Nvidia's next entry-level card could be a cheaper RTX 3050 with 6GB of VRAM

[nanoguy]

Rumor mill: These days it's hard to get excited by a graphics card with just six gigabytes of VRAM, but it seems companies like Nvidia will make one if it makes current generation models look like a better deal. The entry-level RTX 3050 was never a great product to begin with but the grapevine says it will be modified to lessen its appeal compared to the RTX 4060.

The GPU market today is in far better shape than the hot mess seen during the scalping and mining storms in recent years, but we have yet to see the happy days of highly affordable gaming where you can build a decent rig with all-new components for a little over the price of an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 console.

When looking at the big picture, it seems we are headed into a period of stagnation in the GPU space. AMD seems uninterested in making high-end GPUs based on the next-gen RDNA 4 architecture and Intel's first-gen Arc hardware is mostly a toy for enthusiasts to check out what XeSS upscaling looks like when run on the XMX AI engine.

Meanwhile, Nvidia dominates the desktop GPU market and is busy making as many AI accelerators as it can since those are the biggest contributors to its bottom line. The rumored RTX 40 Super lineup that's expected to launch next year may not change the current pricing model as the new cards will likely replace existing mid- to high-end RTX 40 series cards but come with similar price tags.

At the lower end, we already know that Nvidia wants retailers to sell RTX 3060 GPUs into at least the first half of 2024 since those models are made on Samsung's less in-demand 8nm node and the company likely has a surplus of GA106 dies. Additionally, a report (via Videocardz) suggests Team Green is looking to make the RTX 4060 more appealing to gamers by discontinuing the RTX 3050 8 GB model.

The report seems to corroborate earlier rumors of a new entry-level RTX 3050 that will supposedly be more affordable but come with just six gigabytes of GDDR6 memory. The new report suggests Nvidia is worried about the RTX 3050 impacting RTX 4060 sales, so it will gradually phase out the RTX 3050 8GB as existing supplies are depleted.

There's been no sign of a desktop RTX 4050 card, and if the RTX 3050 6GB ever materialized there would hardly be a reason for the former to exist. Still, a graphics card with 6 gigabytes of VRAM in this day and age is hard to recommend when the RX 6600 with 8 gigabytes of VRAM will often outperform it for a similar price. Even if this new RTX 3050 6GB sees the light of day at a slightly lower price, it would still be a bad deal in comparison to the AMD part.

The report claims Nvidia will introduce the new RTX 3050 6GB model in January, so we'll have to wait and see.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/101092-nvidia-next-entry-level-card-could-cheaper-rtx.html

 

[yRaz]

Thanks for making all the e-waste! The AM5 APUs will out perform this nonsense and you can probably get an APU for what they'll charge for it. There is no RT justification for a card like this and what is DLSS going to do for it? Upscale 240p to 720? One of my computers has a 1050ti 4GB in it and it's really only useful for playing 10+ year old games at 1080p and it rarely hits the 60FPS mark at medium or low settings. I would certainly expect more of a 30 series card but not much and a 6GB card? what does it have, a 96bit memory bus? Are they making these from defective 3060 8gb chips?

Who's in the market for this garbage? They're better off getting a steam deck or an ROG ally and using it with a dock. My brain is short circuiting at the thought of this product

 

[LetTheWookieWin]

Watching NVIDIA and AMD compete in the low end GPU space has been about as exciting as watching the Bears and Vikings play each other last week on Thursday Night Football.

Team 1: “You win”
Team 2: “No, you win”
Team 1: “No really, I insist.”

 

[yRaz]

Watching NVIDIA and AMD compete in the low end GPU space has been about as exciting as watching the Bears and Vikings play each other last week on Thursday Night Football.

Team 1: “You win”
Team 2: “No, you win”
Team 1: “No really, I insist.”

The most entertaining thing about watching them compete in the low end is reading the arguments in the comments section

 

[Mr Majestyk]

4050 was already released, they just called it 4060 to suck in the sheep.

 

[Kam7r]

Perfectly understandable, nvidia was a little too generous on Vram lately

 

[Watzupken]

Instead of relooking into the pricing strategy, their solution is to downgrade some products to make the overpriced and unattractive product look more palatable. Wow… so Nvidia. Unfortunately, they always get away with it because people just love to support them.

