NVIDIA Readies RTX 5050 Series for the Entry-Mainstream

[DudeBeFishing]

I haven't needed more than 8GB VRAM playing games at 1440p. Even with a GTX 970 and it's "3.5G" VRAM limt, I never hit the limit. I'm not sure what people are doing with their games to need so much. Some games request all the VRAM, even if they don't need it, so maybe that's the issue?

 

[Lew Zealand]

I'm happy to see this as entry-level is my favorite segment, seeing what's possible when you're running 1080p/60 or /120 with modest hardware. The RTX 3050 6GB was a huge jump from the 1650 and the seeming not-to-be-released 4050 desktop would be about 40% faster than that. I really hope there's at least an option for a 70W slot-powered 5050 but it would fit with Nvidia's pattern to instead release a 70W 4050 after the release of a higher power 5050/Ti.

 

[john_]

Hope it is a disaster. Right now I fully support AMD for sub $600 and Intel for sub $300. Nvidia can go and .....AI itself.

 

[EatingDirt]

I haven't needed more than 8GB VRAM playing games at 1440p. Even with a GTX 970 and it's "3.5G" VRAM limt, I never hit the limit. I'm not sure what people are doing with their games to need so much. Some games request all the VRAM, even if they don't need it, so maybe that's the issue?

If you're playing at 1440p with a GTX 970, then you're either playing very old games, low-requirement games like MOBA's, or modern games with the settings turned WAY down. Some games won't even boot with 4GB GPU's anymore. In any case, you're not going to run into much VRAM usage problems before you run into FPS problems with a GTX 970.

Some games will also downgrade the textures while you're playing. It's possible to hit the limit without even knowing it.

 

[InVasMani]

They may as well make a 4GB version for $100's at this point and tack on M.2 storage since it doesn't need all those PCIE lanes on a anorexic GPU.

 

[Gunbound]

I would like to see a 50-70W equivalent of a 5030 with 4-6GB VRAM with no reliance on rebar

 

[chrcoluk]

I haven't needed more than 8GB VRAM playing games at 1440p. Even with a GTX 970 and it's "3.5G" VRAM limt, I never hit the limit. I'm not sure what people are doing with their games to need so much. Some games request all the VRAM, even if they don't need it, so maybe that's the issue?

FF7 Remake probably wont even launch on that GPU, very quick test for you.

 

[DudeBeFishing]

If you're playing at 1440p with a GTX 970, then you're either playing very old games, low-requirement games like MOBA's, or modern games with the settings turned WAY down. Some games won't even boot with 4GB GPU's anymore. In any case, you're not going to run into much VRAM usage problems before you run into FPS problems with a GTX 970.

Some games will also downgrade the textures while you're playing. It's possible to hit the limit without even knowing it.

My current PCs have a GTX 1080 and RX 6600. The RX 6600 is limited by it's core rather than the 8GB VRAM. Eventually I'll get something newer.

I don't play any modern games. PUBG is the closest to modern, but that's limited by it's own code, like how they managed to turn the Sanhok map into a stuttery mess, even for players with RTX 4080s.

 

[yfn_ratchet]

135W TGP makes this a DOA for me personally. The 1050Ti/1650 was an excellent card precisely because the TGP was a hard 75W; you could plug it into ANY system with power to spare (notably old office PCs with proprietary power supplies) and you'd be chugging along no problem. The 4060 LP severely limited its potential by requiring an 8-pin power connector, as did the 3050 8GB.

Maybe Nvidia will allow enough flex in the 5050/5050Ti spec to lower these cards into the slot-powered range. I certainly hope that's the case. Elsewise it's going to get the same treatment as the 3050 8GB.

 

[Lew Zealand]

135W TGP makes this a DOA for me personally. The 1050Ti/1650 was an excellent card precisely because the TGP was a hard 75W; you could plug it into ANY system with power to spare (notably old office PCs with proprietary power supplies) and you'd be chugging along no problem. The 4060 LP severely limited its potential by requiring an 8-pin power connector, as did the 3050 8GB.

