From time-to-time, NVIDIA re-releases some of its graphics cards with updated GPUs. And if a leak from Thursday (25) is correct, this will happen soon with the GeForce RTX 3050 for notebooks, which could be relaunched with the AD106 GPU, the same as the RTX 4060 Ti for desktops.
The information emerged as a rumor when the PCI ID repository listed the model, and gained traction after Videocardz obtained detailed information from a new NVIDIA driver that mentions this new GeForce RTX 3050 with AD106 chip.
Thus, instead of using an Ampere GPU from the RTX 30 generation of cards, the supposed new RTX 3050 mobile would not only come with a GPU from the Ada Lovelace generation, which equips the RTX 40, but this chip would be from a model for desktops.
In practice, then, the new GeForce RTX 3050 could come with higher specifications than even the RTX 4050 and RTX 4060 for notebooks, which use the AD107 GPU, and could be on par with the RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti for desktop computers.
RTX 3050 with more performance
Currently, the RTX 3050 mobile with GA107 has 2,048 CUDA cores, while the minimum implementation of the AD106 (RTX 4060) comes with 3,072 cores, reaching 4,352 CUDA cores in the maximum implementation (RTX 4060 Ti).
Despite the enthusiasm surrounding the possibility, it is unlikely that NVIDIA will choose to promote such a huge performance leap in the GeForce RTX 3050 mobile. After all, it would end up cannibalizing two current generation video cards with an entry-level model for last generation notebooks.
Therefore, it is reasonable to think that this new RTX 3050 mobile would come with a CUDA core count above 2,048 and below 3,072.
Earnings on other resources
Regardless of the number of CUDA cores, one fact is certain: by adopting the AD106 GPU, the new GeForce RTX 3050 for notebooks would gain improvements in other features.
The Ada Lovelace microarchitecture has more processing capacity for ray tracing and machine learning, essential for superior DLSS performance. In practice, this would make the graphics card deliver more FPS in games running with upscaling enabled.
As a result, this update would make the GeForce RTX 3050 more competitive, standing up to integrated graphics from Intel and, above all, AMD, which are increasingly stronger.
Officially, NVIDIA has not commented or announced anything about this
supposed GeForce RTX 3050 mobile. And it should remain so, as re-releases like
this are generally not hyped.