Is there a 'best' version of the RTX 3050?

[SilentGameTestR]

Looking to dive in to my first ray tracing card when i order motherboard and processor soon and so im going to get the entry level 3050 6gb.

I am looking up the Low Profile version for if i was to go to a SFF case further down the line, however i do have a midi tower currently, so i might just get a full size version which i know are better. But which version is best or at this stage it doesnt matter?

I play it on xbox, but i want to test Doom Dark Ages which i have seen run quite well on a 6gb 3050.

 

[TrojanWhore]

Is there a reason you're specifically looking at a 3050?
Cheapest I can see here is around £150 (or £160 for one that's in stock... neither are low profile!)

For not much extra (~£180) you could get an Intel B570 (10GB and the same approx price as the 8GB 3050):
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/spar...c-10gb-gddr6-graphics-card-gra-spk-03924.html

which is almost 2x as fast, or for ~£240, a B580 (12GB) or RTX 5050 (8GB) if you specifically need NVidia features. (both around 2.5x)

Personally I wouldn't touch an 8GB card these days, it will very quickly become an issue on modern games.

Benchmarks for Doom DA specifically are as shown here:

DOOM: The Dark Ages Performance Benchmark Review - 40 GPUs Tested

DOOM: The Dark Ages is coming soon, offering an amazing first-person shooter experience with fantastic graphics. The game introduces the brand-new id Tech 8 engine, which improves support for ray-tracing. In our performance review, we examine its graphical fidelity, VRAM usage, and how well it...

www.techpowerup.com

The 8GB 3050 is the lowest performing card they tested and the 6GB version is notably slower (has less shader cores as well as less VRAM).

If you wanted to go SFF (i.e. mITX), there are a lot of cases that will still support full size cards (even the bigger ones).

Edit: and btw, Just over 30fps at 1080p is what most people would consider 'playable' at best, it would in all likelyhood not be a pleasant experience and you'd be better off just playing it on xbox, assuming latest gen! (defininitely series X, not sure how the S stacks up!)

 

[SilentGameTestR]

Is there a reason you're specifically looking at a 3050?
Cheapest I can see here is around £150 (or £160 for one that's in stock... neither are low profile!)

For not much extra (~£180) you could get an Intel B570 (10GB and the same approx price as the 8GB 3050):
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/spar...c-10gb-gddr6-graphics-card-gra-spk-03924.html

which is almost 2x as fast, or for ~£240, a B580 (12GB) or RTX 5050 (8GB) if you specifically need NVidia features.

Personally I wouldn't touch an 8GB card these days, it will very quickly become an issue on modern games.

Benchmarks for Doom DA specifically are as shown here:

DOOM: The Dark Ages Performance Benchmark Review - 40 GPUs Tested

DOOM: The Dark Ages is coming soon, offering an amazing first-person shooter experience with fantastic graphics. The game introduces the brand-new id Tech 8 engine, which improves support for ray-tracing. In our performance review, we examine its graphical fidelity, VRAM usage, and how well it...

www.techpowerup.com

The 8GB 3050 is the lowest performing card they tested and the 6GB version is notably slower (has less shader cores as well as less VRAM).

If you wanted to go SFF (i.e. mITX), there are a lot of cases that will still support full size cards (even the bigger ones).

Thanks for reply.

Looking at the 3050 mainly for costs. So i make gaming videos as a hobby and so im building myself a new pc to continue. I dont technically need a graphics card as the idea is to try multiple, however if i dont take the opportunity i have now then who knows how long before i can get my hands on an RTX card.

I could get a 2000 series, but seems more pointless. It would also replace my GTX 950 thats my stand-in card if i cant use onboard in any system i tinker with.

I know dark ages requires 8gb, but i was watching youtube videos yesterday of people running the 6gb variants rather well considering.

Ive just ordered a 12400F + Mobo, so i want to see how it does with that. I might wait, but £200 will be my max limit either way. Maybe there will be decent sales on soon?

