NVIDIA's RTX 5050: AI-Powered Performance in an Entry-Level GPU

After another review-less launch, the first RTX 5050 benchmarks are here -- Nvidia's budget card loses to B580 and RTX 4060, with only multi frame generation to give it a boost

Despite the low price, sales could be limited of yet-another 8GB GPU. The first third-party review for Nvidia's new RTX 5050 graphics card has been published at Quasarzone, and throughout the extensive benchmarks, it falls behind the Intel Arc B580 by 2.5% on average, and the RTX 4060 by around seven percent. It proves notably faster than the RTX 3060, though, topping it by just over 13% across the 15-game average. As with all of Nvidia's recent 8GB graphics card releases, no review samples were sent out for the new RTX 5050, but we had our first taste of what it could do from board partner Inno3D a few days ago. It also hasn't stopped reviewers from buying up the card themselves to see how it performs. While other reviews from native English publications will no doubt follow in the coming days, this first one gives us a clear picture of what the RTX 5050 is capable of, including impressive gains when using multi frame generation. Testing the card against a range of its peers from current and previous generations, QuasarZone ran the card at 1080p in 15 popular games and some 3DMark synthetic benchmarks. Although there were a few points of variation from game to game, the RTX 5050 largely performed weaker than the RTX 4060 and B580, but better than the RTX 3060 and RTX 2070 Super. It also beat out the RX 7600, but only by less than a percentage point. One area where the RTX 5050 did show a significant advantage, though, was in games that support multi frame generation. There, despite being far slower than last-generation cards at native or when just using DLSS upscaling, the RTX 5050 could leverage multi frame generation to beat not just the RTX 4060 significantly, but also the RTX 4060 Ti. Where those cards can only generate a single AI frame in between the native ones, the RTX 5050 can use multi frame gen at up to 4x mode to generate an additional three AI frames. Although not everyone is a fan of the input lag increase and visual artifacts that can be present when using multi frame generation, it is a unique advantage of the RTX 50-series and gives the RTX 5050 a feature that its otherwise-faster counterparts can't match. The review doesn't highlight any particular issues with the 8GB of VRAM on the card, though it was only tested at 1080p. As with other graphics cards of its generation, like the 8GB RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti, it's possible that this could be a limiting factor when raising resolution or detail levels. The RTX 5050 does have some overclocking headroom, though. QusarZone was able to push its core clock up by an impressive 420MHz, and the memory by an additional 1,000MHz. Combined, those gave the card a near-10% increase in TimeSpy score and an extra 7% in Cyberpunk 2077 frame rates. Further overclocking was limited by the hard-locked 130W TDP. The question now becomes whether these performance advantages, such as they are, are enough to encourage gamers to spend $250-$300. Sales of new 8GB GPUs this year are down significantly, according to recent data from German retailer Mindfactory. The lower price of this entry-level card will surely help, but there's plenty of competition at this price point. And as this review shows, a number of those cards beat or compete favorably with Nvidia's new budget card.

Nvidia's RTX 5050 benchmarks are in -- and they're not great

The RTX 5050 gives impressive performance if you turn on frame generation. But without it, a two-year-old RTX 4060 can still beat it. Nvidia has been a little circumspect when it comes to sending out review units for its newest RTX graphics cards as of late. (That's why there's no PCWorld review yet for the RTX 5050 or 5060 or the 8GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti.) But reviewers gonna review... and the first reviews for the new RTX 5050 aren't great. Korean site Quasar Zone (spotted by Tom's Hardware) has a full review and benchmark suite of the Colorful iGame version of the RTX 5050, which comes with a Blackwell processor, 2560 CUDA cores, 8GB of GDDR6 memory, a 128-bit bus, and a $250 USD price tag. (That's the suggested retail price, anyway. As with all graphics cards at the moment, your results may vary when you get to the checkout screen.) The results of Quasar Zone's tests are less than impressive. The RTX 5050 just barely manages to hold even with the RTX 4060 from two years ago in most straight benchmarks, losing by a small margin in some. Intel's Arc B580 (12GB, $250 retail) beats it handily in most synthetic benchmarks, though an average of in-game testing shows it only winning out by a small sliver -- there are still a lot of games where Intel's hardware and drivers are at a disadvantage. There is a bright spot for team green, though, and it's in frame generation. Flipping on the switch for the signature feature of the RTX 50 series allows the RTX 5050 to pull ahead of the RTX 4060 by a considerable amount -- nearly double versus the older card with single-frame generation and DLSS enabled. That's to be expected, since the Blackwell chips can, indeed, generate double or even triple the artificial frames of its predecessors. This led to some questionable claims when the series was introduced, and those who are interested in multiplayer competitive games (the "fake frames" crowd) won't be won over. Even with the boost from frame generation, it seems that the RTX 5050 is not the budget competitor that Nvidia needs in this segment... or at least that consumers want from Nvidia in this segment. Nvidia is still making an obscene amount of profit from its wide portfolio on the AI boom, so it's not as if it really has to compete on the lower end. And it has a virtual monopoly on desktop graphics, anyway.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Performance Benchmarks Compared to RTX 4060

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5050 has recently surfaced in early benchmark tests shared on China's Weibo platform. These initial results show that the RTX 5050 delivers slightly lower raw gaming performance compared to the previous generation RTX 4060. The data, which includes a few 3DMark synthetic tests and some gaming runs at 1080p resolution, suggests the RTX 5050 falls a few percentage points behind the RTX 4060 in both average frame rates and 1% low frame rates. While this gives us a rough idea of the card's base capabilities, it's important to note these early benchmarks only cover a limited selection of games and do not represent a full performance profile. For a more in-depth look, South Korea's Quasar Zone published a review of the Colorful iGame RTX 5050 Ultra OC White edition, putting the card through its paces across fifteen popular games at 1080p settings. Here, the RTX 5050 showed about a 7% lower average frame rate compared to the RTX 4060, with 1% lows roughly in the same range. This means gamers can expect slightly reduced smoothness and responsiveness in demanding titles if comparing the two GPUs directly. Notably, Intel's Arc B580 GPU also managed to edge out the RTX 5050 by a small margin in these same tests, highlighting the competitive pressures in this entry-level graphics card segment. However, NVIDIA's new Multi-Frame Generation (MFG) technology changes the picture significantly. MFG is a real-time frame reconstruction technique powered by AI that helps increase frame rates without a proportional rise in GPU load. When enabled, this feature allows the RTX 5050 to leap past older-generation cards and even outperform the more expensive RTX 4060 Ti in several gaming benchmarks. This suggests that while raw hardware specs might be modest, NVIDIA is relying heavily on AI-driven technologies like MFG and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) to boost effective performance and provide a smoother gaming experience. The reliance on AI frame generation technologies means the RTX 5050's appeal will largely depend on how well these features perform in real-world gaming scenarios. If MFG and DLSS can consistently deliver higher frame rates with good visual quality, the RTX 5050 could represent a solid entry-level option for gamers seeking value. On the other hand, if these technologies fall short or introduce noticeable artifacts, gamers might prefer to stick with the established mid-range Ada Lovelace GPUs like the RTX 4060 or RTX 4060 Ti. In summary, the RTX 5050 appears to be positioned as an entry-level GPU that leverages AI-assisted frame generation to bridge the performance gap with last generation mid-range models. Source: Quasar Zone