RTX 3050 – Inno3D Twin X2 OC & MSI Gaming X

Shortly after the RTX 3050's launch day, we received two more AIB cards – the MSI RTX 3050 Gaming X and the Inno3D RTX 3050 Twin X2 OC, and today we have put them through their paces.

Getting the overall performance summary out of the way first as this is arguably the most predictable part of our testing, both cards offered small performance increases over the stock-clocked Gigabyte RTX 3050 Eagle. We're only talking 2-3FPS on average however, so it's hardly a major difference but this is what we have come to expect from factory overclock models. Overall gaming performance is basically identical to other RTX 3050s.

We did see the benefits to the Gaming X's large cooler however. Not only is it the quietest of all four RTX 3050s we've tested, but when noise-normalised, its thermal performance is significantly better, in the region of 10C cooler than the Palit StormX OC and the Inno3D Twin X2 OC.

The thing is though, I don't think it needs to run as cool and quiet as it does, certainly not for a 130W GPU. That's because, to achieve such good results, the Gaming X is simply a huge card for what should be an entry-level GPU. With dimensions overall very similar to, and in fact larger than the RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition depending on the exact metric, this card really does feel like overkill.

That's only exacerbated by the MSRP too, which MSI has set at £369.99. I've not been able to find the Gaming X listed with a retail price anywhere, but you can bet actual street pricing will be higher still – so for GPU which should start at £239, to be this large and priced so high above the MSRP, really does make little sense to me.

Inno3D's Twin X2 OC isn't as baffling, but we don't have any pricing data for this model and as a factory OC SKU, I still wouldn't expect it to be cheap. Both models are clearly competent RTX 3050s, but so is the Gigabyte Eagle, and that is at least meant to be an MSRP card.

It comes back to the point I made in my launch-day review – with RX 6600s in stock and readily available at £429, and RX 6600 XT only slightly more expensive at £450, the RTX 3050 really can't justify a price tag north of £350. We're hoping that we will see more stock arrive into the channel once things are back to normal after Chinese New Year, but we will have to wait and see if that materialises.

Both the MSI RTX 3050 Gaming X and Inno3D RTX 3050 Twin X2 OC are listed on Overclockers UK, but neither are in stock at the time of writing.

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Inno3D RTX 3050 Twin X2 OC

Pros

• Colour-neutral design.
• Runs cool and quiet.
• Overclocked well, despite fixed power limit.

Cons

• Likely priced significantly above the £239 MSRP.
• Palit's StormX OC performs similarly but is much smaller.

MSI RTX 3050 Gaming X

Pros

• Colour-neutral design.
• Runs very cool and very quiet.
• Overclocked well.

Cons

• £369 MSRP is far too much,
• Just too big for a 130W RTX 3050.
• Palit's StormX OC performs similarly but is much smaller.

KitGuru says: RTX 3050 has its place in the market, but pricing needs to stay well clear of the RX 6600 to make sense.

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