NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 in two configurations?

According to @kopite7kimi, NVIDIA might be planning yet another GeForce SKU.

Not one, but two variants of desktop GeForce RTX 3050 are now rumored to be in the works. This mid-range SKU which has been seemingly forgotten since January 2021, had only reappeared this month when Kopite revealed NVIDIA changed its original RTX 3050 plans from GA107 to GA106 GPU.

The RTX 3050 desktop is now rumored to launch in two configurations: GA106-150 with 2560 CUDA cores and 8GB memory and GA106-140 with 2304 CUDA cores and 4GB memory . This is contrary to previous rumors which put as many as 3072 CUDAs on this SKU.

At this point one may wonder why does desktop RTX 3050 even needs GA106 GPU, especially considering GA107 offers nearly the same specs (up to 2560 cores, 128-bit memory bus). It may be due to production yields of the higher-end part, or simply because NVIDIA still wants to launch RTX 3050 Ti desktop with more cores and the same GPU in the future. By using the same GPU for as many as three SKUs, NVIDIA will be doing a favor to board partners who will save on the production cost.

So far we have only heard about January 4th as the announcement date for this SKU and January 27th as an on-shelf (launch) date. It means that NVIDIA is likely to announce this card alongside RTX 3090 Ti desktop and RTX 3080Ti/3070Ti Laptop GPUs at CES 2022. What is unclear is whether this embargo applies to both the 8GB and 4GB models. Hopefully, we will be able to learn more soon, so stay tuned.

Source: @kopite7kimi