Introduction

The ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3050 OC is the company's most premium custom-design graphics card based on the RTX 3050 NVIDIA is debuting today. The card is designed to look several segments more premium than it is when installed in your case and aims to be all you ever need if you're gaming at 1080p with a focus on e-sports titles. The GeForce RTX 3050 is being debuted as an entry-mainstream product, and it is the most affordable GeForce "Ampere" GPU in the desktop segment.

The RTX 3050 is based on the same GA106 silicon as the RTX 3060 positioned a segment higher. While the RTX 3060 is carved out of this chip by enabling 28 out of 30 streaming multiprocessors (SM) physically present, nearly maxing it out, the RTX 3050 is cut down from it by enabling only two-thirds of the SMs (20 out of 30). This results in 2,560 CUDA cores, 20 RT cores, 80 Tensor Cores, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. There are two major changes beyond the GPU that set the RTX 3050 apart from the RTX 3060. First, the RTX 3050 gets 8 GB of memory across a 128-bit GDDR6 interface running at 14 Gbps, while the RTX 3060 has 12 GB of it, over 192-bit, and running at a slightly higher data-rate of 15 Gbps. There's hence a stark difference in bandwidth (360 GB/s vs. 224 GB/s).



The second key difference between the RTX 3050 and RTX 3060 is the PCI-Express bus. The RTX 3050 comes with just a PCI-Express 4.0 x8 host interface, while the RTX 3060 has PCI-Express 4.0 x16, even though the GA106 fiberglass substrate isn't any smaller on the RTX 3050 and most custom-design boards, including this ROG Strix, use RTX 3060 PCBs, wiring out all 16 PCIe lanes to the host interface. NVIDIA's statement on the matter is that "dropping to 8 PCIe lanes improves supply. It allows us to source a wider variety of chips for the life of the product." We see this as a hint that future batches of the RTX 3050 could be carved out of the even smaller GA107 silicon, which physically has 24 SMs and a 128-bit wide GDDR6 memory bus, and an x8 PCIe interface. Right now, NVIDIA could be harvesting GA106 chips to eventually switch to GA107 without any changes in specifications or performance.

The ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3050 OC is easily the most premium RTX 3050 card we've come across. A huge triple-slot DirectCU III cooling solution takes on this tiny GPU with a typical power under 150 W. This 30 cm long cooler features an elaborate aluminium fin-stack heatsink that's ventilated by a trio of Axial Tech fans. The cooler also features an elaborate RGB illumination not just along the front and top of the card, but also the metal backplate. The cooler is longer than the PCB, so most of the airflow from the third fan is vented through the backplate. You also get certain ROG-exclusive features, such as 4-pin case-fan and 3-pin ARGB headers that let you synchronize your cooling to that of your graphics card. ASUS is pricing the RTX Strix RTX 3050 OC at an MSRP of $489, a steep premium over the $249 fantasy baseline.

Packaging

The Card

The ASUS RTX 3050 STRIX OC looks like any other "big" STRIX from the GeForce 30 Series—pretty sexy. On the back, you'll find a high-quality metal backplate.


Dimensions of the card are 30.0 x 13.5 cm, and it weighs 1108 g.


Installation requires three slots in your system.


Display connectivity options include two HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a ports.


This BIOS switch lets you toggle between the default Performance BIOS and a secondary Quiet BIOS, which runs the fans at reduced speed.


The card has one 8-pin power input. This configuration is rated for up to 225 W of power draw.


The GeForce RTX 3050 does not support SLI.

Teardown

ASUS has engineered a large cooler for their RTX 3050 STRIX. It provides cooling for the memory chips and VRM circuitry, too.


Once the main cooler has been removed, a secondary cooling plate becomes visible; it acts as heatspreader for the memory VRM and guards against bending.


The backplate is made out of metal and protects the card against damage during installation and handling.

High-resolution PCB Pictures

These pictures are for the convenience of volt modders and people who would like to see all the finer details on the PCB. Feel free to link back to us and use these in your articles, videos or forum posts.



High-res versions are also available (front, back).

Circuit Board (PCB) Analysis

The GPU VRM is a six phase-design controlled by an uPI uP9512R controller.


The GPU VRM uses Vishay SIC654A DrMOS components rated for 50 A.


The memory VRM is dual-phase and managed by a uPI uP9529Q controller.


For memory, Vishay SIC654A are used, too.


The GDDR6 memory chips are made by Micron and carry the model number D9ZPM, which decodes to MT61K512M32KPA-14:C. They are specified to run at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps GDDR6 effective).


NVIDIA's GA106 graphics processor is made using Samsung's 8 nanometer node and has a transistor count of 12 billion with a die size of 276 mm².