NVIDIA Announces the GeForce RTX 3060, $330, 12 GB of GDDR6

[btarunr]

NVIDIA today announced that it is bringing the NVIDIA Ampere architecture to millions more PC gamers with the new GeForce RTX 3060 GPU. With its efficient, high-performance architecture and the second generation of NVIDIA RTX, the RTX 3060 brings amazing hardware raytracing capabilities and support for NVIDIA DLSS and other technologies, and is priced at $329.

NVIDIA's 60-class GPUs have traditionally been the single most popular cards for gamers on Steam, with the GTX 1060 long at the top of the GPU gaming charts since its introduction in 2016. An estimated 90 percent of GeForce gamers currently play with a GTX-class GPU. "There's unstoppable momentum behind raytracing, which has quickly redefined the new standard of gaming," said Matt Wuebbling, vice president of global GeForce marketing at NVIDIA. "The NVIDIA Ampere architecture has been our fastest-selling ever, and the RTX 3060 brings the strengths of the RTX 30 Series to millions more gamers everywhere."



With newer gaming titles come bigger worlds with cinematic graphics and real-time raytracing — these are gaming workloads that only RTX-powered platforms are suited to handle. The GeForce RTX 3060 has twice the raster performance and 10x the raytracing performance of the GTX 1060, making it a formidable upgrade opportunity and the foundation of a gaming PC platform powerful enough to handle cutting-edge titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Fortnite with RTX On at 60 frames per second.

The RTX 3060's key specifications include:

• 13 shader-TFLOPs
• 25 RT-TFLOPs for raytracing
• 101 tensor-TFLOPs to power NVIDIA DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling)
• 192-bit memory interface
• 12 GB of GDDR6 memory

Resizable BAR will be supported on the GeForce RTX 30 Series starting with the RTX 3060. When combined with a compatible motherboard, this advanced PCI Express technology enables all of the GPU memory to be accessed by the CPU at once, providing a performance boost in many games.

Like all RTX 30 Series GPUs, the RTX 3060 supports the trifecta of GeForce gaming innovations: NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex and NVIDIA Broadcast, which accelerate performance and enhance image quality. Together with real-time ray tracing, these technologies are the foundation of the GeForce gaming platform, which brings unparalleled performance and features to games and gamers everywhere.

NVIDIA DLSS: The AI Gift That Gamers Love

AI is revolutionizing gaming — from in-game physics and animation simulation to real-time rendering and AI-assisted broadcasting features. Powered by dedicated AI processors on GeForce RTX GPUs called Tensor Cores, NVIDIA DLSS boosts frame rates while generating beautiful, crisp game images and gives gamers the performance headroom to maximize raytracing settings and increase output resolutions. DLSS is available in more than 25 games, with more added every month.

NVIDIA Reflex and Broadcast: The Ultimate Play
NVIDIA Reflex technology reduces system latency (or input lag), making games more responsive and giving players in competitive multiplayer titles an edge over the opposition. NVIDIA Broadcast is a suite of audio and video AI enhancements, including virtual backgrounds, motion capture and advanced noise removal, that users can apply to chats, Skype calls and video conferences.

Advanced GeForce Experience Features
All NVIDIA GeForce GPUs benefit from GeForce Experience, a tool used by tens of millions of gamers to optimize game settings, record and upload gameplay, stream gameplay, take screenshots, and download and install Game Ready Drivers. The latest features include:

One-click automatic GPU Tuning: GeForce Experience now supports GPU Tuning, which can automatically create overclocking profiles by using an advanced scanning algorithm.
Enhanced in-game monitoring overlay: GeForce Experience's already robust in-game overlay now adds performance stats, temperatures and latency metrics, including NVIDIA Reflex Latency Analyzer stats.

Where to Buy
The GeForce RTX 3060 will be available in late February, starting at $329, as custom boards — including stock-clocked and factory-overclocked models — from top add-in card providers such as ASUS, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY and Zotac. Look for GeForce RTX 3060 GPUs at major retailers and etailers, as well as in gaming systems by major manufacturers and leading system builders worldwide.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Mad_foxx1983]

so this card got more Vram than the 3060 ti, 3070 and 3080. why nvidia??

