Budget gamers looking for a new GPU are in for a treat as MSI just dropped the price of its entry-level Blackwell gaming GPU. The MSI Gaming RTX 5050 Shadow 2X is now down to just $219.99 — a 21% discount from its regular price of $279.99, saving buyers $60. It’s also $30 cheaper than Nvidia’s suggested retail price, making it one of the most affordable modern graphics cards you can get on the market right now.
The RTX 5050 might be the least of Nvidia’s RTX 50-series, but it’s a great way for casual and budget gamers to get their hands on the modern GPU without spending hundreds of dollars more on a graphics card. It matches the RTX 4060 in performance, but is much cheaper, even at today’s prices for both GPUs. Sure, it might only have 8GB of VRAM, meaning it will struggle with some of the latest titles even at 1080p, but if you’re not one to follow the latest games and only play for leisure, this might be good enough for your purpose.
More importantly, the sale price puts this entry-level GPU at the sweet spot in terms of pricing. The Tom’s Hardware review only gave the RTX 5050 three and a half stars because our team thought it was way overpriced for what it can do. But now that it’s $220, it’s below the $229 price point we thought it should have, given the RTX 5060’s performance. It can even give other GPUs, like the Intel Arc B580, a run for its money (although the limited VRAM is certainly a limitation).
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This GPU delivers decent raster performance, averaging 67.5 FPS across 12 games at 1080p Ultra, with 1% lows at 49 FPS. This drops to 36.7 and 28 FPS, respectively, when you turn on ray tracing — it’s still somewhat playable at this point, but the game might not feel as smooth as you’d like. 1440p is still acceptable at raster gaming (41.3 FPS average, with 1% lows of 30 FPS), but it definitely cannot do 4K gaming.
The MSI Gaming RTX 5050 Shadow 2X gaming GPU might not have made our list of the best gaming GPUs, but it’s tempting at this price, especially for those raring to step up from integrated graphics or for those who want to replace an aging GTX 16-series or RTX 20-series GPU.
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