RTX 3050 6GB: The best low profile no AUX power card?

[Agall]

Now hear me out- We all know the utility of having a decent card that can drop into any machine, whether that's for troubleshooting, backup dGPU, or as a display adapter for a cheap machine or iGPU less system.

 

Behold: 

MSI LP GeForce RTX 3050 Video Card RTX 3050 LP 6G OC - Newegg.com

 

Considering $180 isn't inexpensive but isn't expensive, its an interesting option.

 

-Low profile

-No AUX power required, so can be dropped in almost any system

-6GB of VRAM is sufficient for most games at 1080p low-medium

-RTX features

-NVENC encode/decode (GeForce RTX 3050 Graphics Cards | NVIDIA)

-3 modern display outputs is usually plenty (4 for other models)

 

Gaming performance isn't 'stellar' and falls behind the RX 6600 at the same price point, but that card doesn't have a dedicated encoder nor RTX features and doesn't have a low profile option with no AUX power.

 

I might find myself buying one of these to replace the GT 1030 I brought into work, where this card might end up running my home theater R5 7600 machine. Thoughts?

[emosun]

i think it's neat considering it's low profile but 180$ is dipping into "maybe i shouldn't be considering a low profile computer" territory.

idk , it's a lot to invest into a low profile setup

But 10 years from now when it's super cheap used on ebay?.... yeah it'll be fun to buy it then definitely and have a quirky low profile 3050

[Agall]

3 minutes ago, emosun said:

i think it's neat considering it's low profile but 180$ is dipping into "maybe i shouldn't be considering a low profile computer" territory.

idk , it's a lot to invest into a low profile setup

But 10 years from now when it's super cheap used on ebay?.... yeah it'll be fun to buy it then definitely and have a quirky low profile 3050

I've always liked having a no-shit plug and play dGPU, my GT 1030 satisfied that before. It was more of a problem with AM4 which I ended up having 3 different motherboards+CPUs for, but AM4 will likely stick around for a while. Part of the purpose of the GT 1030 was to be a test dGPU for those sorts of systems, and the plethora of other systems I need to be able to test.

 

My R5 7600 machine currently uses one of In Win's no PCIe slot cases with an integral 200W PSU. I might be swapping that since my new TV for my much larger living room in my new house is HDR compatible, so using the RTX video enhancement features is something I'd rather have enabled. I've noticed marginal improvements in comparison while mostly using my main setup for video content, so obviously its a +$180 requirement now.

[WiscoMetro]

If you won't eventually get your 1030 back that seems reasonable to me. I hope they let you expense report it. Then again, another cheap 1030, 740 or Quadro K2000 would fill the role fine I'd think.

 

A 3050's performance would certainly saturate a PCIe 1/2 and maybe even 3 slot since it's a x8 interface, only downside I'd be considering.

[RONOTHAN##]

21 minutes ago, Agall said:

We all know the utility of having a decent card that can drop into any machine, whether that's for troubleshooting, backup dGPU, or as a display adapter for a cheap machine or iGPU less system.

For most of those though, an eBay Quadro P400 would do just as fine for $40.

 

The main issue with it is just the price, $180 is way too much for a card like this. Low profile cards with enough performance to play esports games like this make the most sense in things like low profile Optiplexes that you want to convert into gaming rigs, but at the time you're spending nearly $200 on a GPU, you could have swapped out the Optiplex for a full size one and upgraded the PSU so you can use a GTX 1080 and have a significantly better gaming experience. Now, if it were $30-50 cheaper, then that's less of an option and this card actually might be worth it to the right person. 

 

21 minutes ago, Agall said:

Gaming performance isn't 'stellar' and falls behind the RX 6600 at the same price point

I'd like to emphasize the "not stellar." This card is only a ~20% faster than the RX 580 on average, a card that costs $50-70 on eBay and cost $200 brand new 7 years ago. Sure, it has extra features and draws less power, but that's not worth paying triple. You have to really want low power or low profile in order to have this make any amount of sense. 

[porina]

Feels like this thread is heading towards a rehash of all the pointless arguments we have every time that GPU is mentioned. It is quite simply the best performing consumer GPU not requiring a power connector. If you want/need it, get it. If not, other options are available.

 

If used options are ok then I'd look at the 1650 which is still quite decent in performance. Maybe 1050 (Ti) at oldest.

[Blazepoint5]

Go for it ma bro, Its a nice change from your gt 1030

[Agall]

11 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

For most of those though, an eBay Quadro P400 would do just as fine for $40.

 

The main issue with it is just the price, $180 is way too much for a card like this. Low profile cards with enough performance to play esports games like this make the most sense in things like low profile Optiplexes that you want to convert into gaming rigs, but at the time you're spending nearly $200 on a GPU, you could have swapped out the Optiplex for a full size one and upgraded the PSU so you can use a GTX 1080 and have a significantly better gaming experience. Now, if it were $30-50 cheaper, then that's less of an option and this card actually might be worth it to the right person. 

 

I'd like to emphasize the "not stellar." This card is only a ~20% faster than the RX 580 on average, a card that costs $50-70 on eBay and cost $200 brand new 7 years ago. Sure, it has extra features and draws less power, but that's not worth paying triple. You have to really want low power or low profile in order to have this make any amount of sense. 

This is where the whole picture comes in though, with the other features I've mentioned.

 

31 minutes ago, Agall said:

-Low profile

-No AUX power required, so can be dropped in almost any system

-6GB of VRAM is sufficient for most games at 1080p low-medium

-RTX features

-NVENC encode/decode (GeForce RTX 3050 Graphics Cards | NVIDIA)

-3 modern display outputs is usually plenty (4 for other models)

Its a lot of features the Intel Arc A380 shared which also now has a low profile no AUX version at the low end of $100, but it doesn't have any of the mainstay features like RTX. Its 2GB off from being capable of running Chat with RTX unfortunately, but that's not nearly as useful as the latter options for a potential 4K VGA output to a home theatre. 

[Agall]

2 minutes ago, porina said:

Feels like this thread is heading towards a rehash of all the pointless arguments we have every time that GPU is mentioned. It is quite simply the best performing consumer GPU not requiring a power connector. If you want/need it, get it. If not, other options are available.

 

If used options are ok then I'd look at the 1650 which is still quite decent in performance. Maybe 1050 (Ti) at oldest.

This isn't a thread about gaming performance, but the whole host of features provided including RTX. In this case, the RTX tax is comparable to a card like this at $180 compared to $114 new.

 

ASRock Low Profile Arc A380 Video Card A380 LP 6G - Newegg.com

 

Otherwise, any iGPU with an HDMI 2.0 can support this without RTX features, something my 4790k didn't have to natively run a 4K TV at 60Hz with only HDMI 1.4 that the R5 7600 mITX platform I ended up with does natively. 

 

I was otherwise considering an RTX 4060 and likely the LP version for similar effect, this 3050 6GB LP meeting all base requirements but the Chat with RTX potentiality. That would require at least the 3050 8GB which don't exist new anymore nor have a no AUX version that I found.

 

I'm also unaware of any NVENC encode/decode GPUs without aux power, something I actually need for work's surveillance server. The GTX 650ti I have on hand is supported properly by the software to use its NVENC encoder, but the card has a 6pin I can't adapt with the server's proprietary power supply. 

[jaslion]

7 minutes ago, Agall said:

m also unaware of any NVENC encode/decode GPUs without aux power, something I actually need for work's surveillance server. The GTX 650ti I have on hand is supported properly by the software to use its NVENC encoder, but the card has a 6pin I can't adapt with the server's proprietary power supply. 

Doesnt the 1650 also have nvenc?

[Agall]

6 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Doesnt the 1650 also have nvenc?

It does, but they cost around the same and the models that are available have AUX power

 

MSI Ventus GeForce GTX 1650 Video Card GTX 1650 D6 Ventus XS OCV3 - Newegg.com

 

This low profile version costs even more than that RTX 3050 6GB LP, but yes, does have a dedicated NVENC with no AUX power.

 

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1650 Video Card GV-N1650OC-4GL - Newegg.com

[RONOTHAN##]

20 minutes ago, Agall said:

I'm also unaware of any NVENC encode/decode GPUs without aux power, something I actually need for work's surveillance server.

Old Quadros like the one I listed (P400) also have NVENC Encode/decode ability, the main reason they're the go-to plex encode GPUs. Those also have the benefit of being single slot for servers. 

[Agall]

1 minute ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Old Quadros like the one I listed (P400) also have NVENC Encode/decode ability, the main reason they're the go-to plex encode GPUs. Those also have the benefit of being single slot for servers. 

Does plex allow for the RTX enhancement features yet or is that primarily the player on the client side? I imagine that wouldn't be a server side benefit but a client side benefit to correct for compression artifacts and/or upscale to 4K from a lower resolution.

 

Last time I messed with Plex was 2016, so my suggested use case is primarily client-side video enhancement when discussing RTX features.

[Agall]

57 minutes ago, WiscoMetro said:

If you won't eventually get your 1030 back that seems reasonable to me. I hope they let you expense report it. Then again, another cheap 1030, 740 or Quadro K2000 would fill the role fine I'd think.

 

A 3050's performance would certainly saturate a PCIe 1/2 and maybe even 3 slot since it's a x8 interface, only downside I'd be considering.

I haven't bothered, the card is several years old at this point but it was necessary for a coworker's workstation for multimonitor support and Adobe CC features.

 

It wouldn't be unreasonable to suggest that this card would work great in Adobe CC suites if the AI based features weren't cloud based and locally hosted. We primarily use Illustrator and Photoshop, which don't seem to need an RTX capable dGPU to get those features. Still a potential, since it rocks at least 3 modern outputs which is commonly how many displays most of my coworkers use.

[RONOTHAN##]

3 minutes ago, Agall said:

Does plex allow for the RTX enhancement features yet or is that primarily the player on the client side?

Pretty sure that's entirely client side. 

 

3 minutes ago, Agall said:

so my suggested use case is primarily client-side video enhancement when discussing RTX features

Fair enough, though you will have to admit that's a very niche use case, and if you just need NVENC, those old Quadros do just fine. 

[Agall]

1 minute ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Pretty sure that's entirely client side. 

 

Fair enough, though you will have to admit that's a very niche use case, and if you just need NVENC, those old Quadros do just fine. 

Am I the only one who uses a PC to run my TV?  

 

I honestly don't know, I just can't stand smart TVs so I just have various iterations of hardware that I have available and a Windows install on an NVMe M.2 drive I can transplant that originated in my Razer Blade 2016 . A Microsoft branded USB dongle wireless trackpad+keyboard combo I bought way back in early 2016 to operate it.

 

It wasn't something I considered until moving, where my new house will graciously have an HDR capable TV that I might end up using more often. Having an RTX enhancement capable machine would be nice, even if it is marginal. Its far more noticeable when you're <2ft away from a 32" 4K than several feet away from a 70" 4K, I would imagine, but why not.

[porina]

49 minutes ago, Agall said:

This isn't a thread about gaming performance, but the whole host of features provided including RTX.

It wasn't entirely clear to me what your intentions were, and other respondents were taking it down the gaming path. If you want RTX stuff then the only choices I'm aware of in the LP space without power connector are the 3050 6GB, and the A2000 Ampere/Ada versions. 

 

8 minutes ago, Agall said:

Am I the only one who uses a PC to run my TV?  

I do. Currently with a 4070.

[Agall]

Just now, porina said:

It wasn't entirely clear to me what your intentions were, and other respondents were taking it down the gaming path. If you want RTX stuff then the only choices I'm aware of in the LP space without power connector are the 3050 6GB, and the A2000 Ampere/Ada versions. 

 

I do. Currently with a 4070.

I almost snagged one of those A2000's when they were $250 on Ebay.

 

How is utilization on the RTX 4070? I imagine its quite overkill even for quality 4 and HDR. IIRC, I'd see like 10-12% utilization/TDP on my RTX 4090, so something like an RTX 3050 6GB would probably be screaming, but within range. RTX 4090 idle though is a hungry hippo, so its possible its just a minimum amount of energy to get the GPU moving.

[porina]

1 hour ago, Agall said:

How is utilization on the RTX 4070? I imagine its quite overkill even for quality 4 and HDR.

VSR? I'm wrong person to ask. I only recently set it up for gaming first as the 3070 was really struggling.

 

1 hour ago, Agall said:

I almost snagged one of those A2000's when they were $250 on Ebay.

Didn't think to look up A2000 on ebay. In UK, the 6GB models are kinda starting in that ball park, but 12GB is much more.