Today we’re going to take a look at a brand-new baby with an eSports character — the MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB is quite a compromise, but despite its low theoretical performance, it made a good impression. We tested the new product in desktop programs, synthetic tests, video games, and also measured power consumption, noise, and temperature indicators.
Pluses:
low power consumption and high performance per 1 W; adequate temperature to noise ratio; compact size and availability of low profile versions; sufficient performance for eSports video games; no direct competitors; high 3D graphics rendering speed relative to GTX flagships;
Minuses:
no automatic fan shutdown and overdrive «out of the box»; low performance per hryvnia compared to models with higher TDP; overpriced at the beginning of sales;
Content
Specifications of MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB
| Specifications of MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6G | |
| Interface | PCI-E 4.0 x16 |
| Technical process | 8 nm |
| VRAM frequency | 14000 MHz |
| GPU frequency | 1492 MHz |
| VRAM capacity | 6 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory bus | 96-bit |
| Video interfaces | DisplayPort x 1 (v1.4a) |
| HDMI x 2 (v2.1) | |
| CUDA cores | 2304 |
| Power connector | None |
| Energy consumption | 70 W |
| Recommended power supply | 300 W |
| Dimensions | 189×109×42 mm |
| Occupies places | 2 slots |
Test bench
We tested the new product with the following components:
- Motherboard MSI MPG B650 CARBON WIFI
- Processor AMD Ryzen 9 7900
- Cooler Be quiet! Dark Rock ELITE
- RAM Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 2x16GB
- Power supply MSI MPG A1000G PCIE5 1000W
- Body MSI MPG QUIETUDE 100S
Package and appearance of MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB
The box is as small as the video card itself. There are no additional accessories inside except for the paper documentation. The packaging is as simple as possible, which corresponds to the class of the device.
A nice advantage of MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB is the presence of two HDMI 2.1 ports. Additionally, there is one more Display Port 1.4. Despite its small size, two fans are installed.
The radiator protrudes a little beyond the textolite area, the casing is plastic, there is no backplate – the board is bare. Visually, MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB can be confused with budget GTX 16xx models.
In addition to the classic RTX 3060 6 GB versions, there are also low profile versions for compact cases, as well as fully passive cooling. The MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB that we reviewed is the most typical version of this chip.
Work productivity
We have tested the new product in popular benchmarks, and we can draw mixed conclusions. The video card looks weak in some benchmarks, but efficient in others.
The synthetic power of the MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB is not impressive — the hero of the review loses against all versions of the GTX 1660, only slightly ahead of the GTX 1650 Super. The 8 GB version is far ahead.
This trend is only observed in Geekbench 6 tests, as the transition to Blender Benchmark 4.0 shows a strong advantage of RTX over older GTX. Even the benchmark GTX 1080 Ti is 50% slower to render than the MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB.
Conventional notation:
- ULTRA — maximum graphics settings;
- HIGH — high graphics settings;
- COMP — esports graphics settings;
- DQ — DLSS with the Quality profile;
Apex Legends is easy to play at any resolution. Prioritize gaming on a Full-HD monitor — the owner of the MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB will be able to get stable 144+ FPS in any scenario.
Battlefield 2042 in Quad HD does not give a stable 60 FPS, but with DLSS Quality, this figure can be improved by 20%. FHD gaming is pleasant and comfortable — around a hundred is a good result.
Counter Strike 2 in open locations (in corridors +30%) shows 200–250 FPS in Full HD, and no one plays this game at a higher resolution. Moreover, the best eSports players still play with 1280×1024 or 1024×768 in stretched form.
F1 2022 seems to be a demanding game, but with high settings, we get a fairly high frame rate. It’s a pleasure to play even in Quad HD, but with DLSS.
Fortnite with eSports graphics settings, it is surprisingly easy to get the graphics to work — in most cases, we get at least 250 frames per second. The margin is large, so you can improve the graphics a little if the player is not interested in the efficiency of battles and the visibility of opponents.
Forza Horizon 5 you can play with Ultra settings (including ray tracing), but the frame rate falls short of 60 FPS. With a high profile, we get 75–85 FPS, depending on the resolution.
Mortal Kombat 1 turned out to be a demanding project, so it’s better not to set ultra graphics. With the high preset, we get almost stable 60 FPS. In Quad HD, the situation is identical with DLSS Quality.
Shatterline from Ukrainian developers is far from perfectly optimized, but the system requirements allow you to play confidently even in PvP mode.
Energy consumption, noise, heating
The main problem with the MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB is the aggressively tuned rotation curve and the lack of a passive fan mode. The coolers are always spinning and remain active in any scenario. The minimum rotational speed is 1400 rpm, and the quality of the bearings themselves is far from what we are used to seeing in the Gaming or Suprem series.
During the first pass of the Furmark, the fans spun up to 1800 rpm, the noise was moderate, but there were low-frequency vibrations and an unpleasant sound. Since the temperatures were too low, we decided to manually set the maximum to 1400 rpm. That is, in idle mode and under 100% load, the noise level is identical.
At 1800 rpm, we got 36–37 dB from the computer a meter away, and 49–51 dB directly next to the video card with the side cover of the case open. Switching to 1400 rpm reduces these figures by 10% and the MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB becomes quiet. The only disappointing thing is the inability to turn off the coolers completely at temperatures below 50 °C.
A 30-minute Furmark test showed that the hottest point of the video card reached 74 °C. The chip itself was 64 °C, and there was no memory sensor. On the heatsink, the pyrometer recorded no more than 41 °C, and 50-53 °C could be seen near the chip.
The power consumption was no more than 69–70 watts. In some games, this figure was 3–4 watts lower, but the video card was almost always 100% loaded, so it’s not surprising.
The PC consumed a little over 90 watts from the power outlet when idle, and 160–165 watts in the Furmark test. Of course, this video card does not fit the AM5 platform with AMD Ryzen 9 7900, so with the conditional Intel Core i3-14100F, you can expect such figures for the power consumption of the entire PC (approximately):
- «Desktop» (0% GPU 0% CPU) 50 W;
- Watching YouTube 4K (30% GPU 15% CPU) 75 watts;
- Furmark (100% GPU 5% CPU) 120 W;
- Video games (100% GPU 60% CPU) 150 watts;
MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB price and competitors
Cost MSI RTX 3050 VENTUS 2X 6 GB is UAH 8300, which is about UAH 500-700 too high (MSRP + 20% VAT). The video card has just started selling, so we should expect the price to drop to 7500 UAH in the near future. Only GTX 1650 and RX 6500 XT, which do not require additional power, can be considered as analogs.
Palit PCI-E GeForce RTX3050 LHR 8 GB DDR6 Dual offers higher performance and an additional two gigabytes of VRAM at the cost of twice the heat dissipation.
Palit GeForce RTX 3050 KalmX 6 GB has fully passive cooling, so it will be of interest to fans of perfect silence.
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3050 OC Low Profile 6G is made in a slim design and fits into miniature SFF cases.
MSI GeForce GTX 1650 D6 VENTUS XS OCV3 is a bit cheaper, although it has less memory, does not support DLSS, and is less productive.
PowerColor Radeon RX 6500 XT Fighter 4 GB is a good analog from AMD, but it has only 64-bit bus resolution and 6-pin power supply.
Asus Radeon RX 6600 Dual V2 is slightly more powerful than the hero of the review, although the TDP is almost twice as high. A compromise solution not for the target audience of 3050(6).