So, NVIDIA just quietly dropped what many are calling the “budget king of Blackwell” – the GeForce RTX 5050. While it didn’t get a flashy reveal, this GPU is shaping up to be the most affordable way into the RTX 50 series lineup, and yes, it comes with support for DLSS 4 and the full RTX suite.
The card is coming in both desktop and laptop versions, with a July release window in sight. Specs-wise, you’re looking at 2,560 CUDA cores and 8GB of GDDR6 memory (on the desktop variant) on a 128-bit interface. What’s a bit of a throwback is the use of a single PCIe 8-pin power connector, and it draws around 130W while hitting boost clocks up to 2,570MHz. AIB partners will likely push that number even higher with factory overclocked (OC) versions.
And yes, DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation is on board, which is great news for anyone eyeing smoother performance in supported titles. But keep expectations grounded – the card only pushes 421 AI TOPs, which is a fair bit behind the RTX 5060’s 614, so the actual “AI magic” may be a little more modest in practice.
There’s also a strange twist with the memory setup. While the desktop model uses GDDR6, the laptop variant actually comes with GDDR7, even though both share the same 2,560 CUDA cores. The mobile version has a much wider TDP range too, from 35W to 100W, so pay attention to the specs on thin-and-light gaming laptops.
Availability
July will be the month of the GeForce RTX 5050 as NVIDIA will be releasing another Game Ready Driver to support it on day-1, so yeah, perhaps your local shop would get it in stock around the time when the driver becomes available.
