There’s a curious anomaly sitting amongst all of the Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs on the prime of the newest Steam Survey. Proper there at quantity 4 sits the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650, a funds gaming GPU from 2019 that not solely has no ray tracing {hardware}, but in addition has no Tensor cores – it might probably’t even run first-gen DLSS upscaling.
When it comes to specs, this Nvidia GPU is a really good distance behind the perfect graphics card fashions you should buy proper now. It has simply 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM and 896 Turing CUDA cores. Amazingly, it doesn’t even want an influence cable, with a complete graphics energy score of simply 75W, which implies it might probably get all its juice instantly from a PCIe slot.
But regardless of its shortcomings, it’s nonetheless utilized by 3.54% of the Steam customers surveyed for the newest March survey. In the meantime, the even older GeForce GTX 1060, primarily based on the Pascal structure, continues to be commanding 2.4% of the customers surveyed. In reality, for those who add all of them up, over 20% of customers within the Steam survey are utilizing both an Nvidia GeForce GTX GPU, or an AMD Radeon GPU with no ray tracing {hardware}, and that doesn’t even embrace the numerous built-in graphics techniques from Intel that don’t help ray tracing both.
However, 9 of the highest ten GPUs within the survey do have ray tracing {hardware} and AI cores, and the RTX 4060 is clearly extraordinarily fashionable proper now. What’s attention-grabbing, although, is that every one these years since real-time ray tracing {hardware} began for use in video games, so many PC avid gamers nonetheless haven’t been persuaded to make a graphics card improve.
I feel value is a significant component right here. There merely hasn’t been a real funds gaming GPU for the reason that GTX 1650, which value simply $149 when it got here out. Primarily based on the identical Turing structure because the first-gen RTX 2000 playing cards, the GTX 1650 was a stripped-back GPU with no RT cores or Tensor cores, and it was low cost to make graphics playing cards with simply 4GB of VRAM. It was by no means going to set body price graphs alight, but it surely didn’t have to – it may allow you to play Fortnite at first rate settings for a extremely low cost value.
Because it got here out, the closest we’ve had is the RTX 3050, a disappointing GPU that value $249 at launch and in actuality value far more as a result of inventory was so quick within the pandemic. Then there was the Radeon RX 6550 XT, an underpowered and overpriced GPU that received royally lambasted by the press – AMD wouldn’t even ship me one for evaluation, and neither would any of its board companions. There was no RTX 4050 desktop GPU, and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 nonetheless value $269.
PC avid gamers with actually tight budgets have largely been deserted by Nvidia and AMD, and whereas the Intel Arc B570 ostensibly covers the funds value vary, the scarcity of GPUs means they nonetheless realistically value over $300.
Till there’s a real new funds gaming GPU that may deal with ray tracing, even when it’s at 1,600 x 900 with low settings, it’s going to be a tricky promote to influence avid gamers to ditch their GTX 1650. It must be geared up with low cost VRAM (there’s completely no want for GDDR7 right here), it must be power-efficient and cool-running, it must be low cost for board companions to make playing cards, and above all, it must have a genuinely reasonably priced value.
My (maybe naively optimistic) hope is that this GPU would be the much-rumored Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050, if and when it comes out, however provided that it doesn’t have a foolish value connected to it. Sure, it’s turn out to be costlier to make GPUs over the previous couple of years, however Nvidia clearly isn’t wanting revenue proper now. Likewise, AMD may clear up right here if it might probably make an honest RDNA 4 GPU for a genuinely reasonably priced value. Worth these GPUs underneath $200, and funds consumers will lap it up.
With no first rate funds GPU, PC gaming dangers changing into an unique membership that leaves massive gaming audiences behind, and that’s not solely dangerous for avid gamers with out large quantities of cash, but it surely’s additionally dangerous for publishers desirous to promote video games, in addition to system builders desirous to cater for everybody.
Within the meantime, there are additionally rumors that Nvidia has a brand new RTX 5060 Ti within the works, in addition to an RTX 5060, but it surely’s that correct funds GPU that would probably kill off the GTX period for good. Let’s hope the RTX 5050 does certainly exist, and that it has a genuinely reasonably priced value.
You may also comply with us on Google Information for each day PC video games information, evaluations, and guides. We’ve additionally received a vibrant neighborhood Discord server, the place you may chat about this story with members of the crew and fellow readers.
