Dell leaks RTX 2050 in laptop spec sheet

Dell leaks RTX 2050 in laptop spec sheet

It looks like Nvidia isn't quite done with its RTX-series of graphics cards just yet and won't be focusing all its efforts on the GTX 16-series for mid-range and entry level gaming. The spec list for a new version of Dell's G5 15 gaming laptop has a GTX 2050 on board, alongside other more typical hardware.

Nvidia's strategy for its Turing-generation of GPUs appears to be to split it right down the middle. The high-end Turing graphics cards using the RTX moniker and support ray tracing and DLSS, while the lower-end sport the GTX moniker and don't. The former runs from the RTX 2080 Ti down to the RTX 2060, while the latter goes from the 1660 Ti to... something less than that. Probably the GTX 1660 and 1650.

But now it looks like — on laptops at least — the RTX range might dip a little lower. In the "Ports & Slots" section of the spec sheet discussing the capabilities of the new Dell G5 15 laptop, it claims that: "The USB C Thunderbolt will be on systems with RTX 2060 and up while the USB-C DisplayPort will be on systems with RTX 2050," as per PCGamesN.

This could well be the N18E-G0 codename GPU that we've heard tell about in previous weeks. That was assumed to be a mobile GTX 1660 or 1650, but since it was a variation on the naming scheme used for the RTX 2080 and 2070, as well as their Max-Q variants, it could be it's for the RTX 2050 instead.

This seems odd though. The RTX 2060 is barely capable of ray tracing, even with the help of DLSS. An RTX 2050 would be a weaker card, with presumably fewer tensor and RT cores. It won't be very powerful at all.