Question 3050 Reviews

[jpiniero]

Videocardz has a review that was mistakenly posted early: https://videocardz.com/newz/evga-geforce-rtx-3050-review-leaks-out-ahead-of-the-embargo

It doesn't compare it to the 6500 XT but it's definitely slower than the 6600.

 

[jpiniero]

Uh huh. How much do those cost right now, add to cart?

You can get the 6600 for $450 right now on Newegg.

 

[Heartbreaker]

I mentioned this in the Ars comments on the 3050, but I think this 3000/Ampere generation has two alarming trends that I'm not terribly fond of: power and price. In regard to power, I don't know if Nvidia just wasn't happy with the performance at prior power levels (e.g. 250W at the high end), but having to consume an extra 100W...

Note that Perf/Watt looks just as bad, if not worse on the 6500Xt than it does for the RTX 3050.

https://tpucdn.com/review/gigabyte-geforce-rtx-3050-gaming-oc/images/power-maximum.png

https://tpucdn.com/review/gigabyte-geforce-rtx-3050-gaming-oc/images/average-fps_1920_1080.png

 

[Heartbreaker]

I really think that the 3050 should have been 4GB (I think this is an issue with dram density?) and the mobile die and the 3050ti the 8GB cutdown 3060 die.

Even at $249 it would have been solidly better than the 6500xt and the $299 ti would have been MSRP priced closer to reality.

Oh well.

Why would you make it worse at the same MSRP? MSRP for the 3050 is already $250 and you get 8GB.

You really think they should have charged the same price and given you less???

 

[Jaskalas]

Maybe there is a lot of confusion for value proposition, given the huge disparity between MSRP and street price. For the latter, we may consider ourselves lucky if we even attain the 10xx series price / performance values.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

You can get the 6600 for $450 right now on Newegg.

I mentioned before, I will iterate here. The gamers that want low cost budget builds are much more price sensitive than most other demographics. Nearly $200 is the CPU and board the system will have. Best bang for buck and futureproofing, are great, but subservient to total cost.

And a quick comment on the 6600. It got roasted by reviewers. Yet kid gloves and many qualifiers are used with the 3050. Nothing has changed in the market in between. Wonder why that is? That's a rhetorical question of course.

 

[jpiniero]

I mentioned before, I will iterate here. The gamers that want low cost budget builds are much more price sensitive than most other demographics. Nearly $200 is the CPU and board the system will have. Best bang for buck and futureproofing, are great, but subservient to total cost.

Then they should be buying a Series S.

 

[blckgrffn]

Why would you make it worse at the same MSRP? MSRP for the 3050 is already $250 and you get 8GB.

You really think they should have charged the same price and given you less???

The MSRP on Ampere cards are pure fantasy land.

Remember this?




Source? Best Buy, right now.

THE MSRP DOESN'T MATTER.

I want the 3050 to be cheaper in real life. A 4GB 3050 at the same base clocks wouldn't be slower in most scenarios, it's already hanging onto 1080p High settings where the framebuffer isn't as important. And we know it would drub the 6500XT anyway.

I want something I can actually literally buy at for $250 or so IRL. The 3050 as delivered in this configuration aint it.

Looking at the alarm bells going off on chip production right now, it's not getting any better any time soon.

So it is what it is.

Then they should be buying a Series S.

That's silly. Software side the S is way more expensive if you want to play with your friends - and if that isn't where your friends are, it's that much crazier. PC Gamers wanting to play with other PC Gamers and torture them selves with Escaping from Tarkov and all that need a PC.

I can keep hating on the S if you want It's OK hardware but lives in a different ecosystem.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Then they should be buying a Series S.

I SMH every time someone plays the buy a console card. First, there are games not on console, some quite popular. Next, the S has no physical media so their entire library of old physical games are useless on it. Where as they could play them in better quality on the X, if it was not also heavily scalped. The S is the 6500xt of consoles i.e. unattractive to all but the financially strapped. And of course that new i3 I built them, only need have a new vid card dropped in later. With that low cost console you are S out of luck.

 

[jpiniero]

I want something I can actually literally buy at for $250 or so IRL. The 3050 as delivered in this configuration aint it.

They could do a desktop 3040 with the same configuration as the 3050L. I think that would be OEM only though. For now I guess your only option at $250 is the 6500 XT.

