Forget “second-half July”, RTX 5050 is making its way to store shelves across the world right now. However, this surprise launch may only be true in theory as the graphics card is nigh-on-impossible to find and buy at retailers.
Board partners and system integrators are unexpectedly taking to social channels, announcing availability of their RTX 5050 lineups. It seems that reports of an early release in China for the graphics card actually extended to the entire world. This doesn’t seem to be a case of miscommunication, given the coordination with other parties, and instead seems like a change of plans. Although, there’s nary a mention of the pixel pusher on Nvidia’s own socials.
Despite what partners claim, though, most online stores show no RTX 5050 models available for purchase. Listings we’ve found on outlets including Overclockers UK, Newegg, and Scan UK all list the graphics card as available for pre-order. It’s entirely possible that stock was extremely limited for launch, as was the case for prior GeForce RTX 50 Series releases.
If our surprise at the launch wasn’t enough of an indicator, you’ll need to wait a while before reading our RTX 5050 review, or any third-party coverage of the graphics card for a matter of fact. Until we see how well the GPU stacks up outside of Nvidia’s performance claims, I’d suggest waiting before throwing one in your shopping cart.
What we know for certain, at least, is that RTX 5050 will be less-powerful than RTX 5060. This graphics card packs 33% fewer CUDA cores than its aforementioned sibling, and features 8GB of slower GDDR6 VRAM too. Given there’s only a $50 difference in MSRP ($249 vs. $299) between the two SKUs, it seems the more-powerful option provides better value on paper. Failing that, there’s always Arc B580 to consider.
