An NVIDIA RTX 3050 with a lower TDP (and by extension, lower power consumption) has been allegedly spotted.
According to Tom's Hardware, the rumored variant of the entry-level Ampere card could launch soon with a new die. The die-in question is a GA107, which is what Team Green predominantly uses to power their mobile RTX 30 GPUs.
Essentially, this means that the card will be similar to that of the first 3050 chips found in the cheapest RTX laptops.
The original report came from the German site Igor's Lab, which wrote that the chip will only feature a 115-watt TDP instead of the original 130 watts. If true, then the new variant of the 8GB 3050 will likely feature just a single six-pin connector, making it a good option for budget builders looking to break into the RTX family.
But despite the rumored lower TDP, they claim that the GA107 will have nothing too different from the bigger GA106 chip found in the discrete desktop versions of the 3050. For one, the silicon will have similar pinouts, which means AIBs can recycle the PCB whenever they need to.
Aside from that, though, the lower TDP could also mean hampered performance. Historically, mobile GPUs have always lagged behind their desktop counterparts (i.e. how a laptop version of the 3080 is 40% slower than a desktop 3080, via NotebookCheck.net).
That's because laptop chips will need to consume far less power for cooling purposes. The more performance they have, the more power they need. And with more power comes greater heat. A laptop's portable cooling solution just won't cut it.
Despite this, however, the information should be taken with a grain of salt. Though it is worth mentioning how NVIDIA has refreshed older cards with newer specs before, like how later versions of the GTX 1650 arrived with faster GDDR6 memory than the original ones with GDDR5.
NVIDIA has not commented on this news yet.
Analyzing The Rumored New NVIDIA RTX 3050
A lower TDP version of the NVIDIA RTX 3050 could mean multiple things. For one, the better power efficiency could mean slightly weaker performance as previously mentioned. But it could also mean that the card will be a more attractive potential option to crypto miners.
Here's why. Earlier on, Tech Times reported that the desktop 3050's crypto mining performance is terrible. But that was in relation to the card's original 130-watt TDP. A card with a lower power consumption can appeal to miners, because it will make it a bit easier for them to balance their power bill expenses with their profits. But this situation remains to be seen.
As for PC gamers, a 3050 with a lower TDP could be a great choice for small form factor builds, where there's not much space for cooling. But will the existence of this card (if it is confirmed) drive the prices of the original desktop RTX 3050 down? That's also up in the air as of the moment.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
