Considering graphics card pricing that is now decreasing, now it’s much more sense to discuss it. Here I have an RTX 3050 from Colorful. Unfortunately I bought it back in April. A little bit regretful seeing current pricing but at that time I had a need to do design works. I was using a Radeon HD 4650 and it couldn’t keep up with current apps needs. On Figma, there was a glitch that made some lines on prototype mode and it was far from smooth when moving and scrolling on design mode.
Also I just sold my RX 5600 XT. You can say it’s a little bit of a downgrade but I got some more features too, like real time ray tracing, DLSS, and a non-gaming feature/software—NVIDIA Broadcast.
In this post I’m just going to share my experience rather than a kind of scientific test. Nor an in-depth gaming performance test.
| Manufacturing Process | 8nm |
| CUDA Cores | 2560 |
| Core Clock | Base:1552Mhz; Boost:1777Mhz |
| One-Key OC | Base:1552Mhz; Boost:1860Mhz |
| Memory Speed Grade | 14Gbps |
| Memory Size | 8GB |
| Memory Bus Width | 128bit |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 224 GB/S |
| Power Connector | 2*8Pin |
| Power Supply | 6+2 |
| TDP | 130W |
| Display Ports | 3DP+HDMI |
| Auto Stop Technology | Y |
| Power Suggest | 550W and above |
| DirectX | DirectX 12 Ultimate/OpenGL4.6 |
| NV technology Support | NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA G-SYNC, 2nd Gen Ray Tracing Cores |
| Slot Number | over 2 slot |
| Product Size | 310*131.5*56mm |
| Product Weight | 1.1KG(N.W) |
Unboxing
The packaging is a little bit big for an RTX 3050 class. This Colorful iGame has a 2.5 slot design with a long dimension. As usual, the back of the package has key features.
Inside the box is somehow overkill. Most likely it is the same packaging like the 3060 version too.
It has a simple documentation that is just a quick guide. Maybe the most informative part is to enable/disable factory overclock mode.
I said it’s a little overkill but why not normalise it. It would be better if any mainstream graphics card gave a similar protection. The time before this RTX 3050, I owned Sapphire RX 5600XT. The packaging was simple, not so different from this one but with less protection for the unit.
The Card
The physical appearance is long, thick, but not wide. It doesn’t come close to the side panel of the Bitfenix Neos case that I use. Though it’s still not easy to install either due to the triple fan design. I don’t get why the middle is smaller than the other two, maybe it is just supposed to support them for better cooling and noise. As actually there is a dual fan version.
The cooler design seems the same as the RTX 3060 version. So it feels overkill, moreover it uses a 16-pin PCIe power connector, rather than 8-pin like most of the RTX 3050 out there.
One-key overclock is located on the back of the graphics card, so it can easily be accessed when the card is already installed in a case. Positioned over the 1 HDMI port and 3 DisplayPort.
The installation is so-so, I can’t say it’s straightforward but it’s not that difficult either. The most important thing to remember is the length of the card and its 2.5 slot design. Like for the case that I use, it almost touches the inner frame and I need to tear down one PCIe slot cover as the RX 5600XT that I used before this, only has a 1.5 slot design.
Performance
I use a monitor that supports the first iteration of Freesync and only has one HDMI port. So I can’t use VRR and can only have a higher refresh rate than 60Hz.
But I don’t know why Windows can’t read it at exactly 72Hz. Windows only shows at 71 or 71 point something. But if it’s a setting in a game, it actually can be set at 72 and the GeForce Overlay reports it as it should be.
Specs that I use:
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- iGame GeForce RTX 3050 Ultra W OC
- 16GB RAM
- (OS/Game) ADATA SU750 512GB
- (Game) WD Blue HDD 1TB @7200RPM
- Windows 10 21H1
- Driver: GeForce Game Ready 512.15/516.59
- Resolution: 1920×1080
Skyrim
On Skyrim I had 55-60 FPS and I used all the settings all maxed up. Also added some graphics mods and ENB.
Rise of The Tomb Raider (ROTR)
With ROTR, the game has an internal benchmark and reported 71.89 average FPS. For the graphics settings, I used the ‘Very High’ preset. For a smoother experience, I enjoy ‘High’ preset more rather than just to make everything maxed up.
