NVIDIA RTX 2050 announced: Here's how it differs from RTX 3050

At a time when people are waiting for NVIDIA to drop new, more powerful GPUs at the upcoming CES 2022, the company has shocked everyone by launching three new entry/midrange mobile GPUs. The most confusing of the bunch is RTX 2050, which is an amalgamation of two generations of GPUs. In this article, we will be discussing the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 in more detail, including its key features, and expected availability.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 Overview:

RTX 2050 is the latest entry to NVIDIA's RT 20 series GPU. However, it is not based on the old Turing architecture that all the other RTX 20 series cards belong to. In this matter, it is closer to RTX 30 series GPUs since it is based on the Ampere architecture with dedicated Ray Tracing and Tensor cores. To be more specific, it looks like a toned-down version of the RTX 3050.

RTX 2050 vs RTX 3050: What's different?

In fact, RTX 2050 uses the same GA107 chip used on the RTX 3050 (and other RTX 30 series GPUs) and features an equal number of CUDA cores (2048). That being said, NVIDIA has added some constraints on this chip to meet the lower price point. For instance, the above-mentioned CUDA cores can only reach up to 1477MHz from the base clock speed of 1155MHz. Also, the memory bus on the RTX 2050 is half the width of that of RTX 3050 (64-bit < 128-bit). NVIDIA has disabled half memory controllers of the GA107 chip for a 64-bit memory bus. It connects to 4GB of 14Gbps GDDR6 VRAM with effective bandwidth of 112GB per second, which is also half of what RTX 3050 offers. In addition, NVIDIA has made it clear that laptops also need to have CPUs with dedicated integrated GPU (iGPU) to be able to use RTX 2050. It's because RTX 2050 doesn't come with any display output, and it will have to rely on the integrated GPU for display output. This also means that RTX 2050 won't support G-Sync.

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More portable gaming laptops?

NVIDIA RTX 2050 requires less power. The configurable TDP for this GPU is between 30W and 45W. Prior to this, this kind of TDP requirement was reserved for the MX-series of GPUs. Thus, we are more likely to see RTX 2050 in laptops with a relatively smaller battery and limited chassis space. Also, having RTX-enabled graphics will help manufacturers market their laptops better. Laptop makers can even opt to use it in pair with Intel's H35 chips for more portable gaming laptops.

Performance

With the RTX branding, one might think that the RTX 2050 performs better than GTX GPUs. However, that's not the case. Early benchmarks have shown that 2050 is only marginally better than GTX 1650 Ti and AMD's Radeon RX 5300M. Instead, it sits below the GTX 1660 Ti. RTX 2050 suffers from having a narrow memory bus, slow clock speed, and less power. It's also a big doubt if Ray Tracing on the RTX 2050 will be of any use given its weak specifications.

RTX 2050 vs RTX 3050: Specifications

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 GPU Availability

NVIDIA has announced that laptops with RTX 2050 GPU will launch in the Spring of 2022. We expect NVIDIA to provide more information about brand partners and the availability of RTX 2050 in laptops during the upcoming CES 2022.

• Meanwhile, check out our long-term review of the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro.