EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK Review
EVGA's custom GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK is teeny-tiny, with a single PCIe power connector and big Ampere GPU performance punch.
The Bottom Line
Introduction
NVIDIA has just deployed the lowest-end card in its Ampere GPU architecture stack, with the introduction of the new GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card. The first RTX 3050 through the GPU lab is the EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC GAMING, which rocks some great performance for its small size.
You've still got everything that makes the Ampere GPU architecture what it is -- with dedicated 2nd Gen RT Cores and 3rd Gen Tensor Cores -- mixed in with new streaming multiprocessors, and super-fast GDDR6 memory. The new GeForce RTX 3050 battles the new Radeon RX 6500 XT, which has been a mess.
The new GeForce RTX 3050 when put up against the GeForce GTX 1650 or the GTX 1050, make them look like pathetic entry or mid-level GPUs. The new GeForce RTX 3050 has ray tracing abilities, and while you might not be able to game away at 4K 120FPS on an RTX 3050, you can definitely enjoy 1080p and even 1440p games with DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) enabled.
Unlike AMD's new mid-range Navi 24-based Radeon RX 6500 XT, the new GeForce RTX 3050 has 8GB of GDDR6 -- while the RX 6500 XT has 4GB -- helping the RTX 3050 in higher resolution gaming, and enabling things like ray tracing or DLSS (whether it's Performance or Quality mode DLSS) the 8GB of VRAM is welcomed.
If you've been waiting for a new Ampere GPU to upgrade to from an older-gen GeForce GTX 960 or GeForce GTX 1060, then this is the card for you. If you can't quite afford the higher-end GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, and so on -- the new RTX 3050 8GB is here.
NVIDIA is bringing RT and DLSS to a new market segment, where for the first time an entry-level GeForce RTX graphics card with the GeForce RTX 3050. NVIDIA introduced the first 50-class GPU back over 10 years ago now, but since then the 50-class GPU segment has lost power as the higher-end 80-class and 90-class GPU continues to expand in both power, and price.
Not only that, but it's bringing Ampere GPU power to the entry-level RTX market, with both ray tracing and DLSS technologies on the cheapest GeForce RTX series GPU yet. NVIDIA has an "MSRP" starting at "$249 USD" on the GeForce RTX 3050, with "general availability" to commence tomorrow, January 27.
Everything You Need to Know About Ampere
- HDMI 2.1 - GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs are the first available to feature HDMI 2.1 support with support for 4K@120Hz (4K120). HDMI 2.1 increases total bandwidth over HDMI 2.0b from 18 Gigabits/sec to 48 and adds support for high-dynamic-range (HDR), which provides brighter images with higher contrast, and more vibrant colors with better shadows and highlights.
- AV1 Decode - AV1 (AOMedia Video 1) is an open, royalty-free video coding format developed by AOM (Alliance for Open Media) that provides better compression and quality compared to existing codecs like H.264, HEVC, and VP9, and is being adopted by many of the top video platforms and browsers. AV1 will generally provide 50% bitrate savings over H.264.
RTX 3050 8GB Tech Specs
Detailed Look
For a lower-end card, EVGA isn't skimping out on the retail packaging of its new GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK graphics card.
You've got a dual-fan cooler that keeps the Ampere GPU at around 63C under load.
No backplate here.
AMD's new Radeon RX 6500 XT has just two display outputs, but the GeForce RTX 3050 maintains its four display outputs with 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 and 1 x HDMI 2.1 -- meaning you can drive 4K 120FPS+ from a single cable.
Test System Specs
Latest upgrade:
Sabrent sent over their huge Rocket Q 8TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD, which will be my new Games install SSD inside of my main test bed.
I've got a new upgrade inside of my GPU test bed before my change to a next-gen test bed, where I will be preparing for NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere graphics cards and AMD's next-gen RDNA 2 graphics cards.
Sabrent helped out with some new storage for my GPU test beds, sending over a slew of crazy-fast Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSDs. I've got this installed into my GPU test bed as the new Games Storage drive, since games are so damn big now. Thanks to Sabrent, I've got 2TB of super-fast M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD storage now.
Anthony's GPU Test System Specifications
I've recently upgraded my GPU test bed -- at least for now, until AMD's new Ryzen 9 5950X processor is unleashed then the final update for 2020 will happen and we'll be all good for RDNA 2 and future Ampere GPU releases. You can read my article here: TweakTown GPU Test Bed Upgrade for 2021, But Then Zen 3 Was Announced.
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X (buy from Amazon)
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII HERO (buy from Amazon)
- Cooler: CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360R RGB (buy from Amazon)
- RAM: G.SKILL Trident Z NEO RGB 32GB (4x8GB) (F4-3600C18Q-32GTZN) (buy from Amazon)
- SSD: Sabrent 2TB Rocket NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 (buy from Amazon)
- PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 1200W (buy from Amazon)
- Case: InWin X-Frame 2.0
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional x64 (buy from Amazon)
Benchmarks - Synthetic
3DMark Fire Strike
3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.
