Overclocking the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3050 Twin Edge OC
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Prior to overclocking, we will determine the base GPU clock speed. Both NVIDIA and AMD have dynamic base speeds, both have a “Boost” speed. (GPU Boost or Boost Clock, depending on the brand.) Generally, either brand’s card will exceed the “Boost” dynamically. To determine the “baseline” we record the GPU frequency in our Cyberpunk 2077 manual run-through. This is a lengthy manual run at Ultra settings. Data is captured for frequency, temperature, voltage, and power using GPU-Z sensor to log the data.
The ZOTAC GAMING RTX 3050 Twin Edge OC comes in the box with a Boost clock setting of 1807MHz. The reference base clock for this video card is 1552 MHz and the Boost clock is 1777MHz. In our run-through, the Boost clock settled in at 1935MHz. This represents 158 MHz above the reference Boost or about 8%. The factory Boost of 1807MHz is represented by the green line on the graph. In this instance, the final Boost is 128MHz above the Zotac factory setting or a 7% difference.
Overclocked
To overclock the ZOTAC GAMING RTX 3050 Twin Edge OC the manufacturer-provided software is utilized. This is the FireStorm utility. The software allows adjustment of power and temperature limits, core voltage, GPU core, and memory frequency. Fan adjustment is available individually or in tandem. We used a custom fan curve when overclocking.
By adjusting the power and temperature to their fullest extent, or 90C and 110% power, in addition to the GPU core and memory sliders, we were able to adjust the GPU clock frequency to +180 and reach a steady Boost clock of 2130MHz. We were also able to shift the memory frequency a whopping +1000! This allowed a memory speed of 2000MHz.
This is a nice jump up from the factory Boost, representing +323 or roughly 17%. Calculated from the 1935MHz zenith of the default video card we see a 10% increase. Once again the installed baseline Boost is represented by the green line. Our overclocking effort was very painless with the ZOTAC Gaming RTX 3050 Twin Edge OC. You can see how this result stacks up to the three RTX 3050 we’ve reviewed in the past by looking here, here, and here.
The screen captures show the FireStorm settings as well as GPUZ data. The video card temperature was kept very cool by the custom fan curve. The fans were not perceptible to us.