A report from the Board Channels forum leaked details of a completely unexpected move by Nvidia related to the GeForce RTX 3050. The report unveils that Nvidia will cancel the RTX 3050 8GB outright in favor of a lower-capacity 6GB variant.
Typically, Nvidia will replace an outgoing GPU with a slightly more powerful one if it plans to discontinue the previous product (like the RTX 2070). Or it will build a lower-end variant of an outgoing model that will co-exist with its more performant sibling (like the GTX 1060 3GB and RTX 3060 8GB).
If Nvidia's plan comes to fruition, the RTX 3050's VRAM capacity won't be the only thing that will get cut down; memory bandwidth will also see a reduction. Due to this, the RTX 3050 6GB will most likely have a 96-bit wide memory interface, resulting in a 25% bandwidth reduction compared to the 8GB variant (which has a 128-bit wide interface).
Nvidia can always counter this downgrade by implementing faster GDDR6 memory chips that run at higher clock speeds, but it is doubtful for such a low-end product as the RTX 3050. Nvidia could also reduce the CUDA core count, similar to the GTX 1060 3GB, but that would be a worst-case scenario.
Which RTX 3050's are getting cut, and why is the RTX 3050 8GB going away?
There are multiple sub-versions of the RTX 3050 on the market right now, including the fully-fledged RTX 3050 8GB, the low-powered RTX 3050 8GB 115W, and the OEM RTX 3050 8GB. The 115W variant, in addition to its reduced power requirements, features a GPU die swap from GA106 to GA107. The OEM variant features the same TDP as the standard model but a 10% core count reduction from 2560 to 2304.
In a best-case scenario, Nvidia might only cut the standard RTX 3050 8GB and OEM versions, leaving the 115W variant alone. Logically, this would work out because the RTX 3050 8GB uses the larger GA106 die (found in the RTX 3060), while its 115W variant features the smaller GA107 die found in the mobile RTX 3050. Due to the way GPU manufacturing works, smaller dies are cheaper to manufacture than big ones. So, killing off the GA106 RTX 3050 would enable Nvidia to save money by reducing production costs.
But realistically, Nvidia will probably cut all three GPUs because the original report did not specify which RTX 3050 8GB models were getting cut. Hopefully, Nvidia chooses the former rather than the latter, but if this report is true, the RTX 3050 8 GB original version will go away.