 

[Nihilus]

so this card got more Vram than the 3060 ti, 3070 and 3080. why nvidia??

Because you touch yourself at night. Seriously, you are just asking the same question that was answered many times.

 

[Xaled]

so this card got more Vram than the 3060 ti, 3070 and 3080. why nvidia??

Blame AMD! for not bringing SAM early enough!

 

[neatfeatguy]

"NVIDIA DLSS: The AI Gift That Gamers Love"

As for availability - I guess we actually wait and see. The 3060Ti can't be purchased easily, like all the other GPUs that have recently launched.

 

[Gameslove]

Hopefully they have been started to produce a more graphics cards rtx 3060 that price 329,00 $ (329,00 €) that early release rtx 3090, 3080, 3070, 3060 Ti.

 

[15th Warlock]

Nice little card, with a plentiful pool of VRAM, I love it.

Hate to say this but I wonder if that MSRP includes the new 25% tariff on all video cards manufactured in China

 

[yotano211]

I can understand the 60's card being the most popular, but the 3070 has 4gb less memory and much faster at higher resolutions that need more memory. I can see a 3070ti coming very soon with higher memory sizes.

 

[ZoneDymo]

"and is priced at $329"

yeah....no

 

[Anymal]

"and is priced at $329"

yeah....no

Fake MSRP!

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

I can understand the 60's card being the most popular, but the 3070 has 4gb less memory and much faster at higher resolutions that need more memory. I can see a 3070ti coming very soon with higher memory sizes.

Likely we'll see a 16GB 3070ti and a 20GB 3080ti this year. Nvidia really shot themselves in the foot launching before the high density GDDR6X was ready.

OTOH they seem to have no issue selling the current cards, so maybe they were right on the money.

 

[Vayra86]

Likely we'll see a 16GB 3070ti and a 20GB 3080ti this year. Nvidia really shot themselves in the foot launching before the high density GDDR6X was ready.

OTOH they seem to have no issue selling the current cards, so maybe they were right on the money.

Planned obscolescence suits the early adopter well, yes

But hey 10GB is enough no worries, because even the midrange AND consoles will be having 12~ GB now so all is well! Never mind the fact that volume sales will start happening now and going forward, not before this moment. So we now have the unique situation that a midrange line up AND the competition all has more VRAM than a few one-offs called the 3070 and 3080 vanilla.

Have to have some pretty solid faith to think that's not an issue going forward. Religious, in fact.

Devs optimize for the mainstream, and its fast looking like 10GB is an oddball capacity we already had two generations back, effectively, with 11GB cards. Back then it was too much and now it is too little.

 

[Deleted member 197223]

329$ equals to about 450€ if you look at the current price of a 3060 Ti. Either way, this card will be a great contender against the 400€ AMD counterpart once prices have settled sometime in late 2021. And I really hope Nvidia stops with the Super nonsense.

 

[Xaled]

3070 500$ MSRP meant 1000$
And 3060tis 400$ were actually 800$

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Planned obscolescence suits the early adopter well, yes

But hey 10GB is enough no worries, because even the midrange AND consoles will be having 12~ GB now so all is well! Never mind the fact that volume sales will start happening now and going forward, not before this moment. So we now have the unique situation that a midrange line up AND the competition all has more VRAM than a few one-offs called the 3070 and 3080 vanilla.

Have to have some pretty solid faith to think that's not an issue going forward. Religious, in fact.

Devs optimize for the mainstream, and its fast looking like 10GB is an oddball capacity we already had two generations back, effectively, with 11GB cards. Back then it was too much and now it is too little.

There are still 0 reviews by tech sites showing the 10GB to be a limiting factor. The 3080 topped the 2080ti, handily, in every test. If the VRAM was insufficient, the 3080's 1% would be annialated by turing.

