23 Game Benchmark Breakdown & Closing Remarks

Before nosotros go into the full game breakup, let'due south await at power consumption. The 3GB 1050 was comparable to the original 1050, only pushing total system consumption v% higher.

So from that smaller 8 game sample nosotros saw some very mixed results.

Now let's get the full motion-picture show past looking at the results beyond all 23 games.

You've no doubt been fatigued to the Wolfenstein issue which saw the 3GB model delivering 65% more performance. This outlier is a event of the original GTX 1050'due south 2GB VRAM buffer being overwhelmed by the maximum in-game quality settings.

Still, because the 3GB model averaged over 50 fps and produced a 1% depression result of 48 fps I didn't reduce the quality settings. Notwithstanding this is a rare case and does inflate the margin, then let's remove that consequence.

This looks a bit more "normal" and now Rainbow Half-dozen Siege is our outlier but the result isn't that extreme. Overall the 3GB model was 4% faster on average but was still slower in five of the 23 games tested, four of which by a 5% margin or greater. We also saw a necktie in 3 of the titles. The 3GB 1050 was faster by a 5% or greater margin in 10 of the 23 games tested, so certainly non a bad result.

Final Thoughts

The 3GB version of the GTX 1050 is an odd product for a few reasons. Nvidia says that the 3GB model is ~10% faster than the 2GB version, but we've found on average information technology'southward 4% but there are certainly instances where it is "up to" 10% faster. But I wouldn't say gamers should expect to encounter effectually a 10% uplift. Either way for the nearly office it is faster, and equally far every bit I can tell pricing seems to be much the same, at least for the EVGA version we tested.

This 3GB version of the GP107 architecture is a practiced instance of how important the retentiveness subsystem is and how much it can influence performance under certain conditions. In some instances the bandwidth, ROP throughput and reduction of enshroud capacity had lilliputian impact when compared to the 1050 Ti, just in some the performance hit was massive.

For those reasons simply naming this product the GTX 1050 "3GB" isn't good enough in our opinion. Thankfully though, this isn't another GT 1030 DDR4 situation, as the 3GB model is arguably improve value than the original 2GB version.

It's hard to pinpoint the exact reason why Nvidia released this product, particularly and then late in the cycle. One hypothesis is that the GTX 1050 was a popular choice amongst miners and during the cryptocurrency mining smash, boosting stock levels meant increasing the the per centum of defective GPUs, and then this is 1 way you can nonetheless brand the virtually of them.

If you're desperate for a new graphics card and only have around $100 to $150 to spend, then the 3GB GTX 1050 is i of the best options available right now. Nonetheless, our recommendation is to wait to see what Nvidia and hopefully AMD accept in shop before the end of the year, but if that's not an pick, I come across no outcome with this production. Hopefully we'll run into the 3GB and 2GB 1050 models pitter-patter down to the $110 MSRP in the coming weeks.

Shopping Shortcuts:
  • GeForce GTX 1050 3GB on Amazon, Newegg
  • GeForce GTX 1050 Ti on Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy
  • GeForce GTX 1060 3GB on Amazon, Newegg, Best Purchase