# MSI GeForce RTX 3050 Gaming X



## W1zzard (Jan 28, 2022)

The MSI GeForce RTX 3050 Gaming X features a large triple-slot, dual-fan thermal solution that achieves excellent temperatures. Also included is a medium-sized overclock out of the box and the highly popular idle-fan-stop capability.

*Show full review*


----------



## THU31 (Jan 28, 2022)

How is it so loud at just 1200 RPM?

Also, does the 3050 really have HDMI 2.0 and not 2.1 (the actual 2.1)?


----------



## Garrus (Jan 28, 2022)

Remember in the US right now, you don't even need to head to a Microcenter. The 6500 XT is $270 and in stock for days on Newegg, not $350. In fact it regularly had $200 options, but those are bought by bots for resellers, so you only have minutes to make a purchase. The Radeon 6600 is the top selling card on Newegg, selling for $450-$460, not $550 or higher. Also in stock all week long. There's no way I'd consider an RTX 3050 that isn't $350 or lower. Not unless those other two options went out of stock.


----------



## Chrispy_ (Jan 28, 2022)

Garrus said:


> Remember in the US right now, you don't even need to head to a Microcenter. The 6500 XT is $270 and in stock for days on Newegg, not $350. In fact it regularly had $200 options, but those are bought by bots for resellers, so you only have minutes to make a purchase. The Radeon 6600 is the top selling card on Newegg, selling for $450-$460, not $550 or higher. Also in stock all week long. There's no way I'd consider an RTX 3050 that isn't $350 or lower. Not unless those other two options went out of stock.


I can't say I fully understand why Nvidia cards are more expensive for gaming when it's ETH mining that dictates the prices right now and all the Nvidia cards are LHR versions where you can only mine at ~70% hashrate anyway.

I'm not complaining; RX6600 in stock at better pricing than a 3060 is a win for gamers.


----------



## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Jan 28, 2022)

The smaller, 2 slots design and shorter heatsink of the Evga XC black beats this large triple slot cooler is the ultimate irony, is it because silicon lottery or bad mount pressure, thermal paste ?

I don't like how triple slot cooler are now so common in even sub XX50 cards, i remember not too long ago buying dual fan cooling solution for such a card was considered a waste of money, and that was when they were only two slots lol


----------



## defaultluser (Jan 28, 2022)

Chrispy_ said:


> I can't say I fully understand why Nvidia cards are more expensive for gaming when it's ETH mining that dictates the prices right now and all the Nvidia cards are LHR versions where you can only mine at ~70% hashrate anyway.
> 
> I'm not complaining; RX6600 in stock at better pricing than a 3060 is a win for gamers.


They can still make money getting these drops at "new msrp"

*This is normal launch rush for any new video card(and AMD didn't do themselves any favors by ;launching the train wreck 6500 xt first, EASILY DOUBLING EXPECTED DEMAND for this new entry-level!)*


----------



## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Jan 28, 2022)

Garrus said:


> Remember in the US right now, you don't even need to head to a Microcenter. The 6500 XT is $270 and in stock for days on Newegg,


Its because its an undesirable card for both gamers and miners


----------



## Chrispy_ (Jan 28, 2022)

Solid State Soul ( SSS ) said:


> Its because its an undesirable card for both gamers and miners


Even at the $199 MSRP the 6500XT is a turd for a PCIe 3.0 system;

You can get working GTX970 cards on ebay for as low as $120 and whilst a 6500XT can manage _average_ framerates similar to the GTX970 in a PCIe 3.0 system, the 99% lows are way off the mark. The 6500XT is a stuttery mess where the GTX970 will handle things acceptably.


----------



## THU31 (Jan 28, 2022)

Chrispy_ said:


> ...where the GTX970 will handle things acceptably.


As long as you stay below 3.5 GB VRAM usage.


----------



## kapone32 (Jan 29, 2022)

The only card worth it's salt at this end of the scale must be the 6600. Even though I can't believe $600 seems reasonable for a budget GPU?


----------



## Garrus (Jan 29, 2022)

Solid State Soul ( SSS ) said:


> Its because its an undesirable card for both gamers and miners


My point was the review of this MSI RTX 3050 frequently mentioned the RX 6500 XT as competition at $350 etc., so I was pointing out no, the price is $270, again.


Chrispy_ said:


> Even at the $199 MSRP the 6500XT is a turd for a PCIe 3.0 system;
> 
> You can get working GTX970 cards on ebay for as low as $120 and whilst a 6500XT can manage _average_ framerates similar to the GTX970 in a PCIe 3.0 system, the 99% lows are way off the mark. The 6500XT is a stuttery mess where the GTX970 will handle things acceptably.


EBay is a cesspool, most people want to stay away from there. Sure you can get a GTX 970 sometimes for $150 USD but that takes a lot of work. Most importantly, the GTX 9 and 10 series is incompatible with the default UEFI only bios setting most motherboards come with, so you shouldn't buy one. Not unless you enjoy having to uninstall your video card every time you reset it and want to access your BIOS settings.


kapone32 said:


> The only card worth it's salt at this end of the scale must be the 6600. Even though I can't believe $600 seems reasonable for a budget GPU?


$450 for the RX 6600. Unless you are referring to the Canadian price which is $600.