 

[Kam7r]

Instead of relooking into the pricing strategy, their solution is to downgrade some products to make the overpriced and unattractive product look more palatable. Wow… so Nvidia. Unfortunately, they always get away with it because people just love to support them.

mmmh ppl don't really "love to support them" but from what I saw , ppl are just misinformed or just completely in sheep mode by following the marketing cr@p their prefered streamer/youtuber say about what is "best for them" ( for him instead mostly, coz they never had a need for nvenc, they only game for exemple ) without even try to think or look by themselves or still believe the cr@p ppl generally say about the drivers being "bad" since when it was called ATI ... ( hell I never had any drivers problems and I use ati/amd since 1998 even on the pc I make for my customers ... only had some on black screening 5700xt s ... exactly 3 of them) the immense majority of the "problems" are just them installing an amd gpu without DDU'ing the NV drivers 1st... so it's basically their fault ... and when it's happen when they switch from amd to nv , they never blame NV I remarked, even their drivers bugs... yea they got drivers problems too ... ( like every producers... I know, shocking ) I can't understand that double standard... better blaming the gpu's brand before their own ignorance I think...

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

I’m afraid theyre still planing to release 4050, thats why theyre now releasing THIS. Just to figure out what 1mm^ abomination they should release as AD108, so it would be +100$ and 5% faster in 1080p.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

mmmh ppl don't really "love to support them" but from what I saw , ppl are just misinformed or just completely in sheep mode by following the marketing cr@p their prefered streamer/youtuber say about what is "best for them" ( for him instead mostly, coz they never had a need for nvenc, they only game for exemple ) without even try to think or look by themselves or still believe the cr@p ppl generally say about the drivers being "bad" since when it was called ATI ... ( hell I never had any drivers problems and I use ati/amd since 1998 even on the pc I make for my customers ... only had some on black screening 5700xt s ... exactly 3 of them) the immense majority of the "problems" are just them installing an amd gpu without DDU'ing the NV drivers 1st... so it's basically their fault ... and when it's happen when they switch from amd to nv , they never blame NV I remarked, even their drivers bugs... yea they got drivers problems too ... ( like every producers... I know, shocking ) I can't understand that double standard... better blaming the gpu's brand before their own ignorance I think...

well you know...the thing is....when you use nvidia.....you can uninstall.....without a third party program....so yeah....thats still an AMD problem.

People who ignore AMD's driver issues will never understand why nvidia has the reputation it does in the hardware space. It took decades of grade A support for nvidia to get where they are at now. They're better now, but it will take time to prove they can maintain that position. In the meantime, doing things like hanging cars out to dry after 6 years or failing to maintain consistent driver updates for current hardware is not going to help that reputation.

 

[bondflavor]

Watching NVIDIA and AMD compete in the low end GPU space has been about as exciting as watching the Bears and Vikings play each other last week on Thursday Night Football.

Team 1: “You win”
Team 2: “No, you win”
Team 1: “No really, I insist.”

An apropos username, given the content of your comment.

 

[captaincranky]

Oh gosh, I see they're still playing, "how stupid do you think we are really", with the GT-1630 at Ebay:

Gaming Geforce GTX 1630 4GB GDRR6 64-Bit HDMI/DP/DVI Single Fan OC ITX Graphics | eBay

Gaming Geforce GTX 1630 4GB GDRR6 64-Bit HDMI/DP/DVI Single Fan OC ITX Graphics Card (GTX 1630 AERO ITX 4G OC). MSI AERO ITX graphics cards are perfect for small form factor systems and HTPC’s as they only take up a fraction of the space of a full size graphics card.

www.ebay.com

 

[Freddie159]

Thanks for making all the e-waste! The AM5 APUs will out perform this nonsense and you can probably get an APU for what they'll charge for it. There is no RT justification for a card like this and what is DLSS going to do for it? Upscale 240p to 720? One of my computers has a 1050ti 4GB in it and it's really only useful for playing 10+ year old games at 1080p and it rarely hits the 60FPS mark at medium or low settings. I would certainly expect more of a 30 series card but not much and a 6GB card? what does it have, a 96bit memory bus? Are they making these from defective 3060 8gb chips?

Who's in the market for this garbage? They're better off getting a steam deck or an ROG ally and using it with a dock. My brain is short circuiting at the thought of this product

For people that run Boinc, a small percentage of the population, then a 6gb gprahics card at a good price is a good option, but for gamers this is more for the kids than the adults.