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Nvidia doubles down on GDDR6 and 8 GB limits for RTX 5050

by on13 June 2025


Blackwell entry-level GPU skimps on bandwidth

Nvidia’s latest budget card, the GeForce RTX 5050, is shaping up as another exercise in doing just enough.

The card sticks to 8 GB of VRAM and will be the first Blackwell GPU to ship with the GB207 chip, a trimmed-down core with 2,560 CUDA units and drawing between 135 and 145 watts through a single 8-pin connector.

Instead of pushing forward with GDDR7, the RTX 5050 uses tried-and-tested 20 Gbps GDDR6, dribbling data across a 128-bit bus for a total of 320 GB/s bandwidth. That’s not impressive but does match the memory design of other value GPUs like the RX 9060 XT 8 GB.

A curious tweak in the design is a 3+2 phase VRM setup, with three phases for the core and two for the VRAM. That’s a notable change from the RTX 4060, which had just a single VRAM phase, though what this does for performance remains to be seen.

The bigger issue will be pricing. With the RTX 5060 already stuck at $299 and largely dismissed, the RTX 5050 will need to land closer to $199 to avoid becoming warehouse shelf clutter. At $249, it’ll be rubbing shoulders with cheaper cards offering more memory, like the Arc B580 12 GB and Arc B570 10 GB.

Nvidia’s banking on brand weight and software stability to make the RTX 5050 appealing to entry-level gamers. Whether that’s enough when cheaper, fatter cards exist remains uncertain.

The card launches in July. 

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 GPU Specs:

Graphics Card NameNVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 TiNVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 TiNVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050
GPU Name Blackwell GB202-300 Blackwell GB203-400 Blackwell GB203-300-A1 Blackwell GB205-300-A1 Blackwell GB206-300 Blackwell GB206-250 Blackwell GB207-300
GPU SMs 170 (192 Full) 84 (84 Full) 70 (84 Full) 50 (50 Full) 36 (36 Full) 30 20 (20 Full)
GPU Cores 21760 10752 8960 6144 4608 3840 2560
Clock Speeds 2.41 GHz 2.62 GHz 2.45 GHz 2.51 GHz 2.57 GHz TBD TBD
Memory Capacity 32 GB GDDR7 16 GB GDDR7 16 GB GDDR7 12 GB GDDR7 16 GB / 8 GB GDDR7 8 GB GDDR7 8 GB GDDR6
Memory Bus 512-bit 256-bit 256-bit 192-bit 128-bit 128-bit 128-bit
Memory Speed 28 Gbps 30 Gbps 28 Gbps 28 Gbps 28 Gbps 28 Gbps 20 Gbps
Bandwidth 1792 GB/s 960 GB/s 896 GB/s 672 GB/s 448 GB/s 448 GB/s 320 GB/s
Power Interface 1 12V-2x6 (16-Pin) 1 12V-2x6 (16-Pin) 1 12V-2x6 (16-Pin) 1 12VHPWR (16-Pin) 1 12VHPWR (16-Pin) 8-Pin 8-Pin
Launch 30th January, 2025 30th January, 2025 20th February, 2025 5th March, 2025 16th April, 2025 19th May, 2025 June 2025?
TBP 575W 360W 300W 250W 180W 145W 135W
Price $1999 US $999 US $749 US $549 US $429/$379 $299 $249-$199?

 

Last modified on 13 June 2025
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