----------



## kapone32 (Jan 29, 2022)

Garrus said:


> My point was the review of this MSI RTX 3050 frequently mentioned the RX 6500 XT as competition at $350 etc., so I was pointing out no, the price is $270, again.
> 
> EBay is a cesspool, most people want to stay away from there. Sure you can get a GTX 970 sometimes for $150 USD but that takes a lot of work. Most importantly, the GTX 9 and 10 series is incompatible with the default UEFI only bios setting most motherboards come with, so you shouldn't buy one. Not unless you enjoy having to uninstall your video card every time you reset it and want to access your BIOS settings.
> 
> $450 for the RX 6600. Unless you are referring to the Canadian price which is $600.


Of course I am Canadian and we do not have MicroCenter



Chrispy_ said:


> Even at the $199 MSRP the 6500XT is a turd for a PCIe 3.0 system;
> 
> You can get working GTX970 cards on ebay for as low as $120 and whilst a 6500XT can manage _average_ framerates similar to the GTX970 in a PCIe 3.0 system, the 99% lows are way off the mark. The 6500XT is a stuttery mess where the GTX970 will handle things acceptably.


You can't compare those cards. You know Nvidia is lying about the MSRP anyway as that 8GB of VRAM is perfect for mining. This card is competition for the 6600 and 6600XT. So like the rest of the 30 series cards they are nothing but a rumour on retail shelves (scalpers on Newegg and Amazon don't count, even though Nvidia is making record quarters.


----------



## ymbaja (Jan 29, 2022)

Chrispy_ said:


> I can't say I fully understand why Nvidia cards are more expensive for gaming when it's ETH mining that dictates the prices right now and all the Nvidia cards are LHR versions where you can only mine at ~70% hashrate anyway.
> 
> I'm not complaining; RX6600 in stock at better pricing than a 3060 is a win for gamers.


Resell value is the main reason. Add scarcity to that and it makes nvidia cards a better buy in case you need to dump your mining cards on the quick.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 29, 2022)

THU31 said:


> Also, does the 3050 really have HDMI 2.0 and not 2.1 (the actual 2.1)?


Yes. It's not like this card can do playable 4k, so it really doesn't matter.


----------



## thelawnet (Jan 29, 2022)

Chrispy_ said:


> Even at the $199 MSRP the 6500XT is a turd for a PCIe 3.0 system;
> 
> You can get working GTX970 cards on ebay for as low as $120 and whilst a 6500XT can manage _average_ framerates similar to the GTX970 in a PCIe 3.0 system, the 99% lows are way off the mark. The 6500XT is a stuttery mess where the GTX970 will handle things acceptably.


lga1700 boards, 100% of which have pcie4 or even 5, are below $100 now, and as we've seen the 12100f destroys the non-existent competition.

this makes the 12100f + 6500xt a sensible choice for the many people for whom a used GPU is not an option

where i live (not the US) a used 970 4gb with no warranty goes for $210 and a new warrantied boxed 6500xt is $280.


----------



## Turmania (Jan 29, 2022)

These cards make rx6000 a shining star. Better performance, lower power draw and lower price.  The only question mark is their driver support. But I suppose they fixed that issue as we would have heard about it by now.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 29, 2022)

Turmania said:


> These cards make rx6000 a shining star.


No they don't. The 6500 is a very poor performer. The 3050 is exactly were NVidia wanted it to be. And with falling GPU prices, it will be a great budget card very soon.


----------



## THU31 (Jan 29, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Yes. It's not like this card can do playable 4k, so it really doesn't matter.



This is not just about gaming in 4K, but I think you are actually wrong. TPU's reviews say 2.0 in the teardown section, but that seems to be a typo. And I looked at the photo of the box, and that says 2.1.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Jan 29, 2022)

THU31 said:


> This is not just about gaming in 4K, but I think you are actually wrong.


The benchmarks support my statement. This GPU is an excellent 1080p part and a passable 1440p experience. 4k is just not what I would consider doable. To qualify, 30FPS is not acceptable in my view. For some it is, not for me.


----------



## Chrispy_ (Jan 29, 2022)

THU31 said:


> As long as you stay below 3.5 GB VRAM usage.


The 6500XT has already been mocked as a "3GB card" by both GN and HWU because despite physically having 4GB it copes worse than the 970 with 3.5GB.
It's crazy, I know, but the numbers don't lie. Perhaps in the case of the 970 the bandwidth drops off gradually - 3.5GB of fast VRAM, 0.5GB of crippled VRAM (that is still double what PCIe 3.0 x16 bandwidth is) and then super-slow main memory over PCIe. That crappy little 0.5GB partition is still way better than it just being a 3.5GB card.



Garrus said:


> EBay is a cesspool, most people want to stay away from there. Sure you can get a GTX 970 sometimes for $150 USD but that takes a lot of work.


Must be a regional thing. Here in the EU ebay is extremely safe to buy with tons of buyer protection and guarantees; You're only at risk as a seller and even then the high turnover and exposure makes those risks worth it. Where else do you get used goods? FB Marketplace is a far bigger cesspool than ebay over here.



Garrus said:


> Most importantly, the GTX 9 and 10 series is incompatible with the default UEFI only bios setting most motherboards come with, so you shouldn't buy one. Not unless you enjoy having to uninstall your video card every time you reset it and want to access your BIOS settings.


I have literally no idea what you're talking about. I spent much of 2020 and 2021 re-using old 970 and 980 cards in a wide variety of internal workstation refurbs (based on averages, probably in the region of ~90 PCs) in B450, B550, X470, B550, H470, Z490,  motherboards without ever once encountering this issue you're talking about. Gigabyte/Asus/MSI boards. The boards auto-detected a non-UEFI GPU every time without fail. I wasn't even aware it was a thing because in literally hundreds of builds I've never once ever encountered it or seen such a wild claim on any forum before.

