I Bought an Overpriced RTX 3050 Graphics Card

In March 2021, I built a new PC but didn't replace the graphics card, as everyone knows: for the past year and a half, graphics cards have been incredibly hard to find, let alone at their original price. My old GTX 750 Ti had been fighting for nearly six years and was finally giving out, so I reluctantly bought an overpriced RTX 3050. Today, let's talk about this card. (Here's my old GTX 750 Ti for the cover)

The Purchase Process

For the past six months, I've been watching graphics card prices, which have remained stubbornly high. After a long wait, AMD released the RX 6500 XT and NVIDIA released the RTX 3050. The launch prices were 1,599 for the 6500 XT and 1,899 for the RTX 3050, but these prices are just for show; ordinary people simply cannot buy them at that rate.

Since my motherboard doesn't support PCIe 4.0, and the 6500 XT is severely cut down, I passed on it. I use a 1080p monitor (Reference: Monitor: SANC N50Pro+) and found that the RTX 3050 suits me well; it should handle most current games at 1080p.

I waited on JD.com for a month. Occasionally, there were waves of RTX 3050s available at the original price of 1,899, but the number of people registered for the purchase reached hundreds of thousands. Whether this data is real or just a scam, every purchase ended in seconds. Do unscrupulous merchants dare to publish the actual release quantity? The pattern is always: hundreds of thousands register, it sells out instantly, and a week later, there are hardly any reviews. I wonder how many units they actually released?

Not wanting to waste any more time, and since I had a genuine need, I finally bought an overpriced RTX 3050 on JD.com: Galaxy GeForce RTX 3050 General Edition OC. It cost 2,499, but I used a 50 RMB Plus coupon, bringing the final price to 2,449. Here are a few photos.

Benchmark Testing

I am not a professional player, so I just ran a quick test with Master Lu (Zhuji). Using version 6.x, the score was around 290,000. My specific configuration and scores are as follows.

The graphics card ranks higher than the GTX 1660 Ti and slightly below the GTX 1070. Of course, this single test result isn't entirely accurate, but it gives a general idea.

Gaming Performance

The games I play mainly include PUBG, League of Legends, and Steam VR streaming. I used GamePP for monitoring, and the data obtained (with a 1080p 144Hz monitor) is as follows:

In PUBG with Ultra settings, the RTX 3050 averages 95 fps, with temperatures around 60°C.

In League of Legends with Max settings, the average is 148 fps, and the GPU temperature is only 30°C. I also noticed that the graphics card fans don't even spin when playing League of Legends.

Conclusion

At 1080p resolution, the RTX 3050 performs quite well overall, but the price markup is severe. If you're not in a rush, you can keep waiting. If you have an urgent need, I suggest waiting for a promotional event before buying.