New testing reveals that AMD’s Radeon RX 9050 4GB suffers from extreme performance degradation when paired with a budget CPU. According to testing by YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed, depending on the game, the RX 9050 4GB’s limited memory pool can halve performance compared to the 8GB variant.
Following previous testing using a Ryzen 7 7800X3D plus 32GB of DDR5-6000 CL30 memory, Hardware Unboxed has conducted a new series of game benchmarks, this time using a more appropriate system configuration for this budget GPU. For these tests, the RX 9050 4GB was paired with the same configuration with which it was originally sold, which demanded $850. This means you get a 6-core Zen 3 Ryzen 5 5500 CPU plus 8GB of DDR4 memory. For those unfamiliar, the RX 9050 4GB is only available inside pre-built OEM PCs, so DIY builders can’t buy it as a standalone card.
That said, there was one change to the test rig. The 8GB of DDR4 system memory shipped with the pre-built was a nightmare to work with, so Hardware Unboxed upgraded it to 32GB to allow more games to run. Due to the graphics card’s limited 4GB of VRAM, many games couldn’t fit all their data in VRAM, requiring it to fetch a portion from the system memory. With just 8GB of memory system available, data was being paged to the comparatively slower SSD storage. As such, more system memory was required to be able to even test games properly without crashes.
To keep VRAM usage to a minimum, games were tested at a resolution of 1920×1080, using lower graphics settings than usual. Even so, many games exceeded the 4GB pool, while others reduced texture quality to fit within the limited VRAM capacity.
Starting with Forza Horizon 6, the RX 9050 4GB managed to deliver 88fps on average using the Ryzen 7 9800X3D system. That figure dropped to 61fps when using the more appropriate Ryzen 5 5500 system. For comparison, the RX 9050 8GB delivered 98% higher performance at 121fps, despite using the same slow CPU, showing how having more VRAM can save the day.
As a reminder, both cards are powered by the exact same core GPU, mainly differing in their memory and cache configurations – any performance impact seen on the 4GB model is purely due to insufficient cache or VRAM.
This performance impact was also seen in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, where the 8GB model delivered 79% higher frame rates. The same goes for The Last of Us Part II Remastered, Battlefield 6, Marvel Rivals, and many other games.
While on rare occasions the difference was relatively small (14%), as seen with Cyberpunk 2077, in other games the difference reached 155%, and even hit 667% if you compare 1% low frame rates. On average, when paired with an AMD Ryzen 5 5500 CPU, the RX 9050 8GB was 68% faster than the RX 9050 4GB.
All that said, having 4GB if VRAM isn’t the RX 9050’s only issue. Another big problem with this graphics card is its name, which could lead unsuspecting users to believe they’re getting the same performance as the 8GB variant.
That’s particularly the case when you consider this version is exclusive to OEM machines, which are often bought by novice PC users who may not know the difference. While this 4GB card would still be considered an abomination by today’s standards, even when named properly, at least those buying it would do so knowingly.
If you’d like to buy a graphics card that isn’t an abomination, check out our recently refreshed guide to buying the best GPU for your needs.