I suspect why they didn't call it the 3050 Ti is that they wanted to leave the branding open just in case.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

THE MSRP DOESN'T MATTER.

I heartily agree with your entire post. I quoted this, because it does matter for one thing. It is a talking point upon which to base the dissemination of marketing material. All the numbers fall apart otherwise.

 

[Aikouka]

RTX is a selling point. Low cost cards (even though they are still relatively poorly suited for the feature) with RTX is a good box to have a checkmark in, whether it be OEM/S.I. pre-builts or retail boxes.

The rest are all incredibly ancillary concerns for me. Performance per watt, engineering decisions, all went by the wayside, quite a ways back for me. What is the add to cart price, and can I add it to cart? THAT is what matters to me now.

I think if you consider price to be an important factor that we should be wary of adding features that will add cost to the end product. Ray tracing isn't a terrible concept, but it's adding R&D and fab costs to each RTX card. RTX also gives us the addition of the tensor cores, and I see value in those with features like DLSS. On the other hand, RT seems more aimed at creating wallpaper-quality screenshots in games more so than producing actual, gameplay-enhancing differences. It's just odd to focus so heavily on static images in a frenetic FPS as a means to convey a feature. Will I really notice the reflection in the puddle in Battlefield during a firefight? It's great if you're a fan of a game's screenshot mode, but that's about it.

I know there's a lot of talk about how MSRP doesn't matter, but if the original price were lower, then the scalped price would likely be (relatively) lower too.

For me, it's about wanting to avoid another Fermi. It's not like Fermi was downright unusable, but they were hot and just weren't worth it compared to ATi's offerings. I had zero plans to go to water cooling with my 3080, but my Gigabyte Aorus Master 3080 (a 3.5-slot card) was so loud even during simple games that I had no real choice. I actually might've been fine if I had just tweaked my card to reduce its power draw. Although, I had also heard reports that some AIBs didn't do a great job with their thermal pads, which was causing heat problems.

I think I might also be a little spiteful at the lack of a good 1050 Ti replacement. The 1050 Ti is a great little encoder card given that it does not require anything outside of slot power, but given that the 1650 was saddled with the exact same media engine as the 1050 Ti, there was no point in upgrading to it.

 

[blckgrffn]

I heartily agree with your entire post. I quoted this, because it does matter for one thing. It is a talking point upon which to base the dissemination of marketing material. All the numbers fall apart otherwise.

I am thankful they allow for spirited discussion here as I really appreciate the distraction

 

[DAPUNISHER]

For now I guess your only option at $250 is the 6500 XT.

This is what so many are unwillingly to concede. One of the reasons, aside from your knowledge, I enjoy reading your posts. No agenda driven pretzel logic, just good, sound, reasoning. Even if it took a prodding to get you there.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I know there's a lot of talk about how MSRP doesn't matter, but if the original price were lower, then the scalped price would likely be (relatively) lower too.

As the old joke goes - $20 is $20. But seriously, it would do nothing but increase the profit margin at this point. Relief will come eventually, but not yet...not yet. TSMC raising prices 20 percent is bad juju too.

 

[Heartbreaker]

The MSRP on Ampere cards are pure fantasy land.

THE MSRP DOESN'T MATTER.

I want the 3050 to be cheaper in real life. A 4GB 3050 at the same base clocks wouldn't be slower in most scenarios, it's already hanging onto 1080p High settings where the framebuffer isn't as important. And we know it would drub the 6500XT anyway.

You aren't being logically consistent.

A 4GB 3050 isn't going to be $250 street prices either. You can't even get the much worse 6500 for that.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I am thankful they allow for spirited discussion here as I really appreciate the distraction

You should read the following in a mock offended voice - I am quite certain I have no idea what you are implying!

Black Sabbath said it best - Mob rules. But I ain't much for going with the flow, when it is pulling you out to sea, so to speak. This 3050 launch is a bad joke, and no amount of qualifiers or using the 6500xt as a scapegoat is going to make it more palatable. If I need a card in the $400-$500 range, I will not be choosing it. No matter how carefully crafted the sales pitch currently is.

 

[Aikouka]

As the old joke goes - $20 is $20. But seriously, it would do nothing but increase the profit margin at this point. Relief will come eventually, but not yet...not yet. TSMC raising prices 20 percent is bad juju too.

