Nvidia could be preparing to launch a new graphics card at the budget end of the market to go up against AMD’s RX 6400 GPU (and to some extent, the RX 6500 XT).
VideoCardz has floated the theory – confirmed by two separate sources, apparently, but still take this with plenty of skepticism – that Nvidia is preparing a new GeForce GTX 1630 model.
The specs of the purported card are unknown, but rough guesswork indicates the GPU will likely be a TU117 (Turing, last-gen) chip that draws around 75W of power.
The broad picture is that this would be a replacement for the GTX 1050 Ti, which is currently Team Green’s dated low-end model pitched in the same bracket as the aforementioned AMD RX 6400. A reasonable assumption, then, would be that the 1630 would outperform the RX 6400.
You may recall that AMD recently drew a comparison between its current Radeon graphics cards and Nvidia’s line-up, with the starkest contrast being at the very bottom in the battle of the RX 6400 versus GTX 1050 Ti. In that match-up, the Team Red GPU ran rings around its rival in terms of overall value proposition (offering close to double in terms of AMD’s measured performance per dollar).
The GTX 1630, then, would be Nvidia firing back at AMD in this respect (and don’t forget, the RX 6400 itself has come under some criticism for certain aspects of the GPU’s design).
Analysis: Just a rumor, but nevertheless, the GTX 1630 makes sense
For pricing, if this rumored card does indeed turn up as a GTX 1050 Ti replacement, the tag slapped on the GTX 1630 will presumably come in at under $200 in the US. The 1050 Ti commands about $200 at retail currently (even if that isn’t the MSRP), and the GTX 1650 can be had for around $210-220 (going by current Newegg pricing), so dipping under the $200 mark makes sense – but by how much, we’ll have to see. (Of course, MSRP and actual prices at retailers can and do still differ considerably, as we’ve seen).
Pricing in other regions would likely be similarly pitched relative to those other mentioned products – if the GPU grapevine is right about this card being inbound.
However, it does make sense for Nvidia to launch such a graphics card, as it’s well overdue for the GeForce range to address the low-end of the GPU world. Remember that the RTX 3050, which debuted back at the start of 2022, sits at around $330 for the cheapest models; and that’s hardly wallet-friendly.
The budget GPU sector has long been neglected by Nvidia, and as we observed in our overview of Team Green’s 2021, last year, some gamers were left buying GTX 1650 models (from a few years back) with even those having seriously inflated pricing (this was when the graphics card shortage was in full swing back then). Nvidia’s relaunched RTX 2060 has emerged as another last-gen alternative since then, but its recommended pricing isn’t any more affordable than the RTX 3050.
So, there’s definitely a big gap in the line-up for something like the GTX 1630, which would be a first in terms of that particular model number for a GTX card (though we have seen the likes of the GT 1030 in the past).
