Your next GPU - RTX 3050

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Nvidia’s new “budget” GPU is finally here, promising more performance than ever at a price point higher than ever. Is this our new normal, or should gamers have hope for the future?

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MUSIC CREDIT
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Intro: Laszlo - Supernova

Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High

CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
0:56 Unsurprising specs
1:51 Gaming benchmarks
4:16 Productivity benchmarks
4:47 Thermals & power
5:41 The elephant in the room... Price
7:28 Conclusion

[aaroncody]

What I'd realy love in these comparisons is the inclusion of older cards, like a gtx 970 or gtx 1060 or something. It helps to put into perspective what many people stuck on older cards can expect to see if handing over the readies for a GPU upgrade. Many of us are still stuck on older cards and figuring out the most cost effective upgrade path is bloody hard!

[Churchgrimm]

I feel like this will be a fantastic value card for the money... on the used market in 3 years.

[EduardoWalcacer]

You guys should really have it compared against the 1060, which is still the most common GPU amongst Steam users.

[johndoh]

First, this GPU can't be found right now so no one really knows what it's going to cost. When the 6500 XT was launched, it was available for a short time at about $300 USD. But now you can actually get some different models for about $260, AND it's still available. A point I was challenged on for the 6500 XT review is if the MSRP now reflects that 25% tariff. Well, if you can now buy a 6500 XT for $260, and a 25% tariff would take a $200 cost up to $250, then apparently the price is baked into the MSRP. Why? Answer follows.

Global inflation is adding 15 - 20% to production costs. Then, EU countries have a 20 - 25% VAT on certain imports, and GPUs from China, where over 90% of ALL GPUs come from fall into that list. And then the US added a 25% tariff on many products coming out of China, and this also affects Canada as Linus discussed back in Feb 2021 on a video from LTT. This tariff went into effect Jan 1, 2021, so it makes the cost of a new GPU ridiculous, and a budget GPU is now a bad buy. Really bad. If you don't have the money to buy a high quality GPU and pay the insane price, and you need to buy a budget GPU, you're better off getting an APU. Sorry, new world unless you want the stripped down 6500 XT. Once again there are no RTX 3050s to be found. I doubt you'll be able to find one for less than $350 USD.

AMD has succeeded in putting out something scalpers are hesitant to buy up. This GPU? It's going to be a BIG target. I doubt the 6500 XT will come down below $250 USD because of added costs as discussed below. The RTX 3050? Good luck finding one. Scalpers have sold about 50, 000 Nvidia 3000 series GPUs through ebay and StockX already, and because this is a low cost GPU, it will be targeted like crazy, just like other low cost PC parts have been.



Yes Anthony, almost all GPUs come out of China. The other place they come out of is Taiwan, but it's a small percentage. Nvidia even talked about this in an appeal to Biden to drop tariffs on GPUs, and those tariffs ARE baked into the MSRP. They have to be now. If they weren't you'd see too much of a price difference for NEW products. In fact this product proves that 25% tariff is baked into the MSRP:


And, ASUS GPUs come out of China. So if it's right at MSRP it probably means they've been able to produce it for a low cost and they're selling it for under MSRP, but after price increases elsewhere in the supply chains, it's back at $200 USD as discussed below.

The tariffs weren't baked in to MSRP back in 2020, because the tariff in the US wasn't in effect at that time. It had gone into place, but was held off by Trump, and I assume it's because he didn't want to lose the 2020 election because EVERYONE being mad at him for so much inflation? Instead he delayed it to after the election, Jan 1, 2021, and Biden decided to keep them in place so HE could be blamed for all the inflation, because he's an idiot.





And why is pricing still a bit over MSRP? Not because of the 25% tariff which is already baked into the MSRP. It's because EVERY point in the supply chain, shipping from China, getting GPUs to suppliers and retailers because of how much more truckers have to be paid because the US is short about 40, 000 truckers, and retailers are paying 25 - 50% more for their employees. You also have the issue where different makers of GPUs have different costs, and probably most have more costs than what AMD goes by in setting it's MSRP. For sure premium GPUs such as PowerColor are going to cost more, by a bit.