Putting a new UEFI GPU in an older motherboard can cause what you're saying, but a BIOS update usually exists to permanently rectify the problem with that board.



kapone32 said:


> You can't compare those cards. You know Nvidia is lying about the MSRP anyway as that 8GB of VRAM is perfect for mining. This card is competition for the 6600 and 6600XT. So like the rest of the 30 series cards they are nothing but a rumour on retail shelves (scalpers on Newegg and Amazon don't count, even though Nvidia is making record quarters.


Say whaaaaaaat? I _didn't_ compare those cards! Misquote perhaps?
That's a super odd reply to someone dissing an AMD 6500XT with something ancient off ebay. Nvidia's MSRP is irrelevant in that case and I sure as hell didn't bring up the 6600/6600XT in _that_ context.


----------



## lmille16 (Jan 29, 2022)

THU31 said:


> Also, does the 3050 really have HDMI 2.0 and not 2.1 (the actual 2.1)?



Per MSI's website: 
DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a)
HDMI x 1 (Supports 4K@120Hz as specified in HDMI 2.1)


----------



## W1zzard (Jan 29, 2022)

lmille16 said:


> HDMI 2.1


Thanks! Will fix


----------



## mechtech (Jan 30, 2022)

Is this card even available??  I don't see it listed at CAD etailers yet?

ooooo look at this one  









						ZOTAC GAMING GeForce GTX 1660 6GB GDDR5 192-bit Gaming Graphics Card, Super Compact, ZT-T16600K-10M - Newegg.com
					

Buy ZOTAC GAMING GeForce GTX 1660 6GB GDDR5 192-bit Gaming Graphics Card, Super Compact, ZT-T16600K-10M with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




					www.newegg.ca


----------



## kruk (Jan 30, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> No they don't. The 6500 is a very poor performer. The 3050 is exactly were NVidia wanted it to be. And with falling GPU prices, it will be a great budget card very soon.



3050 is a poor show for a number of reasons:

1. this gen of 3050 costs almost 2x 6500 XT, and it might never come down to the $249 MSRP (which was just a smokescreen anyway)
2. you barely can buy it, because it's out of stock almost everywhere - 6500 XT has plenty of stock
3. the reason for 1 and 2 is being a cut down GA106 (so 3060, 3060 Ti rejects) with 276 mm² die size and a lot of RAM which has become expensive. 6500 XT is tiny at 107 mm² with less RAM and can be produced in mass and cheap
4. until the chip used stays GA106 (without the 4 GB option), the availability will be poor and price high. The price will only come down after they will use GA107 (and add 4 GB version), but ... that chip probably sucks. If it wouldn't, they would release it months ago already ...

Basically, the review conclusion should also have these cons:
- Actual market price much higher than MSRP
- Limited supply


----------



## W1zzard (Jan 30, 2022)

kruk said:


> - Actual market price much higher than MSRP
> - Limited supply


I decided to no longer include these points, because they will be true for every new release in the coming years


----------



## Selaya (Jan 30, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> I decided to no longer include these points, because they will be true for every new release in the coming years


maybe add





> good supply & pricing because underwhelming


to the 6500xt then?


----------



## W1zzard (Jan 30, 2022)

Selaya said:


> maybe addto the 6500xt then?


I didn't know back then, but if 6500 XT continues selling that poorly, prices might come down enough for it to become an interesting choice for the people who look behind the drama the youtubers are selling them


----------



## Selaya (Jan 30, 2022)

I mean, the 6500xt's not _unusable_-bad just _godawful-price-performance-ratio_ and _jump-through-the-hoops-asterisks_ bad, ergo a classic case of the _there's no bad products, only bad pricing_

and now w/ 12100f-b660/h610 shaping up to be really affordable (and good) too, there's one less problem wrt PCIe 4.0


----------



## Frick (Jan 30, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> I decided to no longer include these points, because they will be true for every new release in the coming years



Also you spent an entire paragraph on it.


----------



## W1zzard (Jan 30, 2022)

Frick said:


> Also you spent an entire paragraph on it.


I mean in the +- list. It's still important to talk about this situation, it's just not a specific product property that's bad/important to point out


----------



## kruk (Jan 30, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> I decided to no longer include these points, because they will be true for every new release in the coming years



Understandable and that is ok.



W1zzard said:


> I didn't know back then, but if 6500 XT continues selling that poorly, prices might come down enough for it to become an interesting choice for the people who look behind the drama the youtubers are selling them



Judging by some DE data, it seems to be selling pretty nice - probably because the price is around/below 300€ for several models (which is a bargain compared to the 500€ 3050). Example for MindFactory:


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1485218895527133185

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1487774608359141381
Although, it might be different elsewhere in the world.


----------



## Aretak (Jan 30, 2022)

THU31 said:


> How is it so loud at just 1200 RPM?


