Graphics cards have become a kind of unicorn of the hardware industry: you have an idea what it looks like, it probably exists somewhere, but nobody can get his hands on it. But with 2022 getting off to a good start and seeing the mining market plummet and with little interest in our precious GPUs, it's time for the snowdrops to rise.

What is AMD Radeon Budget Graphics Card Offering?

The first one we saw came from AMD, called the Radeon RX 6500 XT. But before we get into the subject of this material, we want to give you a little history lesson. The world was at a crossroads: December 2019 marked the end of a year, the beginning of a winter, but also the beginning of a pandemic that would affect the entire planet in a way we could not even imagine.

At the same time, AMD launched the Radeon RX 5500XT, a graphics card dedicated to gamers passionate about eSports and which promised a good level of performance, at least for 1080p gaming.

At the same time, AMD was talking about how the era of graphics cards with 4GB of VRAM memory has passed. It was time to move into new territory, where graphics cards come with at least 8GB of video memory and can support high resolution games. But it seems that AMD has changed its behavior in the meantime, and any statement about 4GB VRAM graphics cards have simply disappeared, as if it had never happened.

The Internet is not sleeping, however, and AMD's mistake has not gone unnoticed. And here's how we came to test the new Radeon RX 6500 XT, a graphics card launched in early 2022, with a price of about $300 and a very special feature. Can you guess? Spoiler alert: 4GB of VRAM memory… with a 64-bit bus in 2022!

What about NVIDIA's Budget Graphics Card?

NVIDIA's XX50 series graphics cards have always been a getaway; if you wanted to get into the world of PC gaming without spending a lot of money, these models offered an unbeatable price/performance ratio. After a hiatus of a few years, the manufacturer introduces us to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050, the first graphics card in the RTX family with the termination 50.

This launch could not have been better, as AMD also introduced the new Radeon RX 6500 XT. On this occasion, we will compare the two releases, as they came just in a few days difference. The RTX 3050 is even close in price, with a difference of only $50 when it comes to MSRP. And if we've been bringing up this topic, we need to give it a little thought before we start.

NVIDIA has given us an MSRP of $250, which is about $100 higher than we were used to for models like the GeForce GTX 950, GTX 1050 or GTX 1650. Because of this, any comparison with its predecessors is superfluous. Especially since we don't think the price should be a benchmark, because the GeForce RTX 3050 is a board with Ray-Tracing and DLSS capabilities, which means that some RTX charge applies over the price of a product.

And with a slightly better GA106 graphics chip than the RTX 3060 from which it was borrowed, is this card a representative of the entry-level category, or is the whole hierarchy about to change? After all, it is a debut in this category. Plus it is the cheapest RTX graphics card ever released, and that makes a big difference, as the RTX 2060 debuted at a price of $330.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Specs

Being the cheapest Ray Tracing graphics card launched by NVIDIA, it was also normal that the specifications did not rise even to the level of its older sisters. Even so, the GeForce RTX 3050 offers an interesting combination of features that make it, at least on paper, seem quite competitive.

AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT Specs

Coming to the specifications of the RX 6500XT we think there is no point in telling you again about VRAM capcity. Instead, we will focus on one aspect that caught our attention quite a bit: the Radeon RX 6500 XT has the highest frequency GPU clock we've seen so far, with a Boost Clock at 2,815MHz. As a small parallel, the RX 6900 XT reaches 2,250MHz. But here the comparisons with the flagship from AMD stops.

Head to head: AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050

From the above tables of specifications we can clearly see that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 is a fairly strong graphics card. We have 8GB of GDDR6 video memory with a frequency of 7000Mhz and a 128-bit bus. From the start, this is a huge advantage for the RTX 3050 compared to the Radeon RX 6500 XT and the difference was clear in the tests.

Getting back to the NVIDIA card, its features also include 20 second-generation Ray Tracing cores and 80 third-generation Tensor cores. This means that it is capable of Ray Tracing, although the performance will not be what you would expect from a more expensive model.

But with a fairly limited power, comes a fairly low consumption. With a single extra 8-pin power connector, the RTX 3050 has a power consumption of up to 130W. That means a good 500-550W power supply should be enough to power your new rig.

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We couldn't talk about an NVIDIA graphics card without connecting to additional technologies like Ray Tracing, DLSS and Reflex. They are enjoying an increase in popularity and where Ray Tracing is interesting and Reflex is still developing, DLSS we think should be a main selling point for the new RTX 3050.

Ray Tracing is another advantage for the youngest card in the RTX family. And even if it's the less powerfull, in combination with the DLSS set to Performance it should allow you to run Ray Tracing effects at Medium-High settings without much trouble.

