MSI GeForce RTX 3050 Gaming X 8G, 8GB GDDR6, HDMI, 3x DP

Sowohl AMD als auch NVIDIA beginnen das neue Jahr mit je einem Angebot im Einstiegsbereich. Die Radeon RX 6500 XT (Test) konnte diese Hoffnung aber nicht erfüllen, was vor allem an den starken Einschränkungen liegt, die AMD der Karte auferlegt hat. So setzen nun sicherlich viele ihre Hoffnungen auf die GeForce RTX 3050, die als kleinstes Ampere-Modell ab einem Preis von 279 Euro die Hoffnungen all derer weckt, die relativ günstig an eine ansprechend schnelle Grafikkarte kommen wollen. Zumindest ob die Leistung stimmt, können wir uns in diesem Test genauer anschauen. Wie sich der Markt um die GeForce RTX 3050 preislich entwickelt, steht wieder auf einem anderen Blatt.

Overall though, this is a great card for gaming at 1080p and it didn’t have the same limitations that the AMD 6500 XT has with it having 8GB of VRAM and it at least running with 8 PCI 4.0 lanes.

First of all, let me talk about the MSI RTX 3050 Gaming X 8G model. Similar to the other Gaming X GPU series, I think this is one of the better graphics card overall. It has nice aesthetics and design, and the cooling solution is excellent. The RGB lighting is limited to the MSI logo on the front-side portion and it has a metal backplate. Despite being a dual-fan card design, the construction is sturdy and feels premium. Although, I think one “GeForce RTX” logo is quite enough on a graphics card.

Last but not least, there's still AMD's Radeon RX 6500 XT, which has gotten a lot of bad press lately for its terrible design choices. You still can't deny that the card is more affordable and works relatively well for entry-level 1080p gaming as long as you have support for PCIe 4.0. These are terrible times for the GPU market. Just a few years ago, this same kind of performance was offered for $200, and vendors were happy to make a sale. Today, not much has improved in terms of performance, just pricing has gone way way up, but no amount of moaning or crying will change the situation. It'll be interesting to see what happens with stock levels, whether NVIDIA's mining-limiter on RTX 3050 will hold or miners will snatch up all the inventory. The GeForce RTX 3050 is technically available from stores now, but out of stock in most places despite prices of around $500 and higher.