RTX 3050 6GB gets benchmarked & confirms our worst fears

The RTX 3050 6GB has been benchmarked, and the various changes the Nvidia GPU brings to the table leave something to be desired.

It’s only been a few days since the RTX 3050 6GB was launched, which revealed that the GPU would not only have less VRAM, but an entirely different list of specs to the original RTX 3050 entirely. The graphics card is based on a more cut-down die, offers fewer CUDA cores, and is also a significantly nerfed power delivery solution since it’s all powered via your PC’s PCIe slot, without the need for any external connectors.

So, there’s hardly a rosy picture painted about the RTX 3050 6GB right from the get-go, but given that the GPU still carries the RTX 3050 moniker, you’d still expect similar performance, right?

RTX 3050 6GB benchmarks reveal efficiency gains

Website ComputerBase.de got its hands on an RTX 3050 6GB from a retailer who set their products live early. In Cyberpunk 2077, the 6GB model was around 22% slower than the original 8GB variant, which houses a more powerful chip, as well as almost double the power usage. Given that the RTX 3050 6GB is poised to cost you around $179, it still feels a bit too expensive, and won’t offer a huge increase in performance compared to what’s already out there. Buying a used GPU, or spending just $20 more could net you a much more powerful card.

The real take here is that the RTX 3050 6GB is incredibly efficient, given that it’s only 22% slower than the original model, but manages to also be over 40% more efficient. We’re still in the mind that calling this GPU an RTX 3050 is slightly misleading, considering the gulf in performance between the 6GB and 8GB variants. Only time will tell where these GPUs end up, too. As we stated before, it would be a good option for those looking to pop a GPU into an older office PC or similar, given the slim form factors that we’re seeing listed.

Still, it is slower than a three-year-old entry-level GPU, so it’s very difficult to find anything positive at all about the graphics card that doesn’t boil down to “it’s more efficient”. Right now, the RTX 3050 6GB is hardly a marked improvement, and it all just feels a little bit misleading to call it a 3050 at all.