Conclusion
The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO is a unique entry in ZOTAC’s GeForce RTX 5050 series lineup, offering a compact video card with a single fan, but still double-slot for better and quieter cooling. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO has an MSRP of, and is currently available at, the NVIDIA MSRP pricing of $249 for the GeForce RTX 5050. The GeForce RTX 5050 is NVIDIA’s entry-level GPU into the GeForce RTX 50 Blackwell generation launched in July of 2025.
The GeForce RTX 5050, based on the GB207 die, has 20 SMs, 2560 CUDA Cores, 20 RT Cores, 80 Tensor Cores, 32 ROPs, 80 Texture Units, and runs at a GPU Boost of 2572MHz. It has 8GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus at 20Gbps, delivering 320GB/s of memory bandwidth. The TDP is 130W.
ZOTAC has five models of GeForce RTX 5050 offered, with three different main variants. ZOTAC offers its Twin Edge GeForce RTX 5050 model, which features dual-fans and a larger footprint, as well as a factory overclock and a white or black color scheme. Then there are two unique models, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 Low Profile and the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO.
The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO (ZT-B50500G-10L) is the one we reviewed today, and is geared to be compatible with ITX builds, small form factor, and fit into 99% of PC builds. It, however, does not have a factory overclock and instead runs at the NVIDIA reference clock speed, but does come in at the $249 MSRP price point for GeForce RTX 5050. It should also be noted that we purchased this video card for review purposes and picked it up at the MSRP $249 at the time of testing.
Performance
In our performance testing, we put the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO through its paces in 11 games, testing native resolution 1080p, DLSS Upscaling, and ray tracing. We compared the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO with the video card it is primarily replacing, the GeForce RTX 3050, which launched in January of 2022 at $249, in the GeForce RTX 30 Series generation. We also compared the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO with the GeForce RTX 4060 because that offered a unique comparison that the results from this review bore out. We also put in the AMD Radeon RX 7600, AMD’s entry-level from the RDNA3 series that launched at $269.
There is no doubt from our benchmarks that the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO is a big improvement over the GeForce RTX 3050. However, we’d hope so, with it being two whole generations newer. You see, there wasn’t a GeForce RTX 40 Series equivalent of the RTX 5050 or RTX 3050, so the GeForce RTX 5050 has to be the step up from the GeForce RTX 3050 from almost 4 years ago.
Looking back over the 11 games, at native resolution 1080p the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO ranges from 50%-60% on average faster than the GeForce RTX 3050 in game performance. Some games showed higher averages, and others lower, and there were some outliers that were very big as well. Overall, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO is a big step up in gaming performance in modern games from the GeForce RTX 3050.
We also saw the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO take a big step up in performance when Ray Tracing and Path Tracing were concerned. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO has a larger step up in performance over the GeForce RTX 3050 for Ray Tracing and Path Tracing than it does for raster. This means that in games that require global illumination, the GeForce RTX 5050 will be even more superior in performance for modern games than the aging GeForce RTX 3050.
In overall gameplay, we found that “Medium” settings at 1080p is going to be a common game quality setting for the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO. Most newer, modern games are not going to be playable at “Ultra” settings at 1080p on the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO. However, dropping these games to High or Medium makes it playable, that is, at native resolution without upscaling. When you factor DLSS Upscaling into the mix, that changes things.
With DLSS Upscaling enabled at 1080p, many of those games were playable at the higher settings, as long as VRAM wasn’t holding it back in a particular game. However, there was at least one game, Mafia: The Old Country, that outright required DLSS Upscaling to even play the game. This is because even the lowest in-game graphics quality setting was not playable on the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO at native resolution 1080p.
The comparison with the GeForce RTX 4060 is interesting. In our testing, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO trades blows a lot of time with the GeForce RTX 4060. Depending on the game, sometimes it’s slower, sometimes it’s on par. However, it does show the progression of graphics performance at this price point. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO offers what was $299 in the previous generation, at a price point of $249 in this current generation, which does show progress in that sense. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO is also mostly faster than the Radeon RX 7600, especially in modern games that are based on global illumination now.
Overclocking, Power, and Temp
The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO is not geared to be a video card for overclocking. This is revealed in the video card’s lack of ability to raise the power limit. Without being able to raise the power limit or adjust the Voltage manually, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO is limited in its ability to raise performance. Our overclocking attempt yielded only a 100MHz average overclock to the GPU. We did get a 10% improvement in the memory bandwidth, however. Still, in real-world gaming performance, this was only about a 4-5% performance gain, and simply not worth it.
All of this is ok, though; we didn’t expect this particular video card to overclock. It is, after all, a compact video card with a single fan, and is meant to be power-efficient and fit into small places. That said, one area where the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO really excels is the GPU temperatures! The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO ran at a very cool 66c GPU temp, with 50% fan speed on automatic fan control. The memory temperatures were also really good; we didn’t see anything to worry about here. We cannot emphasize enough how cool this card actually ran for its size. It was also very quiet; we only noticed fan noise when we manually pushed the fans up to 75%, which was not needed.
The TDP of 130W is well-suited for this video card. We found that it outperforms the GeForce RTX 3050 by 60%, yet operates at nearly the same TDP power profile! This shows progression and efficiency in performance per Watt with this new generation. Any way you slice it, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO is true to its name, being a compact video card, but it also doesn’t slack in the temperature and power department, yielding excellent results in both for its size. It will most definitely fit well in any small form factor build.
Final Points
The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO offers a small, compact, single-fan GeForce RTX 5050 solution that we think works well for certain builds. If you have specific needs, for sizing, efficiency, or low power the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO is a great option for an entry-level gaming build.
The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO gets you in the door to the latest generation NVIDIA RTX features and performance. Don’t expect miracles; you will have to make compromises at 1080p in modern games. Primarily, you’ll have to lower in-game graphics from the highest settings to medium settings to maintain native resolution 1080p gameplay.
You can enable DLSS Upscaling to get to higher playable game settings at 1080p, and you’ll have to judge if the quality is worse or not for you. Thankfully, you’ll have access to DLSS 4 Transformer Model, and in games that utilize this better quality DLSS Upscaling, it won’t be as bad at 1080p, especially on Quality mode. The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO also gives you the option for the latest Frame Generation, if your base framerate is already high enough. Otherwise, the GeForce RTX 5050 gives you access to the latest GeForce RTX 50 series Blackwell features and NVIDIA NVENC encode/decode features.
The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO is most definitely an entry-level gaming experience, but sometimes that is just enough to get in the door of PC gaming and enjoy the latest, modern PC games with all the features supported.
We found the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO to offer a solid gaming experience at the $249 MSRP, without an inflated or price premium, and that makes a lot of sense for the GeForce RTX 5050. Overall, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 5050 SOLO runs cool, quiet, and doesn’t demand a lot of power, and if you are in the market for a small compact GeForce RTX 5050, you may want to give it a look.
