Nvidia will be releasing a new graphics card set to supersede the GeForce GTX 1050 and 1650 series, following a range of product announcements revealed at CES 2022.Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 promises to be a significant upgrade in more ways than one.
Nvidia revealed the new card alongside several other products, including the new high-endGeForce RTX 3090 Ti, and two updates to its laptop GPU line-up. The company acknowledged that its former range of 50-class GPUs are struggling to keep up with the increasing demands of modern games, offering the RTX 3050 as the solution.
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The RTX 3050 will come with 8GB of GDRR6 memory. It is based on the Ampere architecture, promising greater performance and efficiency compared to the Pascal and Turing Shader chips used in the GTX 1050 and 1650, respectively. Nvidia is promising the card will be able to deliver ray tracing at over 60FPS, the first time the company has offered a 50-class GPU with this capability. This will be good news for gamers on a budget who are keen to experience the graphical enhancements provided byRTX Ray Tracingand DLSS, which is meant to improve visual detail and frame rate.
Nvidia will be hoping to attract attention from gamers who are looking for a solid 1080p, 60FPS experience at a good price. However, AMD has also been making moves in this space, this week announcing the Radeon RX 6500 XT card, which features its RDNA 2 architecture with Ray Accelerator ray tracing. It will offer 4GB of GDDR6 memory and uses slightly less power. Meanwhile, Intel is looking to release its own discrete GPU, with rumours a new card could be released as soon as March of this year. Details about theIntel Arc A380 GPU(dubbed ‘Alchemist’) were recently leaked, with benchmark tests indicating performance in the range of the Nvidia GTX 1650 Super.
The GeForce RTX 3050 is due to be released on the 27th of this month and will start at $249. AMD will be releasing the Radeon RX 6500 XT for $199 on the 19th, while further details about Intel’s project are yet to be released. New GPU options at this price point are good news for gamers looking to build on a budget. However, with retailers increasing GPU prices, and thesilicon chip shortagelooking likely to drag on through to 2023, availability and price stability remain a concern.
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