Home / NVIDIA / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 6 GB: Performance and Specs

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 6 GB

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 6 GB: A Compact Graphics Card for Gamers and Mobile Tasks

April 2025

1. Architecture and Key Features

Based on Ada Lovelace Architecture

The RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 6 GB is based on an updated version of the Ada Lovelace architecture optimized for mobile devices. The card is manufactured using TSMC's 5nm process technology, which has reduced power consumption by 15% compared to the previous generation (Ampere).

RTX Technologies, DLSS 3.5, and FidelityFX

The card supports all key NVIDIA features:

- RTX (Ray Tracing): Hardware acceleration for realistic lighting and shadows.

- DLSS 3.5: Artificial intelligence improves image quality and enhances FPS by generating additional frames through neural networks.

- FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR): Compatibility with AMD's open standard for alternative upscaling.

Despite its compact form factor, the RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh handles ray tracing in games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Alan Wake 2 when DLSS is enabled.

2. Memory: Minimum for Comfort

GDDR6 and 6 GB — Is It Enough?

The graphics card is equipped with 6 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 96-bit bus and a bandwidth of 192 GB/s. This is sufficient for gaming at medium settings in Full HD (1080p), but resource-intensive projects (for example, Horizon Forbidden West) may experience stuttering due to insufficient VRAM.

For professional tasks (video editing in DaVinci Resolve), 6 GB is the minimal comfortable amount. If you work with 4K materials or heavy 3D scenes, it’s better to opt for a model with 8 GB.

3. Gaming Performance: Modest, but Stable

FPS in Popular Games (1080p, Medium Settings)

- Apex Legends: 85–95 FPS (without RT), 55–65 FPS (with RT + DLSS).

- Elden Ring: 60–70 FPS (without RT), 45–55 FPS (with RT + DLSS).

- Counter-Strike 2: 120–140 FPS (without scaling).

1440p and 4K: Not the Main Focus

At Quad HD (1440p), the card shows modest results: Cyberpunk 2077 yields 30–40 FPS even with DLSS. It is not recommended for 4K — memory bandwidth is too low.

4. Professional Tasks: Not Just Gaming

CUDA and OpenCL

With 1536 CUDA cores and OpenCL support, the card is suitable for:

- Video Editing: Rendering in Premiere Pro is accelerated by 30% compared to integrated graphics.

- 3D Modeling: In Blender, rendering a mid-level scene takes about 7 minutes (compared to 15+ minutes with Intel Arc A380).

- Scientific Calculations: Support for NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit libraries simplifies machine learning tasks (but for complex models, it's better to use RTX 3060 or higher).

5. Power Consumption and Heat Generation

TDP 40 W and Cooling

The maximum power consumption is 40 W, making the card ideal for thin laptops and compact PCs. For stable operation, it requires:

- A cooling system with 2 fans or a passive heatsink (for mini-PCs).

- A case with at least 1 exhaust fan.

The temperature under load does not exceed 70°C, which is lower than RTX 3050 Ti Max-Q (75–80°C).

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon RX 6500M

- Pros of AMD: 8 GB GDDR6, better performance in Vulkan games (Doom Eternal).

- Cons: Weak ray tracing support, no equivalent to DLSS 3.5.

Intel Arc A550M

- Pros of Intel: Better performance in DX12, starting price of $299.

- Cons: Driver issues with older games.

Conclusion: The RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh wins thanks to DLSS and driver stability but lags behind in memory capacity.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply and Compatibility

- For laptops: A standard 90–120 W adapter is sufficient.

- For PCs: A power supply of 300 W (the card does not require additional connectors).

- Compatible with PCIe 4.0 x8, works on PCIe 3.0 with a 5–7% performance loss.

Drivers and Optimization

- Always update through NVIDIA GeForce Experience — support for Game Ready Drivers is guaranteed until 2027.

- For video editing, install Studio Drivers — they are more stable in professional applications.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Energy efficiency (5nm process technology).

- Support for DLSS 3.5 and RTX.

- Low heat and quiet operation.

Cons:

- Only 6 GB of memory — a limitation for future games.

- Not suitable for 4K.

- Starting price of $329 — more expensive than AMD counterparts.

9. Final Conclusion: Who is the RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh For?

This graphics card is a good choice for:

- Gamers playing at Full HD on medium settings.

- Students and freelancers needing mobility and support for professional applications.

- Owners of compact PCs valuing silence and low power consumption.

However, if you want a "future-proof" option or work with 4K, consider the RTX 4060 or AMD RX 7600M. But for its tasks, the RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh remains a balanced solution in 2025.

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

July 2022

Model Name

GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 6 GB

Generation

GeForce 30 Mobile

Base Clock

622MHz

Boost Clock

990MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 4.0 x8

Transistors

8,700 million

RT Cores

Tensor Cores

Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.

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

8 nm

Architecture

Ampere

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

6GB

Memory Type

GDDR6

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

1500MHz

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.

144.0 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.

31.68 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.

63.36 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.

4.055 TFLOPS

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.

63.36 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.

3.974 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.

2048

L1 Cache

128 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

2MB

TDP

35W

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 Ultimate (12_2)

CUDA

8.6

Power Connectors

None

Shader Model

6.7

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

3.974 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

Radeon Pro 5300

4.14 +4.2%

GeForce GTX 780 Rev. 2

4.073 +2.5%

GeForce RTX 3050 Max-Q Refresh 6 GB

3.974

Radeon Pro WX 5100

3.814 -4%

Arc A550M

3.612 -9.1%