By These days, “affordable graphics card” seems like a contradiction. However, Nvidia now has a device that largely falls into that category, six months after the RTX 5000 series was introduced. Both desktop and laptop versions of the GeForce RTX 5050 are now officially available. The former, which will retail for $249 when it comes next month, is an 8GB card that is identical to the RTX 5060.
Naturally, the Blackwell-series card is a significant step down from the 5060. You only get 2560 CUDA cores instead of 3840, and that 8GB of memory is operating at GDDR6 speed rather than GDDR7. The ray tracing cores have an equal 128-bit memory bus and a maximum wattage of 130. Nvidia rates them at 40 teraflops of capability, or around two-thirds of the more costly card. It supports DLSS 4 and related technologies, just like any other RTX 50-series card.
Since there is no indication of a Founder’s Edition launch, Nvidia’s graphics card vendor partners will likely handle this totally, just like with the majority of mid-range and low-cost GPUs. The graphic above shows performance claims for the Nvidia-provided RTX 5050 compared to the earlier RTX 3050; nevertheless, it should be noted that the comparisons mostly rely on DLSS 4’s Multi-Frame Generation functionality. AI Frame Generation was not supported at all by the RTX 30-series.
The desktop did not have an RTX 4050. It will compete with AMD’s RX 9060 XT ($300) and Intel’s Arc B580 ($250) 8GB models at this price.
With the same 2560 CUDA cores, laptops with a discrete RTX 5050 will also have 8GB of memory, which is oddly faster at GDDR7. While Nvidia is promoting a starting MSRP of $999, Acer has already stated that it will upgrade its popular Nitro V line of gaming laptops with the new GPU, starting at $900. Along with products from other Nvidia partners, those will also be available in July.