 

[Gray2233]

I would suggest saving a set amount rather than piecemeal upgrades in your scenario, prices fluctuate a lot over time. Buying a platform update like you have with the 12400F is fine/makes sense, but you might struggle otherwise.

What power supply do you have?

The 3050 is a poor long term purchase, especially if you want it for RT support. The minimum I'd be looking at would be a 12gb Intel or preferably a 16gb AMD 9060XT for around £300. Sometimes spending more ultimately saves money long term, and you don't seem to upgrade all that often. I suspect buying a low tier 8gb card today will result in problems sooner rather than later and result in unplayable performance if you're eyeballing RT related titles.

 

[TrojanWhore]

Looking at the 3050 mainly for costs.

Ive just ordered a 12400F + Mobo, so i want to see how it does with that. I might wait, but £200 will be my max limit either way. Maybe there will be decent sales on soon?

If you're looking at second hand, then maybe there's an argument for a 3050, but a 1070 is slightly faster and probably a good bit cheaper (£55-70).
If you're buying new, 3050 seems terrible value to me, there's no way in hell I'd buy one.

What software would you be using for editing videos? - For Adobe Premiere there may be a slight advantage to nV, but you could render on CPU and for hobby use that would be absolutely enough (I've been making videos since my 1070 (or maybe before that - 780ti) and rendering out on CPUs that were FAR slower than a 12400F!

As @Gray2233 said, if you can stretch the budget, then B580 (Intel) or 9060XT (AMD), but if you absolutely need it to be under £200 then I wouldn't be looking at anything other than a B570.

 

[Gray2233]

If you're looking at second hand, then maybe there's an argument for a 3050, but a 1070 is slightly faster and probably a good bit cheaper (£55-70).

Worth noting and possibly why the OP might be looking at RT cards, Doom: The Dark Ages has a hard requirement for RT as it's pretty much always on. The 1070 would absolutely be better in most instances but wouldn't be able to run the game at all, and even where DX12 Ultimate is required there's often workarounds, but not in this particular instance afaik.

Unfortunately that might be more of a thing going forward, but by the same measure you're absolutely right in your recommendations as they might become the absolute minimum requirements in other future games.

Of course it does depend on what the OP intends to play, which seemingly is those supporting RT on some level, and I can say from experience that it's going to be a horrific experience with an 8gb card as weak as the 3050 even if you want 30fps at 1080P.

 

[TrojanWhore]

Worth noting and possibly why the OP might be looking at RT cards, Doom: The Dark Ages has a hard requirement for RT as it's pretty much always on. The 1070 would absolutely be better in most instances, and even where DX12 Ultimate is required there's often workarounds, but not in this particular instance afaik.

Unfortunately that might be more of a thing going forward, but by the same measure you're absolutely right in your recommendations as they might become the absolute minimum requirements in other future games.

Of course it does depend on what the OP intends to play, which seemingly is those supporting RT on some level, and I can say from experience that it's going to be a horrific experience with an 8gb card as weak as the 3050 even if you want 30fps at 1080P.

Absolutely! (I keep being reminded that RT is a hard requirement now!).. but still, B570

 

[Gray2233]

Absolutely! (I keep being reminded that RT is a hard requirement now!).. but still, B570

Yeah, it's rough.

I think for even an entry level GPU right now for playing AA/AAA games (which are those that tend to have RT) you want a 12-16gb card and the best of the bunch for value is currently the 9060XT.

 

[SilentGameTestR]

I would suggest saving a set amount rather than piecemeal upgrades in your scenario, prices fluctuate a lot over time. Buying a platform update like you have with the 12400F is fine/makes sense, but you might struggle otherwise.

What power supply do you have?

The 3050 is a poor long term purchase, especially if you want it for RT support. The minimum I'd be looking at would be a 12gb Intel or preferably a 16gb AMD 9060XT for around £300. Sometimes spending more ultimately saves money long term, and you don't seem to upgrade all that often. I suspect buying a low tier 8gb card today will result in problems sooner rather than later and result in unplayable performance if you're eyeballing RT related titles.

