Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Review, The Bare Minimum Edition

Buy relevant products from Amazon, Newegg and others below:

Video Index:
00:00 - Welcome back to Hardware Unboxed
03:01 - Specs & Test System
03:46 - Assassin's Creed Valhalla
04:33 - Shadow of the Tomb Raider
05:26 - Watch Dogs: Legion
06:21 - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
07:19 - F1 2021
08:12 - Horizon Zero Dawn
08:48 - Far Cry 6
09:37 - DOOM Eternal
10:46 - Resident Evil Village
11:11 - Death Stranding
11:58 - Hitman 3
12:36 - Cyberpunk 2077
13:18 - Power Consumption
13:47 - PCI Express Performance
14:12 - 1080p, 12 Game Average
14:49 - 1440p, 12 Game Average
15:12 - Ray Tracing Performance
17:28 - Cost per frame MSRP
18:16 - 1080p, Cost per frame eBay Pricing
19:38 - 1440p, Cost per frame eBay Pricing
20:34 - What Should It Cost?
21:33 - Final Thoughts

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Review

Disclaimer: Any pricing information shown or mentioned in this video was accurate at the time of video production, and may have since changed

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn a commission on some sales made through other store links

FOLLOW US IN THESE PLACES FOR UPDATES

[jabrilwilliams]

If the 3050 goes over 400 bucks in the us, then the obvious card to buy is a 6600 which you can typically get between 420 to 470 bucks

[ETERNlTUS]

Imagine, selling your 2080Ti for $500 and planning to get 3070 because it's faster, but can't get it because it's never in stock.
Fast forward 1, 5 years, all you can get with that money is an RTX 3050.

[snowhawk]

The further the 3050 gets away from its MSRP, the more that 6600 card looks great. The 6600 has been dropping in price the last week and can be had in the low 400's.

[nipa]

The 6600 looks like the star of this review. 3060 performance for 180€ less in price and great efficiency. Still, absolutely no card is worth buying at the moment!

[ocha-time]

I don't think $450 would be a very good deal for the 3050; at that point you're probably much better off going 6600, right?

I was glad to see we took the fantasy glasses off for the price per frame comparisons. While the 6500XT cuts off at a certain point, if you're going for 1080p and just trying to buy something off the shelf to let you do that, the value isn't like, out of this world, but it's not worthless. And I suspect the green tax will be real for the 3050 because it's mineable.

[matthewcullen]

So this is going to be slightly slower than the upcoming 4090. Good to know.

[thommomonk]

I applaud you still giving these ‘launches’ airtime, but I’m done with even worrying about GPUs now. It’s really become the push for me to move on from gaming & find other things to do with my time.

[DrearierSpider]

If you're lucky enough to get the 5 units that are being sold at MSRP on Day 1, it's a good deal in this market, e.g. the worst GPU market in history.

[Arc_Gamer_]

Remember when the 50 series of GPUs sold for ~$150 ???

[Pixel_FX]

This is laughable. two and a half years later, for the price of 5700XT you get GTX 1070 level of performance. Good job nvidia.

[DaveBenchmarks]

GTX 1660 Super - $229 MSRP - 103 FPS at 1080p - Released more than two years ago.
RTX 3050 - $250 MSRP - 108 FPS at 1080p - Released today.

This should have been a sub $200 card with 6GB of VRAM complimenting the older $110 GTX 1050 and $140 GTX 1050ti in my humble opinion.

[bunsenhoneydew]

If this had specific smaller silicon like the 6500 - i think this could be great, with a fair amount of availability. But as a cut down 3060, i can't see availability being that good - as yields improve.

[MrOomer]

These are some of the best benchmarks I've seen (not so much the 3050 itself), but the attention to details on the data and charts, across various use cases and configurations. Great job!

[asmodeusml]

It is sad that the best to be said about "decent" modern budget GPU is that it doesn't suck.

[thatkoalabear]

Another great video! You can count on Hardware Unboxed when it comes to GPU, laptop, Q&A and monitor reviews ❤️

[sharktooh]

The 6500XT should have been named RX6400 XT and priced accordingly.

[TheCervelo]

Great review but it’s like a step back in time to Oct 2019 and the 1660 Super

[MrAtthedrivein]

A great and detailed review! We appreciate you Steve and Tim.

[charliecollin]

Another great video Steve, thanks! In the UK right now, cards are still in stock for £199. This is including 20% sales tax/VAT so that's about $225 USD. That said, I'm on PCIe 3.0 so this is no help to me :(

[mirceastan]

The saddest part of this is that even at MSRP, it's literally a 1660 Ti for just 30$ less, 2GB more vRAM and DLSS - 3 years later!