MSI use poor quality fans. I had the 3060 Ti Gaming X and that was very audible at its minimum fan speed, which was about the same. Nvidia seem to be enforcing a 30% minimum fan speed on Ampere cards. Every single one I've tried won't let you set the fans below 30%. That seems to equate to ~1200RPM on most cards, with the noise then being dictated by the quality of the fans. I had a Palit 3080 GameRock briefly as well and that was even louder at same sort of RPM (and unable to be set lower due to the 30% minimum). The one exception I've found is Gigabyte cards (haven't tried any Asus ones though). Looking at their 3060, funnily enough the minimum stable fan speed is much higher at 41% (you can set it lower down to that same 30% mark, but that causes the fans to pulse on and off), however they use better fans that can spin much slower. At 41% speed they spin at ~520RPM, which is inaudible. You can have complete silence whilst playing older and less demanding games, which is something that was completely impossible with the MSI and Palit cards. They would creep up to 60 degrees even under light loads, the fans would come on at 1200RPM+ and it'd cool way down again in 30 seconds. Then the fans go off and it creeps back up, so the fans come on again. Over and over and over. It's why I got rid of both cards. A custom fan curve was of no help, since there's no setting them below the 30% cut-off, at which speed they're very audible. So it's either constant noise or cycling silence and noise. Both options suck.


----------



## thelawnet (Jan 31, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> I decided to no longer include these points, because they will be true for every new release in the coming years



The existence of a $500 RRP Asus 3050  shows that not all 'fake RRPs' are as bad as each other.

The 6500 XT is readily available not too far from RRP.

For me, the complaints about the 6500XT:

* no encoding: good match with an Intel non-'F' cpu, which has encoding.
* works badly at PCIE 3.0 - not a problem with Alder Lake
* not enough VRAM - this is necessary to keep the price down and out of the hands of miners. This is absolutely a feature and not a bug.
* overpriced - the market sets the price
* slower than previous gens - again, this is feeds into price, if it's faster it will cost more; and the goal here was to deliver an affordable GPU that works for gaming. Checking stock online the competitors are the 730 (not even worthy of  being called a GPU at this point), the 1030 (much slower, cheaper) 1050 TI (same price, same RAM, no advantages), the 1650 (same RAM, more expensive, slower), so it did what it needed to do.



kruk said:


> Judging by some DE data, it seems to be selling pretty nice - probably because the price is around/below 300€ for several models (which is a bargain compared to the 500€ 3050). Example for MindFactory:
> 
> 
> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1485218895527133185
> ...


I've checked several countries  and continents and there seems to be good availability at (relatively) reasonable prices. This was a great product launch, and if people want to say it sucks, they need to give alternatives, which they can't, because they don't exist.


----------



## silentbogo (Jan 31, 2022)

What's really sad is that in my area 3050 is in stock, but costs around $750, while 6500XT sits around $500. Both are slower than non-super 2060, which costs somewhere in-between (brand new).


----------



## Chomiq (Jan 31, 2022)

Lowest - €524, highest €589

Only 3 sku's are not in stock. All come with this notice:


> You can buy a maximum of one graphics card - regardless of series and model. We will edit all orders for more items automatically. You cannot buy this card if you already have an order for a different model. The availability of graphics cards depends on the manufacturer's supply. We fulfill orders chronologically.


----------



## Ripcord (Jan 31, 2022)

I really believe that all the review sites have been paid to rubbish the 6500xt, its a Monster of a card; at the current price its competing against the 1050ti and it has double the performance of that card, 2x the performance for the same price seems like a bargain to me(in the UK). 
the arguments that are being give make no sense, like my budget card cant run the latest games at max graphical settings. 
the recommendations being given are even more absurd, like you should spend more money on a 5 year old second hand card that doesn't have a warrantee, may lose driver support at any second and has similar performance rather than a new card with a warrantee and driver support .
Hardware unboxed Literally said if you wanted a card to tide you over until the market settles down,  it would be Smarter to spend £500 on a 3050 because it will probably only lose 33% of its value where as spending $270 on a 6500xt would be a bad idea as it might lose 50% of its value, I kid you not! 33% of $500 =$165, 50% of $270 = $135 I guess math isn't a thing at Hardware Unboxed.


----------



## nguyen (Jan 31, 2022)

Ripcord said:


> I really believe that all the review sites have been paid to rubbish the 6500xt, its a Monster of a card; at the current price its competing against the 1050ti and it has double the performance of that card, 2x the performance for the same price seems like a bargain to me(in the UK).
> the arguments that are being give make no sense, like my budget card cant run the latest games at max graphical settings.
> the recommendations being given are even more absurd, like you should spend more money on a 5 year old second hand card that doesn't have a warrantee, may lose driver support at any second and has similar performance rather than a new card with a warrantee and driver support .
> Hardware unboxed Literally said if you wanted a card to tide you over until the market settles down,  it would be Smarter to spend £500 on a 3050 because it will probably only lose 33% of its value where as spending $270 on a 6500xt would be a bad idea as it might lose 50% of its value, I kid you not! 33% of $500 =$165, 50% of $270 = $135 I guess math isn't a thing at Hardware Unboxed.



LoL, $30 extra ($165 vs $135) is a very cheap price to pay for the much better gaming experience on the 3050.

Sure people should buy the 6500XT if that's all they can afford, but if they can afford a little bit extra, 3050 is a much better choice. Though I would probably wait a few more weeks until prices settle down.


----------



## thelawnet (Jan 31, 2022)

nguyen said:


> LoL, $30 extra ($165 vs $135) is a very cheap price to pay for the much better gaming experience on the 3050.
> 
> Sure people should buy the 6500XT if that's all they can afford, but if they can afford a little bit extra, 3050 is a much better choice. Though I would probably wait a few more weeks until prices settle down.


Yes but it's based on fake numbers and hypotheticals.

33% off a 3050 at $500 is $330. The barely slower 1660 Super launched at $230 2 years ago, and it matched a $380 card from 2016.

The fair price for this card today is $150, and a reasonable used price in 2 years would be like $90.

