Man, it's almost like everyone thinks that there aren't a lot of people out there with a hard budget on how much they can spend on things like this.
Is the 6500 XT a great card? Nope. But then neither is the 3050. If you could get both at MSRP the 3050 is obviously the better card. Unfortunately, unless you're a scalper with automated tools, good luck getting a 3050 at MSRP.
If someone held a gun to my head and said, buy a graphics card now that you'll actually use or I'm going to shoot you in the head? I'm buying the 6500 XT. It is far and away the better deal compared to the RTX 3050.
I can currently buy a 6500 XT on Amazon for 279 USD. Good luck with the 3050. Let's see, if I go to Newegg I can find the 3050 for the right bargain of 599.99 USD. Oh goodie.
Worst case scenario choosing certain games the 3050 is slightly more than 2x faster than the 6500 XT when the 6500 XT is limited to using a PCIE 3.0 interface.
Hmmm, but I have PCIE 4.0 in my machine. So on average the 3050 will be ~25% faster than the 6500 XT.
So, I can get the 6500 XT for under 300 USD. Or I can pay over 2x as much for a 3050 which will give me on average 25% more performance. Whoopdie F-ing do.
Is the 3050 worth twice the price of the 6500 XT? IMO, not even remotely close.
Now, if both were being sold at MSRP and the 3050 was only 25% more (199 USD versus 249 USD)? Hell yeah I'd get a 3050 instead of a 6500 XT. Unforunately, the reality of current market conditions make the 6500 XT a significantly better buy.
However, since nobody is holding a hypothetical gun to my head, I'm not buying either card because both cards are shite for how much you have to pay for them.
Regards,
SB