Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 3GB Review: (Mostly) Faster Than 1050 2GB

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By Chris Angelini
published

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How We Tested GeForce GTX 1050 3GB

Our Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 & 1050 Ti Review is coming up on two years old. In that piece, we benchmarked the 1050s against AMD’s Radeon RX 460, 470, and older R9 270X. Really, though, the RX 470 (and newer RX 570) is in a different class altogether, while the R9 270X is approaching its five-year birthday and not as relevant. So, let’s keep this comparison tight: the most important cards to compare include Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 2GB, the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, and AMD’s Radeon RX 560.
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 2GB
Asus ROG Strix RX560 04G Gaming 4GB

The GeForce cards are tested from scratch (no recycled benchmark data) using driver version 398.11. Similarly, we started fresh with AMD’s Radeon RX 560 using Adrenalin Edition 18.5.2. Our test platforms run Windows 10 Pro version 1803.  

As for the supporting hardware, we have an MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard hosting a Core i7-7700K CPU. The platform is complemented by G.Skill’s F4-3200C14Q-32GTZ memory kit. Intel’s Kaby Lake architecture remains one of the company’s most effective per clock cycle, and a stock 4.2 GHz frequency is higher than the models with more cores. Crucial’s MX200 SSD remains, as does the Corsair H110i cooler and be quiet! Dark Power Pro 10 850W power supply.

Benchmarks

Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 family targets the same 1920x1080 resolution and eSports demographic as AMD’s Radeon RX 560, so our test settings reflect more mainstream performance expectations. 

  • DirectX 12, 1920x1080, Standard quality preset, built-in benchmark, 150-second PresentMon recording
  • DirectX 12, 1920x1080, Medium quality preset, custom benchmark, 60-second PresentMon recording
  • DirectX 11, 1920x1080, Medium quality preset, FXAA, HDAO, custom benchmark, 60-second PresentMon recording
  • Vulkan, 1920x1080, High quality preset, custom benchmark, 60-second PresentMon recording
  • DirectX 11, 1920x1080, Normal quality preset, TAA, built-in benchmark, 60-second PresentMon recording
  • DirectX 11, 1920x1080, Medium quality preset, FXAA, SSBC, built-in benchmark, 50-second PresentMon recording
  • DirectX 12, 1920x1080, Medium quality preset, 16x anisotropic filtering, 2x MSAA, built-in benchmark, 25-second PresentMon recording
  • DirectX 12, 1920x1080, Medium quality preset, built-in benchmark, 80-second PresentMon recording
  • DirectX 9, Ultra quality preset, Serral vs. ShoWTime 2018 WCS Leipzig, 90-second PresentMon recording from 10:00 mark
  • DirectX 11, Medium quality settings, HairWorks disabled, custom Tom’s Hardware benchmark, 100-second PresentMon recording

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Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
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21 Comments Comment from the forums
  • caledbwlch
    Any chance we can get a comparison of the 1050 3GB with the memory overclocked in comparison to the 1050 Ti?
    Reply
  • dudmont
    These 1050s are begging for some OEM to add a 6pin PCIE connector and rework the power limits on the cards. With good cooling, I'm betting 2GHZ isn't out of the question, with a good GPU.
    Reply
  • closs.sebastien
    would be good if compared with a 1060
    Reply
  • King_V
    bit_user

    Well, our somewhat opposing speculations when the 3GB version announced pretty much are BOTH confirmed with this test.

    Sometimes it achieves parity with the 1050Ti, and sometimes it dips below 1050 performance.

    Depends on the game.

    One thing neither of us considered in our conversation - the need for higher clocks pushes up power consumption to the point where spikes occasionally exceed the specs for the PCIe slot.

    Still, the results are interesting - and my curmudgeonly side somewhat objects to the idea of cutting memory bandwidth and compensating for it by cranking up the power.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    Since this is basically an overclocked 1050 ti with one memory chip missing, I figure it should be no problem to overclock any 1050 Ti to the same rate as the 1050 3GB.
    Reply
  • redgarl
    Why this product is even released...?
    Reply
  • BulkZerker
    @redgarl
    Second paragraph of the article.
    "According to our sources, it really doesn’t. Slowly but surely, GeForce GTX 1050 3GB cards will start replacing 2GB boards, particularly as the 512MB memory chips used on those 2GB implementations become harder to source. "
    Reply
  • littleleo
    Better to test the real product when it shows up. Things must be slow at Tom's.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    21079032 said:
    Any chance we can get a comparison of the 1050 3GB with the memory overclocked in comparison to the 1050 Ti?

    I've been playing with this a bit. Wanted to get the GDDR5 fast enough to give 112 GB/s but realistically it's going to take down-clocking the 1050 2GB, overclocking the 3GB card, and then seeing what difference the missing ROP partition/L2 makes. Will continue trying to come up with a good comparison.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    21079785 said:
    Better to test the real product when it shows up. Things must be slow at Tom's.

    It *is* a real product. There's a model number and everything :) I've been itching to do something with graphics for months!
    Reply