PUBG
With PUBG I started maxing everything up then modified the foliage to low and shadow to low, which I think helps me spot enemies better. I got 60 FPS or better with this setting.
Black Desert
I played with Black Desert a little bit as somehow I got it on my Steam library. I tried using GeForce Experience for this one. The setting equals the ‘Remaster’ preset on the game, or one step from the maxed out preset. The game runs within the range of 50-70 FPS depending on the scene.
Shadow of The Tomb Raider
I think the ‘Very High’ preset makes no significant jump in terms of quality but really taxing on the performance. So I used ‘High’ preset and enabled the Ray Tracing shadow to high and DLSS to balance. It was enjoyable on 60-70 FPS.
Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds
The only issue that I encountered so far is only with this game. There was one time that it ran like a slideshow. But just this one time. When the game just released for a few days. So maybe it was because of the game not with the card or driver.
Genshin Impact
It was smooth and no issue at all. Sadly the GeForce Overlay couldn’t capture the FPS. But judging from the GPU utilisation and temperature, the game doesn’t put too much stress on the GPU. Even with the maxed out graphics preset, I also changed the anisotropic filtering to 16x rather than the (blurry) default 8x.
The Witcher 3
Last but not least, The Witcher 3 ran with ‘High’ preset as I don’t feel the need for ‘Very High’. Most of the time it runs at 72 FPS (the max refresh rate of my monitor) with Vsync on. It will dip to the range of 65s, depending on the scene. It must be interesting to revisit this title when the ray tracing update comes.
Temperature
The temperature, especially when the card loads at full, is one of the dealbreakers for me. When I game, the temperature is only 55-62 °C in a non-air conditioning room at 25-30 °C. A big improvement than my late RX 5600XT that will hit around 80 °C.
As with any other mainstream to the top end graphics card, iGame GeForce RTX 3050 Ultra W OC also supports zero RPM when the load and the temperature are low. The fans will only be on at around 50 °C and will be off at 45 °C if the load is low enough. It aligns with the idle temperature that is around 40-44 °C.
Software
NVIDIA Broadcast
A non-gaming feature that is very usable in the age of online meeting. The main feature I use all the time is noise removal from my microphone. So far from the testimony that I received, they don’t hear anymore noise from my blower fan in my room that was heard before this.
The setup is simple enough. We just need to select the source and on the app we will select NVIDIA Broadcast, not the mic that is used for the source.
iGame Center
Other than from NVIDIA, obviously Colorful has additional software too. Mainly it has features to configure RGB, performance and fan. Also with some monitoring, HWiNFO style.
Unfortunately the RGB setting seem can’t stick. Everytime I sleep or hibernate my PC, it comes back to the default purple setting out of the box. So I need to open the app and set the lighting all over again.
iGame Center can configure RAM, fans and motherboard RGB too. But maybe we need to do some digging first on what they support. For example, my Team Delta RAM is supported. Sadly it is a hit and miss too, because sometimes it is detected, some other time it’s just non-existent.
Let’s Wrap It Up
Is it worth it? I think it is. Especially if you’re looking for a white RTX 3050. As far as I know, other than Colorful, it’s only Leadtek that offers white scheme for its RTX 3050 (in Indonesia). Also personally I think Leadtek’s is too plain in terms of its design.
Other than Colorful iGame looks, the cooling system is more than enough for a RTX 3050. It makes the temperature relatively low whether it’s idle or full load. So if the computer is placed in a room that is not an open space or non-air conditioned one, you won’t make a sauna out of it.
So what about the price/performance. For this one I will say it depends on the use case. If the price per ‘raw’ performance is what you’re looking for, it’s clearly better to find RTX 3050 from other AIB or RX 6600 if you prefer the red team.
Bonus
I also did a video of this topic on YouTube. But be aware that the language spoken is in Indonesian.
iGame GeForce RTX 3050 Ultra W OC
https://tokopedia.link/rB7lgJynRsb
https://tokopedia.link/5raY3xEnRsb
RTX 3050 (more)
https://tokopedia.link/V9WtLgsnRsb
https://tokopedia.link/2qOZbmunRsb
RX 6600
https://tokopedia.link/dIHYZJvnRsb
https://tokopedia.link/NEKK2nxnRsb
