New rumours about the RTX 3050 6GB graphics card reveal its target power consumption and GPU core count. Naturally, this iteration seems to be a bit slower than its 8GB version. Still, it should perfectly suit office PCs that lack GPU power cables.
When Nvidia officially launched new Super variants, it didn’t mention the much-rumoured RTX 3050 6GB. That doesn’t mean Team Green isn’t still working on the cut-down graphics card, though. It just doesn’t want the RTX 4070 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4080 Super to overshadow a new budget entry. Fortunately, someone else is more than happy to spill the beans at Videocardz.
According to latest information, this card likely sports a GA107-325 GPU, which is smaller than the original RTX 3050’s GA106-105. To be exact, the rumour suggests RTX 3050 6GB will carry 2,304 CUDA cores instead of 2,560. It also has a lower clock at 1,042MHz base and 1,470MHz boost, a reduction of 32% and 17% respectively. And the smaller 6GB VRAM pool shrinks the memory to 96-bit, lowering bandwidth to 168GB/s from 224GB/s.
All of this means that the model will be noticeably slower than the RTX 3050 8GB. With this amount of cuts, Nvidia should probably call this card the RTX 3040. Otherwise, you can bet many will buy one thinking they are simply getting less VRAM without much performance loss.
That said, all these cuts come with two noteworthy advantages: a lower power consumption and price. If we’re to believe the rumours, this model should only consume 70W. This means you won’t need a PCIe 8-pin power cable. Relying on the PCIe slot directly is fantastic, as you can turn older office PCs into value gaming machines. It also allows partners to release fully passive custom models, perfect for silent builds.
Currently expected to launch at $179, the RTX 3050 6GB looks like a possible budget contender. The only issue is the name, given how many changes Nvidia’s made and how confusing it might be alongside the existing 8GB version.