NVIDIA has not bothered to launch a Founders Edition for the RTX 3060, and the story repeats itself in the case of the new model. So in today's tests we have a ROG STRIX GeForce RTX 3050 board from ASUS.

The temperatures were excellent, but we didn't expect anything else. The card did not exceed 60 degrees Celsius in Full Load while gaming. The RGB lighting is also quite fine, being present on the visible side of the card and on the backplate in the form of the Republic of Gamers logo. It can be adjusted from Armory Crate.

For the AMD 6500XT, aside from the high frequencies at which the GPU works, the rest of the specs are mediocre even compared to the RX 6600s that was launched in the second half of last year. And when you consider the 107W consumption which is high for what level of performance you get, the situation already does not look too good for the new member of the RX 6000 family.

The AMD card in today's material is the Sapphire Radeon RX 6500 XT Pulse. The rather thick radiator and the two fans are very relaxed in the face of modest consumption, so we did not see more than 55 degrees Celsius in gaming. The maximum recorded temperature was 62 degrees Celsius, and this only in a synthetic test that managed to ramp up the fans to 100%. Even at full load, the only time we heard the fans it was when we brought our ears closer to the card and we could barely make out the sound from it compared to the AIO cooling the processor has.

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AMD Radeon RX 6500XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Gaming Performance

We got our hands on the GeForce RTX 3050 at the same time we got the Radeon RX 6500 XT. Launched at the same time, at almost the same price and with the same target audience, it was natural to compare the two cards.

But as we tested the Radeon model, we realized that it's not an equal fight, as NVIDIA is having a huge advantage. And if you haven't figured out what we are talking about so far, this is the difference between VRAM: 8GB GDDR6 128-bit vs. 4GB 64-bit GDDR6.

But it doesn't make sense for us to tell you our opinion on this matter, and we'll let the results speak for themselves.

We start with Far Cry 6, and at FullHD resolution and Ultra settings preset we recorded an average of 74 frames per second, with fluctuations up to 63 for the RTX 3050. That is a solid experience at the highest graphics settings. How does this compare to the RX 6500 XT? Well, the new board from AMD got an average of 12FPS under the same test conditions.

We lowered the details to Low, and the framerate moved into the world of the living and from slideshow it became a pretty fluid experience for the RX 6500XT. With an average of 74FPS and fluctuations up to 61 frames per second, the game ran well. But that's about it, because graphic fidelity is just a bad joke. We said to solve this, so we played in the settings until we found a balance. With this setup, we got an average of 48 FPS and the game looked good.

Then we activated FSR, so the experience changed for the better with an average of 82 frames per second. Yes, but with FSR active, the image becomes dirty and loses detail.

The unpleasant surprises were also chained when we opened Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. In Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the situation is pretty much the same: where the RX 6500 XT struggled to render the menu at more than 5 frames per second, the RTX 3050 averaged 100FPS at Ultra settings. All right, how about Assassin's Creed Valhalla? At Ultra High preset, the RTX 3050 achieved an average of 59FPS with some fluctuations, but managed to complete the benchmark that proved too much for those 4GB of VRAM on the Radeon RX 6500XT.

AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050: Conclusions

Since its inception, NVIDIA's RTX family of products has been somewhat overwhelming. It was often synonymous with "expensive graphics cards for enthusiasts" and was initially criticized. It won't catch, it won't make a difference.

But look how years later, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 came into the world to dismantle the myth and we got acquainted with the cheapest card in this series. Cheap doesn't necessarily mean bad, and the RTX 3050 proves it. Even though the price is high compared to the old XX50 series models, we think it is a natural evolution that we welcome it with open arms.

As for the AMD Radeon RX 6500XT, we are extremely curious what AMD thought would happen once it launched this graphics card. And before we tell you the conclusions, let us motivate our displeasure for this this product.

The RX 6500XT, if you find it in stock, starts at around $300. That is the same price as of an Xbox Series S. And even if the latter is not a performance standard, some games do run decent on it. And this without wasting hours in the settings menu.

And don't think that what you saw in these tests is exactly the performance you will get if you choose, for some reason, to buy the Radeon RX 6500 XT for your build.

The platform on which we tested both graphics cards uses an Intel Core i9-12900KF, 32GB of DDR5 memory and an M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD. These are components of a completely different league that you would never see combined with such graphic cards. And at 1080p, the processor has some impact, so it's something to consider. No matter how hard we tried to find a reason for someone to buy this card, we couldn't. At $300 you better choose something second-hand, like a GTX 1070.

It's clear that the AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT just can't compete with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050. The price is significantly higher, and you won't see a significant performance increase in most games.

If you're looking for a new graphics card on a tight budget, we recommend going with the RTX 3050. It's the clear choice for your new gaming rig. Thanks for reading!