Nvidia doubles down on GDDR6 and 8 GB limits for RTX 5050

Blackwell entry-level GPU skimps on bandwidth

Nvidia’s latest budget card, the GeForce RTX 5050, is shaping up as another exercise in doing just enough.

The card sticks to 8 GB of VRAM and will be the first Blackwell GPU to ship with the GB207 chip, a trimmed-down core with 2,560 CUDA units and drawing between 135 and 145 watts through a single 8-pin connector.

Instead of pushing forward with GDDR7, the RTX 5050 uses tried-and-tested 20 Gbps GDDR6, dribbling data across a 128-bit bus for a total of 320 GB/s bandwidth. That’s not impressive but does match the memory design of other value GPUs like the RX 9060 XT 8 GB.

A curious tweak in the design is a 3+2 phase VRM setup, with three phases for the core and two for the VRAM. That’s a notable change from the RTX 4060, which had just a single VRAM phase, though what this does for performance remains to be seen.

The bigger issue will be pricing. With the RTX 5060 already stuck at $299 and largely dismissed, the RTX 5050 will need to land closer to $199 to avoid becoming warehouse shelf clutter. At $249, it’ll be rubbing shoulders with cheaper cards offering more memory, like the Arc B580 12 GB and Arc B570 10 GB.

Nvidia’s banking on brand weight and software stability to make the RTX 5050 appealing to entry-level gamers. Whether that’s enough when cheaper, fatter cards exist remains uncertain.

The card launches in July. 

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 GPU Specs: