Skip to main content

Nvidia may already be working on an RTX 3050 to counter Intel’s Arc GPUs

As Intel plans to disperse the first batch of Arc Alchemist discrete graphics cards for early 2022, rumors suggest Nvidia is already planning to sabotage it.

Nvidia and AMD have long traded blows with one another on the GPU market. However, Intel is going to be joining the fight in early 2022 with the release of its Arc graphics cards. But as anticipation builds, Nvidia has something up its sleeve to counter them: The release of its new RTX 3050.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

This information comes from a tweet by Kopite7Kimi, a known Twitter user who leaked the original RTX 3000 Super lineup in September.

Recommended Videos

Update that:
GA106-150-Kx-A1
RTX 3050
8G GD6

— kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi) December 2, 2021

It is also worth noting that this latest info, along with the tweet about the RTX 3000 Super lineup, should be taken with skepticism since Nvidia has yet to comment or confirm any of these leaks.

While this may seem like Nvidia has stolen the show, a tweet by the user TUM_APISAK tweeted the following information.

Intel Arc A380 Graphics
2.45GHz 6GB

perf 1650S#IntelArc #DG2

— APISAK (@TUM_APISAK) December 2, 2021

As subliminal as that tweet sounds, the user mentions “Perf 1650s,” which most likely means that the Intel Arc A380 is there to combat the Nvidia GTX 1650 Super, which has 4GB of GDDR6.

The RTX 3050 line isn’t entirely foreign; in October, we took a look at the MSI Summit E16 Flip, which featured an RTX 3050. The most notable difference between this model and the leaked discrete variant is that the mobile version features only 4GB of GDDR6 whereas the latter is rumored to feature 8GB of GDDR6.

We do know for a fact is that Intel is releasing its Arc GPUs in early 2022 and with CES just around the corner, more information is sure to surface. It is also worth mentioning that due to the GPU shortage. these card will likely still be hard to obtain and sold for higher than their retail price even if they are not impressive.

Myles Goldman
Former Computing Writer
Myles has done many things within the hobby PC building, most notably deliding an Intel i5-4690k which he and his friend…
The price might not be the problem with Nvidia GPUs after all
The RTX 5090 sitting on a pink background.

European markets are seeing dips in prices of the Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs as the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar has become stronger. This has allowed Nvidia to slash the prices of some of its current graphics cards by approximately five percent.

According to Videocardz, Nvidia has updated the pricing for its Germany sector webpage, changing the price of the RTX 5090 to €2,230 from its launch price of €2,330. The RTX 5080 has dropped from €1,170 to €1,120. The RTX 5070 has dropped from €650 to €620. Notably, the RTX 5070 Ti maintains its €880 pricing, likely because it is the only graphics card to be released without a Founders Edition variant.

Read more
Nvidia RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell sets a new standard for workstation GPUs
Nvidia RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell GPU

Nvidia announced a host of new GPUs at its GTC 2025 conference on Tuesday, including the RTX Pro Blackwell series. The highlight component of the series is the RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell GPU, developed for workstations. The RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell GPU is also available in variants to support desktops, laptops, and data centers. The component is intended to aid professional designers, developers, data scientists, and creatives, the Verge noted. 

The RTX Pro naming sequence allows the Blackwell-based GPU to stand out against previous architectures, including Ada Lovelace, Ampere, and Turing, as well as the standard consumer product GPUs, Tech Radar Pro noted. 

Read more
Nvidia RTX 50 series owners can unlock free GDDR7 memory speed boost
Screenshots of MSI Afterburner over a colorful background.

Popular graphics card monitoring and overclocking tool, MSI Afterburner, has received a beta update enabling owners of Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs to boost their GDDR7 memory speeds by up to 10%. This enhancement allows data transfer rates to reach up to 36 gigatransfers per second (GT/s), surpassing Nvidia's standard specifications.

The RTX 50-series graphics cards are equipped with GDDR7 memory modules rated between 28GT/s and 32GT/s. However, Nvidia often sets default data transfer rates slightly lower, at 28GT/s for most models and 30GT/s for the RTX 5080, to ensure stability and longevity. The new update to MSI Afterburner unlocks the potential to exceed these factory settings, offering enthusiasts the opportunity to maximize their hardware's performance.

Read more