The world where a *used *'50 card still sells for $330 even after the next generation has launched is not one where the market has settled down.


----------



## W1zzard (Jan 31, 2022)

Ripcord said:


> I really believe that all the review sites have been paid to rubbish the 6500xt


I wish, AMD didn't even send us a sample, I had to organize mine through backchannels with online shops


----------



## Ripcord (Jan 31, 2022)

W1zzard said:


> I wish, AMD didn't even send us a sample, I had to organize mine through backchannels with online shops


If you fancy doing a test can you try it on a PCI-E 5 motherboard(if you have one) I know its marketed as a PCI-E 4 interface Card but that might just be marketing as I don't think AMD have a PCI-E 5 spec motherboard currently. I don't think anyone else has done it, it might be interesting might not be.


----------



## Wasteland (Jan 31, 2022)

Ripcord said:


> I really believe that all the review sites have been paid to rubbish the 6500xt, its a Monster of a card; at the current price its competing against the 1050ti and it has double the performance of that card, 2x the performance for the same price seems like a bargain to me(in the UK).
> the arguments that are being give make no sense, like my budget card cant run the latest games at max graphical settings.
> the recommendations being given are even more absurd, like you should spend more money on a 5 year old second hand card that doesn't have a warrantee, may lose driver support at any second and has similar performance rather than a new card with a warrantee and driver support .
> Hardware unboxed Literally said if you wanted a card to tide you over until the market settles down,  it would be Smarter to spend £500 on a 3050 because it will probably only lose 33% of its value where as spending $270 on a 6500xt would be a bad idea as it might lose 50% of its value, I kid you not! 33% of $500 =$165, 50% of $270 = $135 I guess math isn't a thing at Hardware Unboxed.


That isn't what he said.  In fact, he said that the RTX 3050 has to cost no more than $370 for it to make sense.  If the 3050 is more expensive, he says, you should look at the 6600XT. (Or consider buying nothing for awhile.)










I realize that a lot of people are desperate right now, and some of those people may not be able to afford anything more than the 6500XT.  There are superior options in the same price range on the used market, though.  If you're wary of the used market, which is understandable, then sure, go ahead; I certainly wouldn't judge you for buying the 6500XT.  Just keep in mind that $270 is a lot of money to pay for a stop-gap option.  That's Steve's point.

Calling the 6500XT a "Monster of a card," and then accusing _someone else_ of shilling, is a funny schtick. This is a terrible market, terrible enough that you might be tempted by terrible products, but let's not get crazy here.


----------



## Ripcord (Jan 31, 2022)

Wasteland said:


> That isn't what he said.  In fact, he said that the RTX 3050 has to cost no more than $370 for it to make sense.  If the 3050 is more expensive, he says, you should look at the 6600XT. (Or consider buying nothing for awhile.)
> 
> 
> 
> ...











Watch from 13:40


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Jan 31, 2022)

thelawnet said:


> For me, the complaints about the 6500XT:
> 
> * no encoding: good match with an Intel non-'F' cpu, which has encoding.


But, how can people make use of the "Quick Sync" encoder on Intel CPUs with a Radeon RX 6500 XT? Do you just install the Intel graphics drivers along with the AMD graphics drivers?
It won't be that much of a deal breaker, if that actually works!


----------



## thelawnet (Jan 31, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> But, how can people make use of the "Quick Sync" encoder on Intel CPUs with a Radeon RX 6500 XT? Do you just install the Intel graphics drivers along with the AMD graphics drivers?
> It won't be that much of a deal breaker, if that actually works!


Yes, the main thing is to enable the IGP in the BIOS.

According to this: https://skatterbencher.com/2021/12/...tel-uhd-graphics-770-overclocked-to-2378-mhz/ https://skatterbencher.com/2021/09/...tel-uhd-graphics-750-overclocked-to-1750-mhz/

there was a very large improvement between Rocket Lake and Alder Lake for encoding performance with Handbrake H.265. I'm not sure if this is true, but it's hard to say for sure because these encoders are not necessarily focused on quality - they may prioritise speed at the cost of quality. 

At any rate, encoding on the GPU will be many times faster than using the CPU alone. I assume the 3050 beats Intel's encoder, but that's non-obvious.


----------



## Wasteland (Jan 31, 2022)

Ripcord said:


> Watch from 13:40


Good lord.  That was a hypothetical question from a viewer, and this was his off-the-cuff answer, based on the hypothetical:

"If the 3050 ends up costing $500, and if the 6500 XT is at the $270, I still think there's more value spending $500 on the 3050."  And then, _in the very next breath_ he says, "But I strongly recommend _not doing that_. Like, I don't recommend either product." Then he says buy the 6600 XT instead, second hand market, etc.

By contrast, here's what you said:

"Hardware unboxed Literally said *if you wanted a card to tide you over until the market settles down*,  it would be Smarter to spend £500 on a 3050"

You made it sound like HUB actually recommended buying the 3050 at $500, which is absolutely false.  In fact, he recommended buying an AMD product instead (the 6600 XT), if the price of the 3050 rises above $370.  So who's shilling what now?   The statement in the video you quoted wasn't presented as a carefully considered editorial position.  It was basically, "Yeah, I guess if you put a gun to my head and forced me to choose between the 6500XT at $270 and a hypothetical 3050 at $500, the latter feels like a marginally better choice in the long run--but really both options suck." 

