | 44 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) | 231 | 106 | 94.7 | 70.8 | 57.8 | 29.6 |
| Far Cry New Dawn (2019) | 158 | 109 | 102 | 93 | 68 | 37 |
| Metro Exodus (2019) | 157 | 78 | 57.5 | 44.8 | 35.7 | 22.4 |
| Anno 1800 (2019) | 129 | 123 | 83.1 | 40.8 | 28.6 | 17.4 |
| Control (2019) | 226 | 78.8 | 59.1 | 38 | 18.7 | |
| Borderlands 3 (2019) | 174 | 114 | 74.1 | 55.7 | 40.4 | 21.8 |
| F1 2020 (2020) | 379 | 200 | 153 | 104 | 76.5 | 43.1 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn (2020) | 162 | 96 | 79 | 66 | 52 | 28 |
| Crysis Remastered (2020) | 268 | 146 | 63.2 | 58.9 | 42.2 | 23.7 |
| Mafia Definitive Edition (2020) | 157 | 81 | 75.6 | 50.4 | 25.8 | |
| Watch Dogs Legion (2020) | 124 | 85 | 73 | 71 | 33 | 19 |
| Dirt 5 (2020) | 214 | 103 | 82 | 61 | 49 | 31 |
| Assassin´s Creed Valhalla (2020) | 106 | 75 | 62 | 53 | 40 | 24 |
| Immortals Fenyx Rising (2020) | 137 | 86 | 78 | 70 | 55 | 34 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 1.0 (2020) | 77 | 63.2 | 50.6 | 41.9 | 26 | 12.2 |
| Mass Effect Legendary Edition (2021) | 114 | 110 | 94.2 | 51.7 | ||
| F1 2021 (2021) | 425 | 214 | 169 | 81.6 | 59.2 | 32.4 |
| New World (2021) | 161 | 79.1 | 68.5 | 61.6 | 40.9 | 28.1 |
| Alan Wake Remastered (2021) | 135 | 131 | 117 | 69.3 | ||
| Far Cry 6 (2021) | 156 | 95.4 | 81.4 | 72.4 | 51.6 | 5.33 |
| Back 4 Blood (2021) | 158 | 135 | 125 | 82.9 | 41.5 | |
| Guardians of the Galaxy (2021) | 151 | 96 | 95 | 91 | 58 | 32 |
| Riders Republic (2021) | 167 | 97 | 77 | 69 | 49 | 25 |
| Call of Duty Vanguard (2021) | 91.3 | 93 | 73.7 | 65.5 | 47.4 | 24.1 |
| Forza Horizon 5 (2021) | 199 | 103 | 91 | 52 | 43 | 29 |
| Battlefield 2042 (2021) | 152 | 89.5 | 75.7 | 65.6 | 50.2 | 29.6 |
| Farming Simulator 22 (2021) | 271 | 159 | 95.4 | 95.5 | 73.3 | 44.5 |
| Halo Infinite (2021) | 90.9 | 78.5 | 73.8 | 70.4 | 64.5 | |
| God of War (2022) | 88.6 | 73.2 | 57.2 | 38.2 | 32.6 | 22.7 |
| Rainbow Six Extraction (2022) | 169 | 135 | 132 | 102 | 66 | 33 |
| Dying Light 2 (2022) | 64 | 54.3 | 48.3 | 32.6 | 16.5 |
Computing performance
In the ComputeMark test, the GeForce RTX 3050 is able to surpass many competitors. To some extent, the new Ampere architecture is responsible for this. Overall, the KFA2 GeForce RTX 3050 EX computes as fast as an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super.