The "mainstream" number game devs will be targeting on PC is currently less then 4GB. The VAST majoirty of the market has 4GB or less, with a sizeable minority at 6GB, a smaller minority at 8GB, ece. Game consoles will have 12GB for games, yes, but that is TOTAL memory. That is both system and video memroy, which is two seperate pools on PC. A game using 12GB of video mameory would have nothing left over for the game logic itself.

The 290x 8GB was totally worthless. the 8GB 480 same deal, not enough power for 1440p gaming where such memory may have mattered. The 8GB 3070 manages to meet or exceed the 1% low and average of the 11GB 2080ti consistently.

By the time the 10GB 3080 RAM is insufficient for high/ultra settings, we'll likely have far more powerful GPUs on the market. Not to mention even when it does eventually run out, there are plenty of tweaks to fix the problem. Most tests are done with settings maxxed out, including AA. AA gobbles up VRAM and at 1440p and above is really not that noticeable, FXAA works better and has less VRAM penalty.

I've yet to see a modern game that doesnt run properly on my vega 64 at 1440p, the most VRAM demanding game I've seen is cities skylines and its unoptimized RAM allocation, and doom eternal, which only hits above 8GB on unplayable settings.

 

[Gameslove]

Theoretical rtx 3060 will be 10% less performance against rtx 3060 ti.....

 

[Vayra86]

There are still 0 reviews by tech sites showing the 10GB to be a limiting factor. The 3080 topped the 2080ti, handily, in every test. If the VRAM was insufficient, the 3080's 1% would be annialated by turing.

The "mainstream" number game devs will be targeting on PC is currently less then 4GB. The VAST majoirty of the market has 4GB or less, with a sizeable minority at 6GB, a smaller minority at 8GB, ece. Game consoles will have 12GB for games, yes, but that is TOTAL memory. That is both system and video memroy, which is two seperate pools on PC. A game using 12GB of video mameory would have nothing left over for the game logic itself.

The 290x 8GB was totally worthless. the 8GB 480 same deal, not enough power for 1440p gaming where such memory may have mattered. The 8GB 3070 manages to meet or exceed the 1% low and average of the 11GB 2080ti consistently.

By the time the 10GB 3080 RAM is insufficient for high/ultra settings, we'll likely have far more powerful GPUs on the market. Not to mention even when it does eventually run out, there are plenty of tweaks to fix the problem. Most tests are done with settings maxxed out, including AA. AA gobbles up VRAM and at 1440p and above is really not that noticeable, FXAA works better and has less VRAM penalty.

I've yet to see a modern game that doesnt run properly on my vega 64 at 1440p, the most VRAM demanding game I've seen is cities skylines and its unoptimized RAM allocation, and doom eternal, which only hits above 8GB on unplayable settings.

Time will tell, but we're already going pretty close to that limit in some titles, and yes, having less is a performance hit. We've seen this before in games that did exceed VRAM when they get revisited a few years post-release. And there are many examples of the core having enough power but VRAM being the main reason to upgrade cards. Its as good a reason as any, right? its certainly not true that its a rule of thumb that 'the core runs out when VRAM runs out'. Sorry. I have too many examples, even recently, that tell a different story.

You say tricks and tweaks but that's nonsense... what really happens is the market caters to the common denominator, and its certainly not 10GB. Its either 8 GB for lower/mid segment, and most certainly towards 12GB for upper segment going forward. Or are we now going to defend that PC performance is capped at whatever the consoles present us? That would be lying to ourselves - PC demands have ALWAYS exceeded console demands. So... 'by the time' might come round much sooner than you think. I think 3 years is very optimistic, and 2 is very plausible. Pretty short lifetime for balls to the wall gaming on a 700 MSRP with inflation. Especially with lots of alternatives next to it that offer more. Good luck reselling that card in 2years time. Its immediately a midranger at best. Irony has it, that a 3060 with 12GB or better yet a 3070 with 16 will fetch better value by then, while being cheaper to buy now.

But be that as it may, you are certainly correct today. The examples are hardly there of 10GB being problematic. It mostly involves modding and per-game examples - but they do exist and also under 4K.

