Radeon RX 6500 XT vs GeForce RTX 3050: Why Less Memory Means More

Usually you want to see plus on graphics cards. More graphics cores, more memory, more HDMI ports, more RGB brightness and additional functions, plus. But in the economic GPU battle that is brewing (FINALLY) between the newly announced $ 249 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 and the $ 199 AMD Radeon RX 3050, less actually, it may mean more to PC gamers.

Neither Nvidia nor AMD released many technical details about their new inexpensive graphics cards, which are scheduled to hit the streets later this month. About what it was revealed, it is clear that these will be entry-level graphics cards, capable of decent 1080p games with modest graphics settings. Starting from the performance charts displayed by each vendor, shown below, I would expect the more expensive RTX 3050 to be arguably the fastest gaming option, seeing how each compares to the previous GTX 1650. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Radeon RX 6500 XT ends up in the hands of more PC gamers. Not because of the lower price, but because it has a paltry 4GB of memory that would have left the card dead upon arrival a year ago. Now, it could be your salvation.

Nvidia

AMD

There are many reasons why graphics cards cost so much right now, and those reasons have evolved as the pandemic has progressed. However, a constant? Increased demand for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Mining bitcoins requires specialized hardware, but cryptocurrencies like Ethereum are produced on out-of-the-box PC graphics cards. When Ethereum prices skyrocket, consumer graphics cards disappear, because miners can make easy money out of them. Innocent gamers simply can’t compete with battle-hardened miners who deploy bots, secret deals, and all the other tricks in the book in the pursuit of profit.

But mining Ethereum requires more and more memory over time, and by the end of 2020, that capacity surpassed the 4GB barrier. If your graphics card has 4GB of VRAM, like the Radeon RX 6500 XT, it is completely hypocrisy be used to mine Ethereum. Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 may well end up outperforming AMD’s graphics card in gaming benchmarks, but its 8GB of GDDR6 memory makes it another potential target for miners. AMD’s new budget card just isn’t, at least not when it comes to the most popular cryptocurrency for GPU miners.

After originally presenting this story, I had the opportunity to chat with AMD CEO Lisa Su and Radeon VP Laura Smith as part of a small panel discussion with journalists. They confirmed that the 4GB capacity for the Radeon RX 6500 XT was a deliberate choice.

“There are a lot of dynamics involved in the availability of the GPUs that we have,” Smith said. “We’ve really optimized this to be game first … You can see it with the way we set up the component. Even with the four gigs of frame buffers, it’s a really nice frame buffer size for most triple-A games, but it’s not particularly attractive if you’re doing mining or blockchain-like activities. We’ve tried to do some transitions where players first deal with things we don’t control, but we have leverage to optimize that card to make it as accessible as possible for players to use. “

AMD

And that’s why less It very well could end up meaning more with these long-awaited new budget offerings. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the GPU crisis won’t be over anytime soon. A graphics card with a rather weak GPU and measly 4GB memory was met with whining just a year or two ago. But after a year of tumbleweeds in a bleak GPU outlook, we are PCWorld and have had to target budget-minded gamers for cloud gaming and even consolesUgh, an affordable graphics card that delivers humble yet honest performance with a setup that helps elude the attention of mining sharks might just be what the doctor ordered.

If AMD can make enough Radeon RX 6500 XTs to meet pent-up demand, it’s no small feat in itself. Again, there are many reasons why graphics cards cost so much right now. But removing miners from the equation could help a lot in the crisis, and Lisa Su told PCWorld that “We are really positioning the launch in such a way that at a price of $ 199, it is affordable for the mainstream, and we have the intention to have a lot of product “.

Fingers crossed.