Nvidia has finally unleashed their latest graphics cards, the RTX 3050 series! These are the new entry-level model of the RTX series, but also the first time ray-tracing has been available on an xx50 series card too, which also means DLSS, Reflex and other Nvidia technologies are present too. While we’ve got a few of these cards on the test bench, this review is all about the latest Zotac RTX 3050 Twin Edge. While it’s closer to a reference model both in specification and price, it does feature a larger dual-fan IceStorm 2.0 cooling system. It’s wider, has larger fans, and has a new 11-blade fan design that is sure to give it a performance edge. Furthermore, it has been one week since AMD hit the market with the Radeon RX 6500 XT series of cards. While AMD went with 4GB of memory, the new Nvidia cards feature 8GB of VRAM. This should mean better performance, but at the same time, a higher price tag too.
Zotac RTX 3050 Twin Edge
Zotac has stuck fairly close to the reference design, but with the larger cooler, improved power delivery, and a backplate that allows airflow to pass through the back of the card, the performance should be pretty decent. It’s designed to sit a little wider, but it’s still one of the shorter cards in this launch, so it should be suitable for many smaller builds too. It also benefits from their latest software suite, which will allow you to overclock the card to get the best performance possible, or just to tinker with the fan curves to keep things in order. Personally, I’m most interested in the addition of ray tracing and DLSS and more so, how well those features performance on an entry-level GPU!
Features
- Nvidia Ampere Streaming Multiprocessors
- 2nd Generation RT Cores
- 3rd Generation Tensor Cores
- Powered by GeForce RTX™ 3050
- Integrated with 8GB GDDR6 128-bit memory interface
- IceStorm 2.0
For in-depth features and specifications, please check out the official Zotac RTX 3050 Twin Edge product page here.
GeForce RTX 3050
“The GeForce RTX 3050 brings the performance and efficiency of the NVIDIA Ampere architecture to more gamers than ever before. Equipped with 2nd generation RT Cores for ray tracing, and 3rd generation Tensor cores for DLSS and AI, the RTX 3050 doesn’t just stop at great performance with ray tracing and DLSS, it also delivers rich features including NVIDIA Reflex, NVIDIA Image Scaling, NVIDIA Encoder, and the NVIDIA Broadcast app. The RTX 3050 is the first desktop RTX GPU in its class, making ray tracing and DLSS more accessible than ever.” – Nvidia
