NVIDIA quietly launched its new entry-level graphics card GeForce RTX 3050 6GB for the retail market today. The new card is based on a stripped-down version of its affordable Ampere architecture GA107 GPU, bringing a previously OEM-only product to the retail market. In addition to adding another segment to NVIDIA’s deep product stack, the introduction of the RTX 3050 6GB also comes with another benefit: lower power consumption since the segment is targeted for installation in systems that don’t require an external PCIe power connector. NVIDIA’s partners haven’t wasted any time taking advantage of this, and today Palit released the first fanless KalmX motherboard in years: the GeForce RTX 3050 KalmX 6GB.
The GeForce RTX 3050 6GB is based on the GA107 graphics processor with 2304 CUDA cores, paired with 6GB of GDDR6 connected to a small 96-bit memory bus (versus 128-bit in the full RTX 3050 8GB). Coupled with a boost clock rating of just 1470 MHz, the RTX 3050 6GB’s compute performance is significantly lower than the full-blown RTX 3050 (6.77 FP32 TFLOPS vs. 9.1 FP32 TFLOPS), but these compromises provide an undisputed advantage: 70W of power Target.
Palit is the first company to take advantage of the reduced power consumption of the GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB, launching its first passively cooled graphics card based on the part in four years. The Palit GeForce RTX 3050 KalmX 6GB (NE63050018JE-1170H) uses a custom printed circuit board (PCB) to not only offer modern DisplayPort 1.4a and HDMI 2.1 outputs, but as we still see in some entry-level cards, it also offers dual Connect the DVI-D connector (the first for Ampere-based graphics cards).
The dual-slot passive cooling system with two heat pipes is undoubtedly the main selling point of the Palit GeForce RTX 3050 KalmX 6GB. However, the product is quite large – measuring 166.3 x 137 x 38.3 mm – and won’t fit on a small desktop. Still, this may not be a significant limitation of the new KalmX device, considering that fanless systems are generally not the most compact.
Another advantage of Palit’s GeForce RTX 3050 KalmX 6GB and NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3050 6GB is that it can be powered entirely through the PCIe slot, eliminating the need for a secondary PCIe power connector (which sometimes does not exist in budget systems) from Large OEMs).
Wccftech reports that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6GB graphics card has a suggested price of $169, with the cards actually selling for $170 to $180. This looks to be a pretty competitive price point, as the product offers higher computing performance than AMD’s Radeon RX 6400 ($125) and Radeon RX 6500 XT ($140). In the meantime, it remains to be seen how much Palit will charge for its uniquely positioned GeForce RTX 3050 KalmX 6GB.