"Math" wasn't on the table, in that moment, any more than it would be for you if someone stopped you on the street to ask your opinion on a random question.  Personally, I don't even think the statement is unreasonable regardless; given the 6500 XT's manifest shortcomings--it being effectively a 3 GB card (hamstrung by its VRAM buffer far more than older 4 GB cards), with no video encoding and only 2 display outputs--paying $270 for it seems like a recipe for regret in the not-too-distant future.  Better to overpay for a card that will work well for 3+ years than it is to pay $270 for what may begin to feel like an expensive paperweight shortly after I install it--but happily, there are better options even in this terrible market than a $500 RTX 3050.


----------



## thelawnet (Jan 31, 2022)

Wasteland said:


> Good lord.  That was a hypothetical question from a viewer, and this was his off-the-cuff answer, based on the hypothetical:
> 
> "If the 3050 ends up costing $500, and if the 6500 XT is at the $270, I still think there's more value spending $500 on the 3050."  And then, _in the very next breath_ he says, "But I strongly recommend _not doing that_. Like, I don't recommend either product." Then he says buy the 6600 XT instead, second hand market, etc.
> 
> ...



They didn't say that at all.

They said - choosing between a $270 6500 XT and a $400 3050, then 3050. And then they chose to posit the price of $500 for the 3050 - they chose that number, not the viewer. Yes they did say, rather the 6600 XT, but that doesn't mean the 3050 is a better buy at $500, it's clearly not.

They then said 'if you buy a 3050 for $500 and then prices become normal and they are sold for $300'. And they then said 'the 6500 xt could easily tank to $100'.

Which is obviously just nonsense on their part - a world in which a 6500 XT costs $100 is not one where a 3050 costs $300.


----------



## Wasteland (Jan 31, 2022)

thelawnet said:


> They didn't say that at all.
> 
> They said - choosing between a $270 6500 XT and a $400 3050, then 3050. And then they chose to posit the price of $500 for the 3050 - they chose that number, not the viewer. Yes they did say, rather the 6600 XT, but that doesn't mean the 3050 is a better buy at $500, it's clearly not.
> 
> ...


Nitpicking aside, it's still just spitballing in a Q&A session.  "In a hypothetical world where only these two cards exist, how much would the 3050 have to cost before I'd buy the 6500 XT instead?  Uhh, more than $500?"  Characterizing that as some sort of considered editorial position is inappropriate.  Acting like an off-the-cuff hypothetical statement is representative of some sort of widespread tech-reviewer conspiracy to shill against the 6500 XT is even sillier.

HUB's recommendations, with respect to the 6500/3050/6600, are in the video I posted.  They actually recommend _an AMD product_ (the 6600 XT) at the price point that Ripcord complained they recommended the 3050.  This isn't about shilling; it's about the 6500 XT being a terrible product.  We can quibble over how bad it is, but saying that it's terrible isn't exactly a bizarre or indefensible position.  We're talking about a card that chokes on its low VRAM buffer even before other 4 GB cards, released years ago, do.  And then there's the video encoding issue, the lack of display outs, etc.  This card is basically designed to have no legs at all.

Just as a matter of principle, I'd have a hard time spending $270 on a product like that.  Even given the current market conditions.


----------



## Ripcord (Feb 1, 2022)

Wasteland said:


> Nitpicking aside, it's still just spitballing in a Q&A session.  "In a hypothetical world where only these two cards exist, how much would the 3050 have to cost before I'd buy the 6500 XT instead?  Uhh, more than $500?"  Characterizing that as some sort of considered editorial position is inappropriate.  Acting like an off-the-cuff hypothetical statement is representative of some sort of widespread tech-reviewer conspiracy to shill against the 6500 XT is even sillier.
> 
> HUB's recommendations, with respect to the 6500/3050/6600, are in the video I posted.  They actually recommend _an AMD product_ (the 6600 XT) at the price point that Ripcord complained they recommended the 3050.  This isn't about shilling; it's about the 6500 XT being a terrible product.  We can quibble over how bad it is, but saying that it's terrible isn't exactly a bizarre or indefensible position.  We're talking about a card that chokes on its low VRAM buffer even before other 4 GB cards, released years ago, do.  And then there's the video encoding issue, the lack of display outs, etc.  This card is basically designed to have no legs at all.
> 
> Just as a matter of principle, I'd have a hard time spending $270 on a product like that.  Even given the current market conditions.


OMG I think you're suffering from a mental derangement. I guess what you BELIEVE is more important than reality.


----------



## TokyoQuaSaR (Feb 3, 2022)

I wish you kept the GTX 1080 in the comparison instead of the Vega 64 that nobody uses tbh...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 3, 2022)

TokyoQuaSaR said:


> I wish you kept the GTX 1080 in the comparison instead of the Vega 64 that nobody uses tbh...


Lots of people still have the Vega64. Don't be so narrow minded.


----------



## Cutechri (Feb 3, 2022)

Selaya said:


> ergo a classic case of the _there's no bad products, only bad pricing_


----------



## Selaya (Feb 3, 2022)

you just skipped over the part where i explained why this is a case where said phrase is applicable.

congratulations.


----------



## Cutechri (Feb 3, 2022)

Haven't skipped over that, simply disagree


----------



## thelawnet (Feb 5, 2022)

Ripcord said:


> OMG I think you're suffering from a mental derangement. I guess what you BELIEVE is more important than reality.


You were right.

These utter clowns today put out a video in which they purported to show how terrible the 6500XT is by pairing it with, a, uh, 5600G, which is the only current CPU with PCIE 3.0










Because of course you spend more $$$ on less performance for an APU you know will slow down the GPU you just bought that only works well on PCIE 4.0.

