ASUS Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6GB OC Edition

RTX 3050 6GB Review & Specifications

The RTX 3050 6GBis based on the Ampere architecture and manufactured using the 8 nm process node. It was launched approximately 1 year, 4 months ago, originally priced at $179. It features 2304 cores, including 24 compute units (SMs), 72 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 render output units (ROPs). For ray tracing and AI-accelerated tasks, it also includes 18 dedicated RT cores and 72 Tensor cores, enabling advanced rendering and upscaling features where supported. It has a base clock of 1042 MHz and a boost clock reaching up to 1470 MHz. The RTX 3050 6GB comes equipped with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 96-bit bus. Memory runs at 1750 MHz and delivers a total memory bandwidth of 168 GB/s.

This GPU has a low thermal design power (TDP) of 70 W. It is generally compatible with almost all PC cases and is excellent for SFF and compact systems where heat dissipation is a concern.

RTX 3050 6GB Performance

RTX 3050 6GB is a budget-friendly graphics card with a relative gaming performance score of 13.85%. It may struggle with demanding titles but provides a playable experience at 1080p and sometimes at 1440p in older or lighter games. A solid choice for basic gaming needs on a tight budget.

The RTX 3050 6GB has a moderate VRAM size of 6 GB, which aligns well with its performance class. It is well-suited for 1080p gaming at high settings and 1440p gaming at medium to high settings, depending on the game’s optimization and graphics demands. While capable in rasterized workloads, enabling ray tracing at higher resolutions can quickly consume available VRAM and reduce performance. Upscaling technologies like DLSS or FSR can help improve frame rates, but may come with a noticeable reduction in visual quality. The VRAM capacity is adequate for light to moderate content creation tasks, such as editing Full HD or QHD video, working with smaller assets in 3D environments, and using tools like Photoshop or Premiere Pro for general workloads. In the context of AI and machine learning, this GPU can handle lightweight inference tasks and basic model training. However, users working with large datasets or complex architectures may find the memory insufficient, leading to slowdowns or compatibility issues. This GPU remains a good option for gamers, casual creators, and students exploring AI.

With a 45.3% performance-per-price ratio, ASUS Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6GB OC Edition offers reasonable value. It's a viable choice for budget-conscious users, though limited VRAM and lower performance restrict its lifespan.