Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 now official - here are the specs and release window

Without any fanfare at all, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 has just quietly been added to the gaming GPU maker's website, and the new budget GPU is coming very soon. We're not just talking about the laptop version either - the desktop graphics card now also officially exists, and Nvidia has provided a release window too.

This marks the first time in a number of years that Nvidia has made a new RTX gaming GPU for desktop users who can't afford an RTX 5060. Comparatively, the only RTX 4050 GPU in the last generation was a severely cut-down laptop model, with the desktop RTX 4000 range stopping at the RTX 4060. Now, however, it's possible that an even cheaper GPU could end up as the top budget buy on our best graphics card guide.

Here are the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 specs:

The full specs of the GPU have now been officially confirmed by Nvidia, and the new GPU contains 2,560 CUDA cores. From that figure, we can then use our knowledge of existing Blackwell GPUs to work out that those CUDA cores will be spread across 20 of Nvidia's streaming multiprocessor (SM) units. That gives it 80 Tensor cores for AI tasks such as neural rendering on DLSS 4, including multi-frame gen, as well as 20 RT cores for ray tracing.

Meanwhile, the RTX 5050 will come equipped with 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM attached to a 128-bit memory interface. That's a good step up from the RTX 4050 laptop GPU, which has a paltry 6GB of VRAM connected to a tight 96-bit bus (as did the original RTX 3050).

GDDR6 VRAM is, of course, slower than the GDDR7 used on the RTX 5060, but our recent AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT review has already demonstrated that you can still get decent gaming performance from GDDR6 VRAM, and that capacity is sometimes more important.

Meanwhile, those rumored 2,560 CUDA cores will have much less collective rendering power than the 3,840 in the RTX 5060 - a 33% drop, in fact. However, if Nvidia sets a fair price for the RTX 5050, then that may well turn out to be justifiable. There are limited options in the sub-$250 price range right now, with the Intel Arc B580 impossible to find in stock at its MSRP.

The clock speeds have now also been confirmed, with Nvidia quoting the RTX 5050 boost clock as 2.57GHz. That's a little higher than the 2.5GHz boost clock of the RTX 5060, but the difference isn't huge, and the smaller number of CUDA cores will have a bigger impact on performance.

RTX 5050 release window

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 release window is the second half of July, 2025, as stated on the Nvidia website. This timeframe could fall any time between July 16 and July 31, and Nvidia is likely to confirm a more concrete date nearer the time.

RTX 5050 price estimate

Our best estimate for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 price is $249, based on speculation and the price of the RTX 3050, as Nvidia hasn't announced a price yet

As neither AMD nor Nvidia have launched a sub-$249 gaming GPU for a number of years now, Nvidia wouldn't have to price the RTX 5050 super-competitively for it to be a success, as there's so little realistic choice in the budget sector.

We'd love to see it cost $199, but realistically, the RTX 3050 cost $249 when it launched, and the RTX 4060 launched at $299. As the RTX 5060 costs $299, a $249 price for the RTX 5050 would be in line with expectations, although $219 would be more reasonable when you consider the big drop in specs.

While we eagerly await more details to drop about the RTX 5050, check out our full RTX 5070 review, where we take Nvidia's latest $549 GPU for a spin in our benchmark suite. Meanwhile, our full guide on how to install a GPU takes you through the whole process of upgrading your graphics card.

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