Maybe Nvidia will allow enough flex in the 5050/5050Ti spec to lower these cards into the slot-powered range. I certainly hope that's the case. Elsewise it's going to get the same treatment as the 3050 8GB.

Just to be clear because you didn't mention it, the 3050 6GB is a 70W card like the 1050 Ti and 1650. In addition to being significantly faster, it comes with the benefits of more VRAM and DLSS that the 1050 Ti and 1650 lack.

 

[Macro Device]

our last hope for usable entry level GPUs has become... second hand market

Fixed.

After doing unspeakable to the GPU market for more than a decade already, NVIDIA won't stop. 5050 series is doomed to be a clown fiesta.

Apparently everything is "in high demand"

Supply doesn't exist, simple as that. Demand is at its lowest since forever.

135W TGP makes this a DOA for me personally.

If there's a way to remove the cooler (if it's ever too big) without losing the warranty then I don't see that as a REAL issue because if you can't afford a PSU with a single PCI-e connector then next-gen GPUs, even the entriest levels thereof, ain't to be of your concern.
Want less power draw, just limit the GPU via software, it's a 0 IQ task.

The only real problem with these GPUs is that they're gonna be prohibitively expensive for what they're offering at best.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

I'll be pleasantly surprised even if it reaches 3060 levels of performance after two damn generations.

5050 is claiming a slightly higher TBP than the 4060 (135 v. 115). Since it's the same arch, it should be at least as fast as that card, which is itself ~15% ahead of the 3060, which was a 170W card. I don't know why we shouldn't expect that approximate level of performance. Yeah, it'd be nice if it were $180 and had 12GB, but Nvidia's not going to be launching a card like that anytime soon. AMD probably isn't, either.

 

[yfn_ratchet]

If there's a way to remove the cooler (if it's ever too big) without losing the warranty then I don't see that as a REAL issue because if you can't afford a PSU with a single PCI-e connector then next-gen GPUs, even the entriest levels thereof, ain't to be of your concern.
Want less power draw, just limit the GPU via software, it's a 0 IQ task.

It's not about the absolute power draw, it's about how requiring external power restricts the applicability of the card—something you clearly neglected to read as part of my post. If slot power was limited at 140W, sure, decent card, whatever, but that's not the reality.
There is a specific demographic of buyer that the slot-powered low-profile card attracts, where other cards cannot apply:

• Chassis only supports half-height and/or <=2-slot cards (HTPC cases, NAS boxes/rackmounts, OEM 'SFF' style computers)
• Power supply cannot support a PCIe power connection (OEM proprietary power supplies with non-standard pinouts, PicoPSU/12-19V external power/< 350W FlexATX)
• Wants to tamper with the PC as little as possible (inexperienced/unwilling, reasoning matters little anyways)
• No room in budget for additional components

I met all four of these check-boxes as a teenager trying to get into PC gaming. I had maybe $200 to rub together and a Dell Inspiron that was our family computer. No PCIe power connections, no compatible PSU replacements with PCIe cables, wasn't comfortable messing with what was the house's only desktop computer at the time, and I wanted to pour as much as was reasonable into a proper GPU so I could enjoy games at comfortable framerates and resolutions instead of struggle-bussing at 720p Low on Intel HD graphics. So I went and got a 1050Ti.

Were I in the same position in current day, I know damn well I'd be excited to get the latest and greatest of slot-powered cards when they're just around the corner. As-is, the only niche the 5050/5050Ti fills is 'can't afford anything better', which is a NOTORIOUSLY terrible segment in the GPU market.

 

[Prima.Vera]

It remains to be seen if NVIDIA implements Multi Frame Generation, because MFG is not a magic toggle that turns unplayable framerates to 60 FPS, however DLSS 4 with transformer upscaling, and perhaps even single frame generation could make it.

There should not be any IFs in this statement. Those video cards will not be worth a penny if nGreedia decides not to have them implemented.