Lol...

The stated argument for this disingenuous choice of CPU was that the 5600G has 'hardware encoding'. And you know, like the i5-12400 is $25 cheaper and is faster and also has hardware encoding, and won't slow down your GPU for no reason whatsoever, but um, yeah, just trust us we're the expert tech tubers, not just making clickbait BS.

Absolutely pathetic. 

And then all the clowns in the comments were like 'omigod it lost to the 5500 XT in every test'. Well no shit, try running the 5500 XT at PCIE 3.0 x 4 for no reason whatsoever and see how it compares.

So the argument they give is then 'buy a used RX 570 4GB for $188', because somehow a used card which was 17.5% slower, even with the 'deliberately crippled 6500XT build', is better than a brand new one for $230.


----------



## TokyoQuaSaR (Feb 5, 2022)

lexluthermiester said:


> Lots of people still have the Vega64. Don't be so narrow minded.


Ok ok I was kinda joking but I mean, there are even more people that still have a GTX 1080 (like at least 10 times more but whatever...), why not include it in the comparison ?

PS: Actually the Vega64 is not even displayed in the Steam Hardware Survey :


			Steam Hardware & Software Survey
		

On the other hand the 1080 is the 18th most used GPU, it's decreasing a lot but it's still 1.37% (which isn't low considering the most used card, which is still the 1060, has 7.54% share). The lowest displayed card has 0.15% so I am probably right saying the number of Vega64 is 1/10th that of the 1080...


----------



## lexluthermiester (Feb 6, 2022)

TokyoQuaSaR said:


> PS: Actually the Vega64 is not even displayed in the Steam Hardware Survey :


While true, most owners of Vega64 are doing more than just gaming with that card. And while the steam survey can be useful, it is by no means an "end-all-be-all" indicator.


----------



## Ripcord (Feb 7, 2022)

thelawnet said:


> These utter clowns today put out a video in which they purported to show how terrible the 6500XT is by pairing it with, a, uh, 5600G, which is the only current CPU with PCIE 3.0
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I watched it and wondered why did they switch the processor? then the first test the top 3 cards all have the exact same FPS and realised they deliberately CPU bound the cards to rig the test. Luckily YouTube has a bunch of people who bought the card and have posted videos of real world performance and it seems quite good; better than the review sites anyways.  

I have a theory its Intel not Nvidia splashing the cash to put off people buying the 6500xt as they are about to release theirs, we will know for sure if Intel release a card that has similar performance at the same price point and the clowns at hardware unboxed wax lyrical about it.


----------



## Cutechri (Feb 13, 2022)

Lmao @ these circus worthy comments shafting HW Unboxed, one of the only reliable tech channels on that site alongside GamersNexus. No other channel make higher quality reviews. LTT's reviews are a complete joke, and all the others seem to follow in their footsteps of low effort graphs. You still think they're biased for AMD, or biased for Intel, or whatever other company? Keep your fanboy dreams to yourself. They've appropriately shafted AMD, Nvidia, Intel, and any other company, when they deserve it.

6500 XT is a completely garbage product that shouldn't exist, no matter how you look at it. It should have been a mobile product, but AMD decided to slap it on a PCB and sell it as a desktop product while handicapping it to produce it cheap and sell it to the current hungry market for extra margins.

Did their video mocking TechPowerUp for thinking them having Nvidia boxes in their videos means Nvidia is sponsoring every video they make, struck a nerve of yours or what?

EITHER WAY, what does all of this have to do with the original 3050 review?


----------



## Ripcord (Feb 14, 2022)

Cutechri said:


> Lmao @ these circus worthy comments shafting HW Unboxed, one of the only reliable tech channels on that site alongside GamersNexus. No other channel make higher quality reviews. LTT's reviews are a complete joke, and all the others seem to follow in their footsteps of low effort graphs. You still think they're biased for AMD, or biased for Intel, or whatever other company? Keep your fanboy dreams to yourself. They've appropriately shafted AMD, Nvidia, Intel, and any other company, when they deserve it.
> 
> 6500 XT is a completely garbage product that shouldn't exist, no matter how you look at it. It should have been a mobile product, but AMD decided to slap it on a PCB and sell it as a desktop product while handicapping it to produce it cheap and sell it to the current hungry market for extra margins.
> 
> ...


Its a monster of a card, nothing else is available that comes close to its performance at the price. AMD have produced a fantastic product they have completely out manoeuvred Nvidia and Intel.


----------



## thelawnet (Feb 14, 2022)

Cutechri said:


> Lmao @ these circus worthy comments shafting HW Unboxed, one of the only reliable tech channels on that site alongside GamersNexus. No other channel make higher quality reviews. LTT's reviews are a complete joke, and all the others seem to follow in their footsteps of low effort graphs. You still think they're biased for AMD, or biased for Intel, or whatever other company? Keep your fanboy dreams to yourself. They've appropriately shafted AMD, Nvidia, Intel, and any other company, when they deserve it.
> 
> 6500 XT is a completely garbage product that shouldn't exist, no matter how you look at it. It should have been a mobile product, but AMD decided to slap it on a PCB and sell it as a desktop product while handicapping it to produce it cheap and sell it to the current hungry market for extra margins.
> 
> Did their video mocking TechPowerUp for thinking them having Nvidia boxes in their videos means Nvidia is sponsoring every video they make, struck a nerve of yours or what?


Lol wot?

