GeForce RTX 3050 6GB launching in February 2024 for $179, according to new info

The GeForce RTX 40 Series SUPER is rumored to be launching in January 2024, with three SKUs: a GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, and GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. There is a massive influx of new, beefed-up GPUs, so you might think that would be it for NVIDIA's Q1 2024 GeForce plans. Well, that doesn't look to be the case, as early 2024 will present a big shake-up for GeForce RTX.

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Granted, all of this is rumor - via sources that are said to be NVIDIA partners - but it does sound spot-on. First up, as previously reported, NVIDIA is set to sunset the GeForce GTX line-up of entry-level GPUs - no more GeForce GTX 16 Series cards will be produced after Q1 2024.

This brings us to the redesigned GeForce RTX 3050 for desktop gaming, a cutdown 6GB version of the 8GB model available today that will launch in February 2024 for $179 US.

In addition to less VRAM capacity, the new GeForce RTX 3050 6GB will sport a 70W TGP rating (almost half that of the current RTX 3050) and 2048 CUDA Cores (20% fewer cores than the current RTX 3050). So yeah, it's a pretty big step down and will rebrand the GPU as a true entry-level under $200 option from NVIDIA, including RTX hardware. As a point of reference the current GeForce RTX 3050 8GB still retails for $230 US.

A more efficient but not as powerful GeForce RTX 3050 might sound like a strange or even bad move on NVIDIA's part, but with the absence of GeForce GTX options, it does mean that all NVIDIA GeForce cards will support DLSS rendering - which is the right move to make. We'd love to see this entry-level RTX 3050 launch with a $149 US price point while retaining 8GB of VRAM (on a lower 96-bit bus) - that would make it a great option for budget gamers.

This info comes via the Chinese Board Channels forum, a reliable source of NVIDIA partner leaks, translated by VideoCardz.com. This is in addition to previous reports indicating that a GeForce RTX 3050 refresh was on the way, so it definitely sounds like this is happening.