Thanks for reply.

Im not aiming for high end or long term. Any card i order new, be it the 3050 or a 7600 will only be used to test Doom DA and a few other games i have that i test and record. After that the card will get used till i buy another one, more specifically used, but also older and then get put on the shelf until i need to use it again or a build a 2nd system of old parts like i generally do sometimes.

Only RT support im interested in is Doom as you need it, any other game i own doesnt specifically require it. £250 is the very max i would go, but again for my purpose i dont want to be spending that much.

Im more for console gaming these days and have also been collecting older consoles like ps1/2/3, xbox/360, megadrive etc, so ive been playing those too. The pc is strictly for testing various graphic cards in a certain games.

 

[TrojanWhore]

Yeah, it's rough.

I think for even an entry level GPU right now for playing AA/AAA games (which are those that tend to have RT) you want a 12-16gb card and the best of the bunch for value is currently the 9060XT.

100% agreed, 20GB was a big part of why I stretched the budget for my 7900XT (would love a bit of that FSR4 action though!).
The fact that 'low end' is now £300-350 is pretty gross... I'm fine with halo cards existing, but not so much with 'mid range' being £500-700 - last good card for £200 was the AMD 6600, but it's not enough now to be even comparable to console, or worth buying

 

[Gray2233]

Only RT support im interested in is Doom as you need it, any other game i own doesnt specifically require it. £250 is the very max i would go, but again for my purpose i dont want to be spending that much.

If you're willing to wait I think it's possible if not guaranteed that 16gb 9060XT's will drop into that price range.

Otherwise:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Sparkle Intel ARC B580 GUARDIAN 12GB GDDR6 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPK-03945) = £239.99

Total: £243.98 (includes delivery: £3.99)​

Just make sure you have REBAR enabled in your bios or performance will tank.

Same holds true with the above btw, you might see price drops to close to £200 by year end.

 

[Gray2233]

100% agreed, 20GB was a big part of why I stretched the budget for my 7900XT (would love a bit of that FSR4 action though!).
The fact that 'low end' is now £300-350 is pretty gross... I'm fine with halo cards existing, but not so much with 'mid range' being £500-700 - last good card for £200 was the AMD 6600, but it's not enough now to be even comparable to console, or worth buying

It disgusts me to be frank, I'm on a 12gb card currently but I'm spending a lot more time on a 4K tv from the couch and it's not cutting it. But the performance uplift from what I have other than VRAM is so bloody low in almost anything on the market outside of halo products such as the 4090/5090.

 

[SilentGameTestR]

If you're looking at second hand, then maybe there's an argument for a 3050, but a 1070 is slightly faster and probably a good bit cheaper (£55-70).
If you're buying new, 3050 seems terrible value to me, there's no way in hell I'd buy one.

What software would you be using for editing videos? - For Adobe Premiere there may be a slight advantage to nV, but you could render on CPU and for hobby use that would be absolutely enough (I've been making videos since my 1070 (or maybe before that - 780ti) and rendering out on CPUs that were FAR slower than a 12400F!

As @Gray2233 said, if you can stretch the budget, then B580 (Intel) or 9060XT (AMD), but if you absolutely need it to be under £200 then I wouldn't be looking at anything other than a B570.

I had a 1070ti months ago, served its purpose then i sold it. I dont plan to sell the new card, but you cant play Doom without RT and for the first time trying it, i dont plan to aim high. The 3050 will benefit my purpose.

The software i use is Filmora, but i can edit those on my laptop if need be.

I looked at Arcs when i have been looking at gaming laptops, but im cautious how optimised intel are for games since they all favour nvidia or amd. For my tests i will eventually want an Arc. If i dont get a 3050 now, i will still get one at some point regardless.

