Is a RTX 3050 worth it for 1080p/60hz?

[SirBongyTheSecond]

Buddy of mine wanted to upgrade from a Steam Deck to a desktop machine (he hasn't used the Deck in portable mode for months and he wanted something more powerful in preparation for Starfield), and he purchased a used PC bundle that came with pretty much everything except Windows for £400:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B450-F
RAM: 8GBx2 Crucial 3200MHZ RAM
GPU: Palit NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 StormX
Storage: Two 512GB SSDs (one NVME, one SATA)
PC Case: Fractal Design Focus G Mid-ATX
PSU: Corsair RM750x 750W
Monitor: Dell S2719DGF
WiFi: TP Link Archer T2U Nano AC600 USB WIFI Adapter

Starfield is impossible to benchmark because it's not out yet, but with the minimum and recommended requirements being:

Originally posted by Bethesda:

MINIMUM:

Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X, Intel Core i7-6800K
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5700, NVIDIA GeForce 1070 Ti

RECOMMENDED:

Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, Intel i5-10600K
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080

From what I've seen online the 3050/1070 Ti being "better" depends on a game to game basis so it is a bit of a tossup if Starfield will fare better on the newer GPU (especially if the AMD sponsorship implies no DLSS). If my friend intends to keep the 1440p/144hz monitor a GPU upgrade is pretty much mandatory, but in a scenario where my friend decides to stick with his current 1080p/60hz monitor, is it worth considering getting a GPU upgrade to a 3060 Ti/an equivalent AMD GPU, irrespective of how Starfield actually turns out in the end?

[nullable]

Well AMD's FideltyFX and other SuperSampling schemes work pretty good to and run on non-AMD hardware. The wife was using them in God of War on her 1080 ti. So while not having DLSS (maybe) is possible, there's still other options.

Running demanding games at 1440p on a 3050 might be a bit of an ask. It will kind of depends on all the options the game has.

Of course upgrading to a more powerful GPU would yield better results if you're hoping to play at 1440p/144hz. But there's no harm in sitting tight and waiting to see where the chips fall before making all the decisions.

And there's no harm in running the game at 1080p on a 1440p monitor for a bit either, it won't look quite as crisp as a non-native resolution. But it would be cheaper and more definitive than rushing around trying to make decisions before you actually have the game to test. He may be able to find a comfortable medium. Patience can be a virtue after all.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

If he is gone upgrade then better to upgrade into RTX 4070 then 3060 Ti and yes he should keep the 1440p/144 Hz regardless if he upgrades or not.

[🦜Cloud Boy🦜]

OP, Avoid 3060ti as it has only 8gb Vram, which is really low for buying a new card in 2023, going forward.

RTX 3050 is fine for 1080p gaming overall, it will work for sure but you maybe have to reduce some graphics settings depending on the game, that's all.

6700xt is a good option for 1080p if you wanna keep your budget under $350, it's around 50% more powerful compared to RTX 3050 and comes with 12gb Vram. if your target is 1440p, get something like rx 6800/xt, rtx 4070 or higher.

[deadshooter]

I have RTX 3050 - pretty capable 1080p GPU if paired with good CPU. For the $400 for the whole rig - it should be a decent deal.

Upgrading though - he should consider something like 4070

[_I_]

supers-sampling isnt making the gpu draw natively at that res, its drawing at a lower res and scaling it up, no matter how its done it will not look exactly the same

almost any dedicated gpu will be better than what the deck has
but the deck is much lower res 1280x800 and does not require as much from the gpu to fill its native res


xx40 and lower are for office work
xx50-xx60 for entry level
xx70-xx80 for enthusiast
xx90-titan for rendering tasks

[r.linder]

Going from a 3050 to a 3060 would be stupid. Minimum I would suggest as an upgrade would be a 6700-XT.

[Mr White]

Agree 3060/2060 or RX 6700 12GB would have been a better option. However 3050 is still good. Just lower your settings.