Conclusions
Performance
We evaluated the PNY GeForce RTX 3050 8G VERTO Dual Fan video card at 1080p in Rasterized and Ray Traced formats. In the rasterized arena, the comparison Sapphire RX 6600 was a clear winner across the board. The slimmest margin was 1.5% in Cyberpunk 2077 and the widest was 18% in both F1 2022 and Watch Dogs Legion. The addition of DLSS or FSR did help both video cards, in most cases boosted the FPS into a playable zone, but still aided the RX 6600 the most.
As we have seen in all our reviews using this suite of games, there are three games that are very demanding: Dying Light 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and Watch Dogs Legion. Neither of the video cards in today’s review could reach the 60FPS level without upscaling in these games. Dying Light 2 was the most forgiving. Cyberpunk and Watch Dogs were simply brutal.
Ray Tracing highlights NVIDIA’s lead in this technology. The tables essentially turned once Ray Tracing was enabled and the PNY RTX 3050 VERTO prevailed. The only exceptions were FarCry6 and Cyberpunk 2077 however the FPS was very close. Once again, it is obvious that to play the game smoothly and enjoyably in Ray Tracing you will need to enable DLSS or FSR. But hey, that’s what it’s for.
Overclocking
Our experience with the PNY RTX 3050 VERTO was excellent. In fact, we were able to surpass the overclock of any other RTX 3050 video card that has been reviewed to date. The values obtained allowed a consistent 10% gain in FPS versus default settings which are quite good. The overclocks may have been even higher if the power target was not locked at 100%. We used a custom fan setting that kept the video card cool. The fans were silent even at nearly 70%. The experience with VelocityX was ok. Our biggest problem was the settings for overclocking would not stick if we shut the system down and returned at a later date. Otherwise, VelocityX is easy to use and understand.
Final Points
The PNY GeForce RTX 3050 8G VERTO Dual Fan video card was examined in this review. The comparison card was the Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 6600. All in all these video cards perform admirably at 1080p, especially considering we adjust the settings as high as they can go, then enable Ray Tracing to boot.
Without Ray Tracing the card to beat is the RX 6600, hands down at these settings. When you enable Ray Tracing our PNY RTX 3050 VERTO will give you a good look at all the effects, especially if you enable DLSS or FSR.
Overclocking was a pleasant surprise. We were able to record the highest clock values of all the 3050s we have reviewed with the PNY RTX 3050 VERTO. Getting 10% extra performance for free is nice. It is a shame that PNY locked the power target at 100%, or we may have been able to go higher!
So, overall this PNY GeForce RTX 3050 8G VERTO Dual Fan video card is about exactly what you would expect. There is nothing fancy here. The card is well-cooled by a generous heatsink and dual fans, the shroud is basic, there is a nice metal backplate, and it carries default NVIDIA settings. You can’t ask for much more for 1080p gaming and Ray Tracing at this price.