80%
Probable
NVIDIA is reportedly going to fill the budget gaming GPU gap with its RTX 3060 12 GB in June as the RTX 5050 gets pushed back.
NVIDIA RTX 5050 9 GB Faces Short Delay, But Budget Gaming Gap To Be Filled By RTX 3060 12 GB GPU
According to recent reports that we covered, NVIDIA was preparing a brand new variant of its entry-tier GeForce RTX 5050 graphics card. The new graphics card is expected to retain the same GPU specs as the original RTX 5050 but will feature a different memory configuration, featuring 9 GB VRAM and a 96-bit bus interface.
The new variant was expected to debut around Computex, between the end of May and Early June, but it looks like those plans have changed. As reported by MEGAsizeGPU, the GeForce RTX 5050 9 GB will be positioned for a later launch, missing out on its initial launch trajectory.
While there was little buzz around the RTX 5050 9 GB in the consumer segment, it was poised to fill the gap in the budget gaming segment with extra memory. As you know, 8 GB GPUs aren't the best value to gamers, as some games even refuse to run on the lowly VRAM. There are some unique ways that devs are exploring to make gaming on 8 GB and lower VRAM GPUs viable but the technical VRAM limitation still persists.
As such, NVIDIA will once again focus on older GPUs to address this gap. The graphics card that is likely to relaunch in the budget gaming markets is the GeForce RTX 3060. The 12 GB model of this graphics card, in particular, is said to address the gap and has been a decent option for budget PC builders. Especially in today's world, where component prices have gone through the roof. The graphics card will be introduced in June this year.
While the RTX 3060 12 GB is based on an older architecture (Ampere), and doesn't feature the latest tech, such as new Tensor or RT cores, and is neither compliant with DLSS 4, it might still be seen as an option if priced in the sub $200 US segment. We hope NVIDIA makes the right decision in terms of pricing until the launch of the RTX 5050 9 GB variant. There are also reports of 9 GB variants of the RTX 5060 & RTX 5060 Ti, but those remain unconfirmed for now.
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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