Rumours suggest that the desktop version of the GeForce RTX 3050 will use a GA106 GPU with 8 GB of VRAM and perform at roughly GTX 1660 level. Nvidia was expected to launch it, along with the more capable GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, sometime in Q2.
The laptop versions of Nvidia's entry-level RTX 3050 and RTX 3050 Ti GPUs had already been on the market for some time, but desktop versions of both cards were still missing. A report from Videocardz suggested that buyers might have to wait until 2022. Nvidia was expected to launch the cards alongside heavier models such as the rumoured GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and RTX 2060 12GB.
Both the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti and RTX 3050 were reportedly set to use a GA106-150 GPU. The latter was expected to include 8 GB of VRAM, 3,072 CUDA cores and 72 SMs, putting it near the GTX 1660 Super. The GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, meanwhile, was expected to offer performance closer to the GeForce RTX 2060.
Despite their late arrival, the GeForce RTX 3050 and RTX 3050 Ti would have been welcome news for budget-conscious gamers. Nvidia could hardly be blamed for prioritising high-end models while supply remained tight. Even so, buyers would probably still have faced inflated prices, since scalpers and crypto miners were likely to grab the cards quickly after launch.
