(Credit: Joseph Maldonado/PCMag)
Specs for the rumored GeForce RTX 5050 refresh with a boost in memory and speed have leaked, giving us a potential first glimpse at what the card can do.
As WCCFTech reports, the headline upgrade is 9GB of VRAM, instead of the 8GB found in the original RTX 5050. GDDR7 memory will reportedly run at 28Gbps, up from 20Gbps on GDDR6.
This leak comes from serial Nvidia leaker Kopite7kime, who posted rumored specs on X. It will feature a new GPU, the GB206-150, a change from the GB207-300-A1 found in the existing RTX 5050. It will have the same 2,560 CUDA cores and the same 130W TDP.
The newer, faster memory is constrained by a 92-bit memory bus, rather than the 128-bit bus on the original card, but that should still equate to 336 GBps of memory bandwidth, versus 320 GBps on the original RTX 5050.
By the numbers, this gives the card an extra 5% memory bandwidth and 12.5% more memory overall. That's unlikely to make much of a difference in real-world performance. However, that additional gigabyte of VRAM may help alleviate some of the 8GB VRAM bottlenecks we've seen in some games. It may also enable this card to play at higher than low settings in the latest AAA games when leveraging upscaling and frame generation to smooth out the frame rates.
We first reviewed the RTX 5050 in 2025 and found it capable, though it didn't improve much over its predecessors. That's still the case in 2026, but with no Nvidia replacement on the horizon, it's likely to be the most affordable Nvidia GPU of this generation. More VRAM is nice, especially since it's faster too, but the price will need to be close to be worth it.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado/PCMag)There's also the competition from Intel and AMD to watch out for. Although Nvidia is much more competitive on pricing at the entry level than elsewhere in the price-to-performance spectrum, gamers could opt for a similarly performing and priced RX 7600 or Arc B580. There are some 8GB 9060 XT cards that are only just north of $300, too.
Point being, Nvidia's RTX 5050 is well-priced now at around $250, and if Nvidia can boost its capabilities while keeping the price the same, it's one of the better entry-level GPU options. But if prices rise and send it higher in 2026, or if this refresh comes out the gate demanding $300 or more, it's going to have a tougher time competing.