Nvidia is shoehorning Ada Lovelace into the getting older RTX 3050 – here is what it seems like

Reducing corners: You’d anticipate Nvidia to be performed releasing new GPUs based mostly on its earlier era Ampere structure. Nonetheless, the corporate has yet another Ampere-based shock in retailer – however this GPU is not utilizing Ampere silicon in any respect. As a substitute, Nvidia appears to be prepping a mysterious new RTX 3050 A cellular GPU powered by the newer Ada Lovelace structure.

Stories of a thriller RTX 3050 A laptop computer GPU began popping up final week. Tom’s {Hardware} reached out to Nvidia, confirming its existence and key specs. Essentially the most stunning side is that it leverages the newer Ada Lovelace structure, not like the remainder of the Ampere-powered RTX 30 collection lineup.

The RTX 3050 A seems to be a little bit of a blended bag specs-wise in comparison with its Ampere-based RTX 3050 cousins. It’s going to characteristic 4GB of VRAM over a 64-bit reminiscence bus and a reasonably tame 35-50W TGP vary. For comparability, the RTX 3050 presently in circulation can go as much as 80W and encompasses a 128-bit reminiscence bus.

Nonetheless, this GPU makes use of the AD106 die, which is discovered within the RTX 4070 cellular. It is really a step up from the entry-level AD107 die featured on the RTX 4050 and RTX 4060 and options extra transistors and CUDA cores. At 188mm^2, it is also a hair smaller than the GA107 Ampere die in the usual RTX 3050, however Ada tends to clock a lot greater for improved performance-per-watt.

Nvidia additionally confirmed the RTX 3050 A will pack 1,792 CUDA cores. That is down a good chunk from the two,048 cores within the RTX 3050 laptop computer GPUs, however once more, these greater Ada clocks may assist shut the hole.

One notable limitation is that regardless of Ada’s help for OFA (Optical Flow Accelerator), the RTX 3050 A apparently will not help DLSS 3 body era attributable to {hardware} restrictions.

Why is Nvidia quietly slipping an Ada GPU right into a beforehand Ampere-based product stack? Your guess is pretty much as good as ours, however the most secure assumption is that it is a option to filter leftover Ada dies that did not fairly make the reduce for the extra highly effective RTX 40 collection GPUs.

There’s one other wrinkle to this story that is price mentioning. An older Nvidia roadmap leak prompt the corporate deliberate to maintain cranking out laptop computer variations of the usual RTX 3050 – each 4GB and 6GB flavors – during 2025. With the RTX 3050 A now rising with 4GB of VRAM, it is attainable this Ada improve could possibly be positioned as an eventual alternative for the 4GB RTX 3050 fashions. However that is presently simply hypothesis.

As of now, particulars are nonetheless fairly slim on efficiency and availability. Laptop computer makers have not introduced any RTX 3050 A configs but both, regardless of Nvidia including driver help a few weeks in the past. We’ll have to attend for some real-world testing to see how this Ada/Ampere ‘hybrid’ fares.