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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB: Review of the Budget GPU for Laptops in 2025

April 2025

Introduction

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB is an updated version of the classic budget graphics card that remains relevant in the affordable laptop segment. Despite the age of its architecture, it remains popular due to its low price (around $160–180 for new devices) and sufficient performance for basic tasks. Let's explore who this model is suitable for in 2025 and what compromises users might have to consider.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Architecture: The GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB is based on the GP107 chip within the Pascal architecture, released back in 2016. However, in 2023–2024, NVIDIA re-released this model with an increased memory capacity (3 GB instead of 2 GB), while maintaining the previous manufacturing process of 14 nm.

Unique Features:

- No RTX and DLSS: Like all GTX series cards, this model does not support ray tracing (Ray Tracing) and AI-based technologies like DLSS.

- Adaptive VSync and G-Sync Compatible: Partial synchronization with monitors that support G-Sync via DisplayPort.

Conclusion: The Pascal architecture is outdated, but driver optimizations allow the card to operate reliably in basic scenarios.

2. Memory

Type and Capacity: The 3 GB of GDDR5 is the main distinction from the original GTX 1050 Mobile. However, the memory bus width remains at 96 bits, limiting bandwidth to 84 GB/s (compared to 112 GB/s of GDDR5X in modern GPUs).

Impact on Performance:

- 1080p Gaming: 3 GB is sufficient for most games at low settings, but in projects with HD textures (for example, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty), there may be drops in performance due to a lack of memory.

- Professional Tasks: For editing 1080p video in Premiere Pro, the memory buffer is acceptable, but rendering in 4K will be problematic.

3. Gaming Performance

Testing in Popular Games (2025):

- Fortnite (Epic Games): 45–55 FPS at low settings in 1080p.

- Apex Legends: 50–60 FPS (low/medium settings).

- Hogwarts Legacy Remastered: 25–30 FPS (low settings, no RT).

- Counter-Strike 2: 90–110 FPS (medium settings).

Supported Resolutions:

- 1080p: The primary target resolution.

- 1440p and 4K: Not recommended—FPS will drop below 20 even in less demanding projects.

Ray Tracing: Not available due to the absence of RT cores.

4. Professional Tasks

CUDA Acceleration: 640 CUDA cores assist in programs like Blender or DaVinci Resolve, but performance is modest:

- Rendering a scene in Blender (BMW Benchmark): ~25 minutes (compared to 5 minutes with the RTX 3050).

- Encoding a 10-minute 1080p video in H.264: ~8–10 minutes.

Scientific Calculations: Support for OpenCL and CUDA allows the use of the card for simple simulations, but for machine learning or complex computations, it's better to choose models with Tensor Cores.

5. Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation

TDP: 40–50 W — a typical value for mobile GPUs in this class.

Cooling Recommendations:

- Laptops with GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB should have at least 2 fans and copper heat pipes.

- Avoid prolonged gaming sessions without a cooling pad — temperatures can reach 85–90°C.

Compatibility with Cases: The card is designed for slim laptops (up to 20 mm), but may not be found in ultrabooks due to heat output.

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon RX 5500M (4 GB):

- Advantages: 4 GB of GDDR6, support for FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR).

- Disadvantages: Priced $30–50 higher.

Intel Arc A370M (4 GB):

- Pros: Better performance in DX12, support for XeSS.

- Cons: Higher driver and stability requirements.

Conclusion: The GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB lags in power but wins in price and reliability.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply: The laptop should have at least a 90 W adapter for stable operation.

Compatibility:

- Support for PCIe 3.0 x16 — check if such a slot is available in your system (relevant for upgrading certain mini-PCs).

- Drivers: Regularly update through GeForce Experience, but don’t expect optimizations for new games.

Notes: Enable "Power Saver" mode in the NVIDIA Control Panel to increase battery life.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Low price ($160–180).

- Energy efficiency.

- Support for CUDA and DirectX 12.

Cons:

- Only 3 GB of memory.

- No ray tracing or DLSS.

- Outdated architecture.

9. Final Conclusion

Who is the GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB suitable for?

- Students and Office Users: For working with documents, streaming video, and light games like Minecraft or CS2.

- Budget Laptop Owners: As an alternative to integrated graphics.

- Retro Gamers: For running games from the 2010s at high settings.

Why choose this card? If you need an affordable laptop with discrete graphics for basic tasks and you’re willing to accept compromises in modern gaming, the GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB is a reliable option. However, for professional work or AAA gaming in 2025, it’s better to look at models with RTX 3050 or AMD RX 6500M.

Conclusion

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB is an example of a "workhorse" that, despite its age, finds its niche. It may not impress with performance, but it offers stability and accessibility, which remain important for many users in 2025.

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

February 2019

Model Name

GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB

Generation

GeForce 10 Mobile

Base Clock

1366MHz

Boost Clock

1442MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x16

Transistors

3,300 million

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

Foundry

Samsung

Process Size

14 nm

Architecture

Pascal

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

3GB

Memory Type

GDDR5

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

96bit

Memory Clock

1752MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

84.10 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

34.61 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

69.22 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

34.61 GFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

69.22 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

2.259 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

768

L1 Cache

48 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

768KB

TDP

75W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

OpenCL Version

3.0

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (12_1)

CUDA

6.1

Power Connectors

None

Shader Model

6.4

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

2.259 TFLOPS

Blender

Score

181

OctaneBench

Score

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon Pro Vega 16

2.388 +5.7%

GRID K220Q

2.335 +3.4%

GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB

2.259

Quadro K5000

2.212 -2.1%

Radeon RX 460 Mobile

2.157 -4.5%

Blender

GeForce RTX 2060

1506.77 +732.5%

Arc A550M

848 +368.5%

Quadro T1000 Mobile GDDR6

415 +129.3%

GeForce GTX 880M

194 +7.2%

GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB

181

OctaneBench

GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile

273 +658.3%

Quadro P5200 Max Q

123 +241.7%

Tesla K40m

69 +91.7%

GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile 3 GB

GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q

10 -72.2%