 

[TrojanWhore]

... and fwiw, the only modern game I play is Ark: Survival Ascended. Other than that I'm still playing through my back catalog (mostly 10-7 year old games), most of which runs fine on my Antec Core HS (handheld - 7840U).

Can play GTA4 at 1080p maxed out, ~60fps, Mafia remasters at 50fps.... Kerbal Space Program 60fps with KB/M on an external monitor.... If it wasn't for Ark I'd probably sell off my main PC and just run that or a low powered system!

 

[Begbie]

I had a 1070ti months ago, served its purpose then i sold it. I dont plan to sell the new card, but you cant play Doom without RT and for the first time trying it, i dont plan to aim high. The 3050 will benefit my purpose.

The software i use is Filmora, but i can edit those on my laptop if need be.

I looked at Arcs when i have been looking at gaming laptops, but im cautious how optimised intel are for games since they all favour nvidia or amd. For my tests i will eventually want an Arc. If i dont get a 3050 now, i will still get one at some point regardless.

Doom dark ages? Will that play on a 3050?

I assume at absolutely minimal settings?

 

[Gray2233]

I had a 1070ti months ago, served its purpose then i sold it. I dont plan to sell the new card, but you cant play Doom without RT and for the first time trying it, i dont plan to aim high. The 3050 will benefit my purpose.

The software i use is Filmora, but i can edit those on my laptop if need be.

I looked at Arcs when i have been looking at gaming laptops, but im cautious how optimised intel are for games since they all favour nvidia or amd. For my tests i will eventually want an Arc. If i dont get a 3050 now, i will still get one at some point regardless.

Are there any particular games you're looking at testing?

@Begbie I'd be surprised if it ran above 30 fps (and consider dips/lows) on a 3050, so not even in a range where some sort of variable sync might help.

Edit:

RandomGamingHD is actually a pretty interesting guy to follow as he does test a lot of older hardware with newer games.

The 3050 should be viable with DLSS but it will be noisy and not particularly fun, but if spending in the £150-200 range it's a bad buy, getting one for under £100 would be arguably fair. He's even using the same CPU the OP ordered for the game, so the results are especially relevant. Running a game like that at 1080P low/DLSS sounds like hell to me personally, but some might be fine with it and honestly if it's just for "testing" I get it.

 

[Tetras]

Only RT support im interested in is Doom as you need it, any other game i own doesnt specifically require it. £250 is the very max i would go, but again for my purpose i dont want to be spending that much.

Im more for console gaming these days and have also been collecting older consoles like ps1/2/3, xbox/360, megadrive etc, so ive been playing those too. The pc is strictly for testing various graphic cards in a certain games.

I can understand that you just want to play around, but I don't think we can overstate how bad the 3050 6GB is. The only meaningful use for this card is for low profile systems or OEM PCs without a power connector.

When the 3050 8GB was new it got smashed by the 6600, to the point that the 6600 can often beat the 3050 8GB even when ray tracing is enabled (despite RDNA2 being really crap at it).

 

[TrojanWhore]

3050 (8GB) at ultra is just about 30fps at 1080, 6GB is worse... as I said I wouldn't even consider it new and for the same budget used there are much better options... If it's just for benchmarking 'content' then newer cards will probably get you more views too.

But I get the feeling that you're already sold on the idea of a 3050, if so, crack on

 

[BUDFORCE]

Yeah, it's rough.

I think for even an entry level GPU right now for playing AA/AAA games (which are those that tend to have RT) you want a 12-16gb card and the best of the bunch for value is currently the 9060XT.

9060xt surely.

It's good bang for buck, 16gb VRAM will give it a lot of legs going forward.

In my opinion anything below that is a waste of money and already obsolete.

 

[TrojanWhore]

9060xt surely.

It's good bang for buck, 16gb VRAM will give it a lot of legs going forward.

In my opinion anything below that is a waste of money and already obsolete.

Could maybe make an argument for 6800/XT at £200 or less, but otherwise, yeah!