3DMark TimeSpy
Heaven - 1080p
Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.
Benchmarks - 1080p
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.
You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.
Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
1080p Benchmark Performance Thoughts
This is where you're going to be buying not just the EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK, but any RTX 3050 -- 1080p gaming. In something like the AMD-friendly Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, the new RTX 3050 is capable of 1080p 60FPS with Ultra graphics enabled.
Benchmarks - 1440p
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.
You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.
Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
1440p Benchmark Performance Thoughts
I wouldn't recommend the new GeForce RTX 3050 for 1440p gaming, but with DLSS set to "Performance" mode you will at least see 60FPS in decent titles.
Benchmarks - 4K
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.
You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.
Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
4K Benchmark Performance Thoughts
Just... don't.
Power Consumption & Temps
The new EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK uses just 130W for the entire card, while the GPU itself consumes around 90-92W on its own.
What's Hot, What's Not
What's Hot
- A great mid-range card: The EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK is a great graphics card, it's just priced too high (but that's because it's 2022 and the GPU shortage situation). Things will change in the future, but if you take price away -- you've got an entry-level card that does RT + DLSS -- not too damn bad.
- 8GB of GDDR6 memory: AMD is new Radeon RX 6500 XT throws 4GB of GDDR6, where in a world of 8GB, 16GB, and even 24GB VRAM on cards, the 8GB of GDDR6 on the GeForce RTX 3050 is very welcomed. You won't be gaming at 1440p or 4K, but it gives you wiggle room for RT and DLSS.
- HDMI 2.1 connectivity, great for HTPC: Another win here is the HDMI 2.1 connectivity over HDMI 2.0 on older-gen cards, as HDMI 2.1 allows a single cable to drive 4K 120Hz (and above) even on the entry-level GeForce RTX 3050. This is great for HTPC users.
- Single 8-pin PCIe power connector: It would be nice to do away with the PCIe power connector, maybe with the Ada Lovelace-powered GeForce RTX 4050 and its PCIe 5.0 connector, then we'll see no PCIe power connector on a 50-series card.
- Entry-level ray tracing + DLSS: This is a serious win for NVIDIA over AMD, and while you wouldn't want to run out and buy the RTX 3050 for ray tracing... DLSS on the other hand, will super-pump your FPS in games that you want over 120FPS. Alternatively, older games can be enjoyed with DLSS set to Quality, with higher fidelity graphics.
What's Not
- A bad mid-range card: It's just a bad time for graphics cards, man.
- A badly-timed release: Yeah, more of the same.
- Messy release: It's definitely not as smooth as previous Ampere GPU releases.
Final Thoughts
EVGA as always impresses with a smaller form-factor GPU with the GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK graphics card, but it's more the state of the GPU market and NVIDIA and AMD that are making this RTX 3050 + RX 6500 XT launch a mess.
Part of the mess was receiving the card last week, finishing all of my testing, and then getting an email the morning that I was going to finish my review -- from EVGA and NVIDIA -- admitting that the samples the media were sent of the EVGA GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK, needed a BIOS upgrade.
Why? They were shipped with the wrong BIOS -- something you, the consumer -- won't have to experience. But, it kind of works out like a bank error in your favor, as you know that the GPU clocks on the card are capable of boosting much higher than advertised.
EVGA says that the boost GPU clock on its GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK is meant to hit 1777MHz, but some samples are hitting closer to 1850MHz stable. This is a few FPS in your favor, knowing that you will be able to crank well past 1800MHz GPU boost without the EVGA RTX 3050 XC BLACK falling.
Wrapping up, EVGA's new GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK graphics card keeps up with the Turing-based GeForce RTX 2060, which offered the same performance as the Pascal-based GeForce GTX 1080. While the RTX 3050 isn't anywhere near as impressive as the higher-end RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, or RTX 3090 where it is impressive is that it offers GTX 1080 levels of performance in the RTX x050 series.
If you have been waiting for a new 1080p graphics card and wanted to dabble in the beautiful worlds of ray tracing (RT) and DLSS then the new GeForce RTX 3050 might be worth the money. That's up to you, ultimately.
It's not worth commenting on price, or availability because who knows what that's going to be like in your market -- or if you read this review today, or 3 months from now -- as I said above, that's your decision. What NVIDIA has made here with a low-end card isn't something worth bragging about... but getting RT + DLSS onto an entry-level card when the competitors' RX 6500 XT is so piss-weak?
Gotta commend that.
EVGA also needs to be commended on their teeny-tiny RTX 3050 XC BLACK graphics card, which does the job of offering a SFF gaming card that won't require much space in your PC, not will it break the PSU bank.
Performance | 90% |
Quality | 90% |
Features | 90% |
Value | N/A |
Overall | 90% |
The Bottom Line
EVGA's new GeForce RTX 3050 XC BLACK is a great card -- but it's pretty much a GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER with RT + DLSS + insane GPU pricing. Still, kicks the Radeon RX 6500 XT's ass.
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