Amazon is paying 50% more than before Covid started, going from about $12/hr to $18/hr for warehouse workers as an example, and newegg and EVERY brick and mortar retailer in the US that's going to carry computer parts is dealing with higher wages.



So every point in the journey of getting a GPU from China to the consumer costs more, and companies have to make a profit, and don't want to accept smaller margins. So all the companies along the supply chain including the retailers are taking more money, and it's bringing the price up quite a bit from MSRP. That's why a $200 MSRP GPU is selling for $260. Some of these companies are certainly charging more than they should, but to be fair the market is so unstable that these companies are trying to figure out what their new costs should be. This markup is going to affect the low cost items more than an expensive product, especially on shipping where shipping an expensive GPU isn't much different than shipping a cheap GPU.

[joelconolly]

It's a good card that unfortunately also got hit with the RT tax and chip shortage/mining issues. If the price is right it's still a better card than what can be offered at all.

[ferasamro]

Man who would have thought the gtx 1070 that i bought for 200 dollars in 2019 will be such a value.

[ashton]

I have been holding onto my 1050 for so long and the longer I wait the higher the cost of upgrading seems to be.

[YunusdemirNl]

Coming from the newest RTX 3050 video, it should probably be noted that this video is about the RTX 3050 with 8GB of VRAM, and not the 2024 RTX 3050 with 6GB of VRAM.

@LTT maybe an update to the video title could clear things up here!

[MrRealskippy]

To the person who decided to highlight the card you are talking about, well done. It makes following the discussion nice and easy. Give him a office award, or more money :)

[WolfVidya]

There's 0 incentive to solve the pricing situation when stores are happy to offer "refurbished" crap at scalper prices, and AMD/NVidia get to raise their bottomline prices to scalper standards. Whoever fell for the mining/shortage meme being a short term situation is probably learning the lesson right now: if you buy at scalper prices, you standardize scalper prices.

[Neoxon]

I really hope the GPU situation improves going into the rest of this year, especially if the RTX 4000 series does launch this year like the rumors are indicating.

[samorwhatever]

I own an rtx 3050 it was my first gpu in my first pc and considering a few months ago I was going to pay more for a 580 or 1060 I am so happy I got such an amazing card

[castlehill]

"This card is not bad if you need a GPU today and don't mind 1080p"

Me, who plays 720p on all low settings at 40 fps: "Wow this card sounds f'ing god-tier"

[Jasontyo]

Id like to see how these cards stack up the the ones were clinging to, the 980s, 1070s, and 580s of the world that likely perform just as good or better. Im looking to find out what the bare minimum is that will be any kind of improvement over this SC 1070

[RaceSimCentral]

The RTX tax reminds me of baggage charges on flights. You used to get checked bags free. When fuel was expensive they introduced fees and when the price of fuel went down it never went away.

[jamesmantovani]

Hi! I love your coverage of this and loved the highlighting of the cards you're talking about. I will say, maybe it'll be valuable to include a GTX1060, 1070, or 1080 in the results so people two gens behind can see how much of a relative difference new tech comes. I feel like people upgrading to 30 series aren't on 20 series, but 10, or even 9.

[ignitionnight]

Considering the 1060 is STILL the #1 most common video card, it's really disappointing that LTT doesn't include it in benchmarks anymore. 1660 is great and all, but there are 4x as many 1060's in use than 1660s (at least according to steam survey). Please bring this card back to your benchmarks for those of us who are still stuck on the 1060.

[zaidlacksalastname]

DLSS is this card's killer feature. A 1660TI with dlss could do pretty much anything you want it to at 1080p reasonably

[dagucka]

I remember the 1050(ti) costing 100-150€ and a friend of mine being unsure if he wants to invest that much money just for a gpu lol

[theclassyxion]

I currently have the 3050 and honestly I love it, I don’t play to many AAA games and when I do it actually performs good, I had an 1650 super and I was ready to buy a newer card but didn’t want to spend $400+