At $249, the GeForce RTX 5050 is one of the most poorly priced products in the RTX 50 lineup. Despite offering 8 GB of VRAM, the GPU lacks competitive specs for its price tag. While the $200-$300 price tag doesn't really have a lot of GPUs from the current gen, there are still a few excellent choices that offer better value than the RTX 5050.
The Reason Why GeForce RTX 5050 Sucks and Why You Shouldn't Buy One
There is no bad product, but bad pricing, and GeForce RTX 5050 is a perfect example of this. The RTX 5050 follows the path of the previous 50-class cards and resembles a lot in specifications to the RTX 3050 from the Ampere family. Of course, there is a big performance difference between the two, but when it comes to the pricing for a similar configuration, the RTX 5050 brings nothing new to the table, except for the architecture, and a newer gen for RT and Tensor cores.
The RTX 3050 flopped hard due to its high price tag of $249 when the RTX 3060 was already available for $329. The RTX 5050 is in an even worse position due to the availability of the RTX 5060 for $299. The GPU brings no shader count increase over the past two generations, and even the VRAM remained GDDR6 (even though it's a bit faster). What's worse is its performance, as it fails to defeat even the previous-gen RTX 4060 and the RX 7600, which you may find for lower prices, particularly in the used GPU market. Bump up the resolution to 1440p, and it even loses to the RTX 3060, which is shameful.
Nonetheless, it's not that the more powerful budget GPUs from the current gen don't have any flaws, but they are still far superior in most of their specifications and performance. This is why we discourage buying the GeForce RTX 5050 because for $300 or even less, here are some excellent recommendations that will be worth every penny.
Note: We highly recommend going for GPUs with 12 GB or more VRAM, but this list is budget-constrained and therefore, will strictly include GPUs under $300.
Three Excellent Alternatives to the GeForce RTX 5050 for $300 or Less, Offering Drastic Performance Uplifts
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB
No wonder the RTX 5050 gets ignored when there is already a much better option for just $50 more. Not to mention, some custom RTX 5050 can cost $270-$290, while most base editions for the RTX 5060 cost $299. This $10-$30 price difference is compelling enough to go with the 5060 due to 30% higher performance. Surely, the RTX 5060 doesn't have an advantage when it comes to the VRAM capacity, but it has a faster 28 Gbps GDDR7 VRAM, which adds a noticeable performance boost in games.
With 3840 CUDA cores, it has roughly 50% more shaders for superior rendering and also has more Tensor and Ray Tracing cores for better AI and RT performance. With such impressive specs, the RTX 5060 brings drastic generational uplifts, not seen in the previous three generations.
Buy ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB GDDR7 OC Edition for $299 on Amazon
AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB
The AMD counterpart for the RTX 5060 is even more powerful. Despite having no leverage in the VRAM department, the RDNA 4-based RX 9060 XT 8 GB offers bigger generational uplifts than the RTX 5060. With around 8% better performance in rasterization at 1080p and a good 13% at 1440p over RTX 5060, the RX 9060 XT looks even better choice on paper, except that it loses to the NVIDIA card in Ray Tracing.
Nonetheless, the RX 9060 XT 8 GB not only offers 40% higher performance than the RTX 5050 but is also competitively priced. Originally launched for $299, the GPU can be seen listing for a sub-$299 price tag on multiple retailers, bringing a higher value to the table. You can get one for as low as $269, which is hardly $20 more than the base edition for the RTX 5050. Therefore, the Radeon RX 9060 XT is a no-brainer for under $300.
Buy PowerColor Reaper Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB GDDR6 for $269 on Amazon
Intel Arc B580 12 GB
The one and only current-gen sub-$300 GPU, that offers competitive gaming performance but also brings higher VRAM capacity. Intel may not be the leading GPU manufacturer, but it has come a long way from bringing a lackluster Alchemist series to well-matured Xe2-based Battlemage GPUs. Some more improvements are needed for sure, but overall, the Arc B580 might be the best choice for under $300 for future-proofing your build.
The B580 officially costs $249, but due to poor availability, it is mostly available at $300 and above. However, by taking a quick look at some major listings, we have found that you can buy one for a sub-$300 price tag. The Arc B580 is around 5-6% faster than the RTX 5050 but has 12 GB of VRAM capacity. At 1440p, this helps the B580 gain a solid 33% bump in performance, which is why it's more ideal for modern titles.
Buy ASRock Challenger Arc B580 12 GB at $259 from Newegg
A Quick Specs Comparison
| GPU/Specs | Architecture | Shaders | VRAM | Memory Bandwidth | Base/Boost Clock | PCIe Interface | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 5050 8 GB | Blackwell | 2560 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 320 GB/s | 2.3/2.57 GHz | PCIe 5.0 x8 | 130W |
| GeForce RTX 5060 8 GB | Blackwell | 3840 | 8 GB GDDR7 | 448 GB/s | 2.28/2.49 GHz | PCIe 5.0 x8 | 145W |
| Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB | RDNA 4 | 2048 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 320 GB/s | 2.5/3.1 GHz | PCIe 5.0 x16 | 150W |
| Arc B580 12 GB | Xe2 (Battlemage) | 2560 | 12 GB GDDR6 | 456 GB/s | 2.67 GHz | PCIe 4.0 x8 | 190W |
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