Speaking of raising fab prices, I saw that Nvidia was raising the FE MSRP in the EU, which makes me wonder if that's in direct reference to rising fab costs. As much as I'm not a huge fan of some of Nvidia's costs, I can at least say that I do appreciate that the FEs haven't (likely) seen any unnecessary price increases. Unfortunately, while I can appreciate their price, you can't ignore how they're ridiculously hard to find, and when you do, it pretty much involves camping outside Best Buy.

On that note, it makes me kick myself that I didn't get two 3060 Ti FE cards the first time I went to Best Buy for one. I was pretty much the last person in line, and they had maybe 8 cards left. One lady asked if she could just get back in line, and the workers didn't care as long as everyone that was there to get one at least got one. Ever since that time, it has been much harder to get one from Best Buy.

 

[blckgrffn]

You aren't being logically consistent.

A 4GB 3050 isn't going to be $250 street prices either. You can't even get the much worse 6500 for that.

I said that I would take a non-mineable, further cut 3050. I think that would have a chance to be found at $250. Just like it seems that some aggressive shopping is likely to net out some 6500XT for ~$200, maybe $200 plus shipping over the next few weeks.

Because it can't mine.

Then you said I was silly because I wanted to be charged more for less based on MSRP. I am saying that a cut 3050 would have less premium, and the mining premium is legit. I want to pay less for a lesser card. The full 3050 at $250 is a joke MSRP so that falls in line with the MSRP layout that I posted from that Best Buy screencap. Can you imagine $400 3060ti's and $700 3080s? WHAT A WORLD. That world would also have $250 3050s as they were released.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

On that note, it makes me kick myself that I didn't get two 3060 Ti FE cards the first time I went to Best Buy for one. I was pretty much the last person in line, and they had maybe 8 cards left. One lady asked if she could just get back in line, and the workers didn't care as long as everyone that was there to get one at least got one. Ever since that time, it has been much harder to get one from Best Buy.

I will reply to this, then steer us back on topic.

Your regret is shared by many from shortly before C19 monkey wrenched everything. And why I get mildly annoyed with the "wait" advice so often dispensed by our crowd. Long hair Steve of GN told everyone not to panic buy back when this all first started. That advice aged like warm milk.

On the 3050: In the fantasy league where the old normal existed. This would have been a cool 1660 Super replacement price wise - 8GB of ram and RTX on a budget card like that, would have been a big hit. But the reality is, that this is exactly what I surmised - Have to win it in the shuffle or hit a retail drop on point to buy one without getting fleeced. Even then, overpriced, but good enough in this market.

I am not accepting the sales pitch or excuses for it though. Putting 8GB on it guaranteed it would suffer the same fate as every other 8GB card. And reviewers feigning ignorance with the "We don't know how much it is going to actually cost" nonsense is also laughable. I, a mental midget, knew it would be $400 and up add to cart. A few went so far as to explain how it was still a deal, especially v. the 6500xt at 1440p. Madness, absolute lunacy. How about we compare it to the 6600, the real competition in the price bracket?

 

[DeathReborn]

I managed to snag a close to MSRP Palit StormX (ITX) 3050 (£249, £10 over MSRP, £20 over cheapest 6500XT) as a HTPC upgrade.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I managed to snag a close to MSRP Palit StormX (ITX) 3050 (£249, £10 over MSRP, £20 over cheapest 6500XT) as a HTPC upgrade.

Lucky. Miracle even. Here they sold out in literally seconds.

 

[KentState]

Got a $249 EVGA 3050 today off Newegg. Will be the perfect card for my media server which has been using an ancient GT 710 for the last year.

 

[coercitiv]

I managed to snag a close to MSRP Palit StormX (ITX) 3050 [...] as a HTPC upgrade.

EVGA 3050 [...] will be the perfect card for my media server

Don't worry gamers, you can have the 6500XT, these movie enthusiasts won't touch them. So go now, catch 'em all!

 

[blckgrffn]

Got a $249 EVGA 3050 today off Newegg. Will be the perfect card for my media server which has been using an ancient GT 710 for the last year.

The lack of notification here means... I did not. Nice

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Got a $249 EVGA 3050 today off Newegg. Will be the perfect card for my media server which has been using an ancient GT 710 for the last year.

You won the lottery, because the rest of us got this - https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=video+graphics+card&quicklink=true&N=100007709 8000 601399335&isdeptsrh=1
And as a btw, Zotac will not get any more of my money after what they pulled during this "crisis".