How did we get here?
The RTX5050 will be releasing this month and to most people in the PC community, this will be an abject disaster. At a two Hundred fifty dollar price point, my first reaction is to agree. That is until I start looking at NVidia’s behavior and success of previous budget minded cards. While it’s true that this card doesn’t have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it may not be the worst thing since the GT1030 DDR4 version.
Since Nvidia’s “current” numbering iteration began around 2009, Team Green has often had a x50 at the bottom of the product stack. Well, they have for most series. There was also a GTS 150, but that was actually, I believe, the top of the 100 series. They have also occasionally mixed in something like the before mentioned 1030, but those don’t come every cycle. The last one being the 1630.
The x50’s were once reasonably priced entry level cards. The 3050, however, broke that and was confusing. It had a 8GB version that needed external power and a 6GB version that didn’t. Both had the same exact name. On purpose, and shady. The RTX5050 will be priced too high as well, at 300USD, but there is a possible bright spot.
What Bright Spot?
Someone going from a GTX 1650, which was a solid card, saw an improvement going to a 3050, even with the 6GB, no external power version. Oh, that one. But that was a different card with the same name, that doesn’t count. I’m not done.
Yes, the RTX3050 6GB should have been called the 3040 or even 3030, but it had some advantages. AMD and Intel failed to take capitalize. AMD’s budget offering was the RX6400 with 4GB of VRAM and no encoder, and Intel insisted on Resizable Bar. Both of these completely impeded any use in an older system that was trying to hang on for a few more years. Check out the blog on the RTX 3050, here.
Offering a 6GB version that took no external power, meant saving thousands of old office PCs from landfills. A twelve year old playing Fortnite doesn’t need a high end Gaming PC to play online with friends. He or she needs something affordable that won’t quit on them. NVidia is reliable.
Yeah, but the RTX5050?
There are other forgotten bright spots from the x50 cards. Anyone remember the 750Ti, or the 1050Ti? Icons. No one can argue that although the 50 base model was decent, but the Ti version far exceeded it’s sibling. Although the 1650 didn’t have a Ti, it had a Super version as a step up. That could be this cards saving grace. An RTX 5050Ti makes sense.
If NVidia has the vision enough to make a 5050Ti, I think it can very easily regain some of the respect that has tarnished this series of cards. The 3050 6Gb did have the advantage of coming in a single slot, that could save older Optiplexes, but with Window10 reaching end of support, that might not be the “go to” it was a year or two ago. A 12GB 5050Ti with a faster clock and more cores, though, could absolutely reign as a budget king. Well, unless Team Green gets greedy again and marks it up to a stupid price. They would never do that, would they? Of course they will.
I’m not sure if I’ll spring for one of these base models, but if I do, it will be on the YouTube channel, here.