Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 vs RX 6600: GPU comparison in 2023

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 and the AMD RX 6600 are budget performance-segment GPUs. While Team Green's variant sells for $300, Team Red's card starts at around $235. Despite the price difference, the 3050 is more popular than the RX 6600.

Thus, while building their next gaming PC, many users might be confused between these GPUs. While the Nvidia GPU is a much better option than its last-gen equivalent, the GTX 1650, the RX 6600 also has some unique offerings.

Let's look at the two graphics cards and analyze whether opting for the popular pick is better or if the underdog is a solid competitor.

Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer

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The GeForce RTX 3050 is a solid card, but pricing kills it

Specs

The RTX 3050 is an impressive card. It is based on the GA106 GPU, which comes with 2,560 CUDA cores, 80 Texture Mapping Units (TMUs), 32 Render Output Units (ROPs), and 20 RT cores.

The card is bundled with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and is based on a 128-bit bus. Its total bandwidth is 224 GB/s.

The 3050 is a massive step up from its last-gen equivalent. According to the GPU computing power aggregates published on TechPowerUp, it is about 43% faster than the GTX 1650.

	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050
Graphics processor	GA106
CUDA cores	2560
TMUs	80
ROPs	32
Tensor cores	80
RT cores	20
Base clock	1552 MHz
Boost clock	1777 MHz
TDP	130W

Buy the RTX 3050 from Amazon (here for the US and here internationally)

Although a direct on-paper comparison between the RTX 3050 and the RX 6600 cannot be made, the AMD card is equally impressive.

The card is based on the Navi 23 GPU, which packs 1,792 shading units, 112 Texture Mapping Units (TMUs), 64 Render Output Units (ROPs), 28 Compute Units (CUs), and 28 RT cores.

Like the 3050, the RX 6600 comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory based on a 128-bit bus. However, the case has a 224 GB/s bandwidth because it comes with half the PCIe connectors as the Nvidia card.

	AMD Radeon RX 6600
Graphics processor	Navi 23
CUDA cores	1792
TMUs	112
ROPs	64
Compute Units	28
RT cores	28
Base clock	1626 MHz
Boost clock	2044 MHz
TDP	132W

Buy the RX 6600 from Amazon (here for the US and here internationally)

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Performance differences

In video games, the RX 6600 wipes the 3050. The AMD card is meant to compete with the RTX 3060 and is a mid-range performance segment GPU. Meanwhile, the 3050 is an entry-level GPU for 1080p gaming with compromises. Thus, this performance difference is not a surprise.

In synthetic benchmarks, we can see the RX 6600 is much faster than the RTX 3050. The AMD card is quicker than what Nvidia has to offer in terms of rasterization performance, as is evident from the Fire Strike benchmark results.

	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050	AMD Radeon RX 6600
3DMark Fire Strike (1080p)	16,238	24,433
3DMark Time Spy	6,203	8155
Unigine Superposition (1080p Extreme)	3,595	4,507

In almost every video game, the RX 6600 takes a 20-30% lead in average FPS, including the most ray tracing-heavy titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Hitman III.

This, when coupled with the fact that the AMD card is cheaper than what Nvidia has to offer, makes the RX 6600 a solid deal. Gamers can get a higher-end card while saving some money that can be put behind a beefier CPU that can deliver an even higher framerate.

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Conclusion

The RX 6600 is a much better option for gamers today. Although the RTX 3050 is a solid card and a massive step up from last-gen, it is poorly priced compared to AMD offerings.

Thus, users putting together a mid-range gaming rig should opt for the Team Red card over the 3050.