[SOLVED] Should I buy Geforce RTX 3050 or RTX 2060 nowadays?

Vox

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Aug 9, 2012
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I'll have to buy a new graphic card for my PC within 1 month. These 2 are around the same price on the EU market right now. (2-fans models)

Question is simple, should I buy the newly released but slower RTX 3050 or should I buy the older architect but somewhat faster RTX 2060? Maybe better to wait 1 month for a chance of huge price drop on 3050?
I'll use it for mediocre gaming with some older games, some video editing and casual Photoshopping. I'm not planning to do any kind of overclocking neither voltage changes, I just put it in the machine and done with it. Because of older games, I'd love if the fans weren't spin up to sky-high automatically even on low or medium-load so it would be a nice plus if the card only spins the fans according to the current usage level.

Which one you recommend to buy and when?
Thanks!
 
Solution
Prices are high since 2 yrs but it's balanced within card speed chart per platform (nvidia/amd). I mean a better nVidia card is usually more expensive than a slower one. But now, the newly released rtx 3050 broke the balance as it costs much more than its speed would justify. It costs the same as 2060 but it is much slower for about a speed tier (10-15%), that's why I think about a possible price drop on 3050 in the close future.

Well if the pricing comes down on the 3050 it will on the 2060 too. If the price drops for the 2050 match the deficit in performance (ie the 3050 at least being 10-15% cheaper, then I'd still go for the 2060.

The decision is yours :)
Hey there,

I'd take the 2060. It's faster, gives more fps (out of the box, or with tweaking). Although the 3050 is the latest gen, both cards have the same features. With the 2060 you also get a bigger bus width of 192 v 128 for the 3050, giving overall more bandwidth. At the same price I'd be taking the 2060 all day long.

In terms of when to buy, only you can answer that. Are these cards value right now for inflated prices? IMO, no, certainly not. But needs must.
 

Vox

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Aug 9, 2012
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Hey there,

I'd take the 2060. It's faster, gives more fps (out of the box, or with tweaking). Although the 3050 is the latest gen, both cards have the same features. With the 2060 you also get a bigger bus width of 192 v 128 for the 3050, giving overall more bandwidth. At the same price I'd be taking the 2060 all day long.

In terms of when to buy, only you can answer that. Are these cards value right now for inflated prices? IMO, no, certainly not. But needs must.
Thanks!
  • Could you tell me if both these cards are loud on low/medium load or they just adjust the fan speed automatically to the actual need? Noisiness level is a factor because my wife. That's why I opted out of 1-fan cards.
  • About when, I'd really like to know if the RTX 3050 will drop price massively in the coming month or so. Afaik, these cards have a new technology that makes them almost useless for miners. And if so, the price should descend rapidly toward the nVidia's $250 MSRP, am I right?
 
Thanks!
  • Could you tell me if both these cards are loud on low/medium load or they just adjust the fan speed automatically to the actual need? Noisiness level is a factor because my wife. That's why I opted out of 1-fan cards.
  • About when, I'd really like to know if the RTX 3050 will drop price massively in the coming month or so. Afaik, these cards have a new technology that makes them almost useless for miners. And if so, the price should descend rapidly toward the nVidia's $250 MSRP, am I right?

That's a tough one to answer. We've been waiting for GPU prices to drop for 2 years now. It doesn't seem to be reducing much at the moment, although with some decreases. MSRP....that's a joke. At the moment it's 'get what you can, while you can!'
 

Vox

Distinguished
Aug 9, 2012
176
2
18,685
That's a tough one to answer. We've been waiting for GPU prices to drop for 2 years now. It doesn't seem to be reducing much at the moment, although with some decreases. MSRP....that's a joke. At the moment it's 'get what you can, while you can!'
Prices are high since 2 yrs but it's balanced within card speed chart per platform (nvidia/amd). I mean a better nVidia card is usually more expensive than a slower one. But now, the newly released rtx 3050 broke the balance as it costs much more than its speed would justify. It costs the same as 2060 but it is much slower for about a speed tier (10-15%), that's why I think about a possible price drop on 3050 in the close future.
 
Prices are high since 2 yrs but it's balanced within card speed chart per platform (nvidia/amd). I mean a better nVidia card is usually more expensive than a slower one. But now, the newly released rtx 3050 broke the balance as it costs much more than its speed would justify. It costs the same as 2060 but it is much slower for about a speed tier (10-15%), that's why I think about a possible price drop on 3050 in the close future.

Well if the pricing comes down on the 3050 it will on the 2060 too. If the price drops for the 2050 match the deficit in performance (ie the 3050 at least being 10-15% cheaper, then I'd still go for the 2060.

The decision is yours :)
 
Solution