They make decent content, but they are in the social media business trying to drive clicks, controversy and views, and just because they might make good content doesn't mean they are immune from hyperbolic nonsense.

The 6500 XT is a great product in the sense that it exists and you can buy it for a somewhat affordable price. Clearly if the RTX 3050 was on sale for $150-$200 like normal, then the 6500 XT would be terrible, but that world doesn't exist because they are currently infinite monkeys (or people selling monkey JPEGs) buying 6/8GB GPUs for inflated prices to 'mine' on. 

Therefore there is no question of what 'should have been a mobile product', there is the fact desktop silicon is mostly consumed by miners, so gamers need another source, and AMD should be congratulated for providing it.


----------



## Thuban (Mar 19, 2022)

Solid State Soul ( SSS ) said:


> I don't like how triple slot cooler are now so common in even sub XX50 cards, i remember not too long ago buying dual fan cooling solution for such a card was considered a waste of money, and that was when they were only two slots lol


The TDP of modern cards have increased significantly since. The current xx50 line-up can no longer be fed exclusively off the PCI-E bus


----------



## Chrispy_ (Mar 19, 2022)

Thuban said:


> The TDP of modern cards have increased significantly since. The current xx50 line-up can no longer be fed exclusively off the PCI-E bus


There are 3050 and 3050Ti laptop chips (GA106) with TGPs of 35W, and 3060 laptop GPUs (GA104) with TGPs of 65W. So there is absolutely no reason why a 3050 could not be fed off a 75W PCIe slot alone, but manufacturers are choosing not to make them.

Admittedly, the 35W and 40W variants of GA106 in laptops are heavily downclocked as low as 1100MHz, but at the more common 60W TGP they typically boost close to 1700MHz which, although not desktop stock speeds of 1777, results in performance that's very similar, if not within margin of error.


----------



## thelawnet (Mar 19, 2022)

Chrispy_ said:


> There are 3050 and 3050Ti laptop chips (GA106) with TGPs of 35W, and 3060 laptop GPUs (GA104) with TGPs of 65W. So there is absolutely no reason why a 3050 could not be fed off a 75W PCIe slot alone, but manufacturers are choosing not to make them.
> 
> Admittedly, the 35W and 40W variants of GA106 in laptops are heavily downclocked as low as 1100MHz, but at the more common 60W TGP they typically boost close to 1700MHz which, although not desktop stock speeds of 1777, results in performance that's very similar, if not within margin of error.


the 50 series is supposed to be far from a 60 series and sold for around $129. the 3050 is stronger than usual relative to higher models because of the state of the gpu market. it would be crazy to limit it to 75W given that it was launched into a '60 type price point, or higher.


----------



## Chrispy_ (Mar 19, 2022)

thelawnet said:


> the 50 series is supposed to be far from a 60 series and sold for around $129.


LOL, this isn't 2012.

The 650Ti launched at $149_ a decade ago _and that was widely reviewed as excellent performance/$ at the time, with factory overclocked models up to around $180 getting 'editor's choice' accolades or similar.

Even before ETH mining caused the first serious GPU shortage in 2017, the 900-series x50 representative was well above the $130 mark, with a GTX 950 typically selling for $175 and base models with that nasty plastic blower had an MSRP of $159...


----------



## thelawnet (Mar 19, 2022)

Chrispy_ said:


> LOL, this isn't 2012.
> 
> The 650Ti launched at $149_ a decade ago _and that was widely reviewed as excellent performance/$ at the time, with factory overclocked models up to around $180 getting 'editor's choice' accolades or similar.
> 
> Even before ETH mining caused the first serious GPU shortage in 2017, the 900-series x50 representative was well above the $130 mark, with a GTX 950 typically selling for $175 and base models with that nasty plastic blower had an MSRP of $159...



Yeah?

And the 1050 was $110 in 2016, and '50 Ti is not '50.

However you look at it, the 3050 was launched into a market where it was going to sell for hundreds of dollars and be far beyond the normal entry level where people might reasonably have some sort of potato of a PSU that can't cope with more than a dim light bulb's worth of power.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Mar 19, 2022)

Thuban said:


> The current xx50 line-up can no longer be fed exclusively off the PCI-E bus


Nonsense. If the A2000 can run on slot power, the 3050 can too.


----------



## Chrispy_ (Mar 19, 2022)

thelawnet said:


> Yeah?
> 
> And the 1050 was $110 in 2016, and '50 Ti is not '50.
> 
> However you look at it, the 3050 was launched into a market where it was going to sell for hundreds of dollars and be far beyond the normal entry level where people might reasonably have some sort of potato of a PSU that can't cope with more than a dim light bulb's worth of power.


Sure, the 1050 was cut down too much and it sucked donkey balls which is why it was less than half the price of the 1060.
At $110 it's clearly an anomaly, too - very evidently an exception to the norm and should be ejected from the dataset, if we're being pedantic/scientific about this.

$150 - GTS 250
$150 - GTS 450
$150 - GTX 550Ti (the vanilla 550 never existed, and the GT 545 was also $150)
$150 - GTX 650Ti (the vanilla 650 was different silicon altogether)
$150 - GTX 750Ti (the vanilla 750 was cut-down silicon)
$160 - GTX 950 (not dediciated x50 silicon, just die harvests from the GM206-powered 960)
$150 - GTX 1650

You're basically ignoring ALL of the following things if you expect an "around $129" x50 card:

1 - Inflation
2 - US-china trade tariffs introduced in 2019 that add 20%
3 - ETH mining
4 - COVID
5 - supply chain disruption


----------