 

[goodeedidid]

Another nice and exciting product that won't be in stock quantities anywhere. Maybe another lost container, who knows..

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Time will tell, but we're already going pretty close to that limit in some titles, and yes, having less is a performance hit. We've seen this before in games that did exceed VRAM when they get revisited a few years post-release. And there are many examples of the core having enough power but VRAM being the main reason to upgrade cards. Its as good a reason as any, right? its certainly not true that its a rule of thumb that 'the core runs out when VRAM runs out'. Sorry. I have too many examples, even recently, that tell a different story.

How about you post some of those examples? People often clamor that there is plenty of evidence that VRAM limits are an issue, yet never can post to tests showing the results. Maybe a youtube video at BEST, but never any well tested, verified results. One of the biggest symptoms of VRAM limitations is stuttering, which is represented by attrocious 1% low FPS. Most review sites test this now. I've yet to see ONE that shows such behaviour from a 3070 or 3080.

You say tricks and tweaks but that's nonsense... what really happens is the market caters to the common denominator, and its certainly not 10GB. Its either 8 GB for lower/mid segment, and most certainly towards 12GB for upper segment going forward. Or are we now going to defend that PC performance is capped at whatever the consoles present us? That would be lying to ourselves - PC demands have ALWAYS exceeded console demands. So... 'by the time' might come round much sooner than you think. I think 3 years is very optimistic, and 2 is very plausible. Pretty short lifetime for balls to the wall gaming on a 700 MSRP with inflation. Especially with lots of alternatives next to it that offer more. Good luck reselling that card in 2years time. Its immediately a midranger at best. Irony has it, that a 3060 with 12GB or better yet a 3070 with 16 will fetch better value by then, while being cheaper to buy now.

Are you REALLY insinuating that the the common demoniator for PC development is 8GB, when >90% of PC gamers use cards with 6GB of VRAM or less? Are you even aware of how rare high ends card are? Polaris was the first generation where >6GB cards were affordable for the masses with the 8GB 470 and 480.

But be that as it may, you are certainly correct today. The examples are hardly there of 10GB being problematic. It mostly involves modding and per-game examples - but they do exist and also under 4K.

So you admit the only examples you can find are using mods (LMFAO) and is otherwise assumed based on speculation and nothing else? One or two benchmarks intentionally written to break hardware HARDLY count as general gaming.

 

[dirtyferret]

I look forward to seeing this card out of stock everywhere but ebay for twice the MSRP.

Pretty short lifetime for balls to the wall gaming on a 700 MSRP with inflation

I would think so but you really shouldn't game like that especially if you want to have little Vayras with Mrs. Vayra.

 

[Doc-J]

How about you post some of those examples? People often clamor that there is plenty of evidence that VRAM limits are an issue, yet never can post to tests showing the results. Maybe a youtube video at BEST, but never any well tested, verified results. One of the biggest symptoms of VRAM limitations is stuttering, which is represented by attrocious 1% low FPS. Most review sites test this now. I've yet to see ONE that shows such behaviour from a 3070 or 3080.

Are you REALLY insinuating that the the common demoniator for PC development is 8GB, when >90% of PC gamers use cards with 6GB of VRAM or less? Are you even aware of how rare high ends card are? Polaris was the first generation where >6GB cards were affordable for the masses with the 8GB 470 and 480.

So you admit the only examples you can find are using mods (LMFAO) and is otherwise assumed based on speculation and nothing else? One or two benchmarks intentionally written to break hardware HARDLY count as general gaming.

Really good explanation, 10 or 8GB is sufficient for next 2 years, but certain people don't trust the reviews and speak without any test to demonstrate it.

 

[dir_d]

Only reason why i think Nvidia decided to put 12GB of VRAM would be due to what happens to the 3070 Maxed out in DLSS with 8gb of RAM. Plus they couldn't release a 6GB of RAM version customers would throw a fit.

 

[Turmania]

what is the power target of the card? 150 w?

 

[Vayra86]

I look forward to seeing this card out of stock everywhere but ebay for twice the MSRP.


I would think so but you really shouldn't game like that especially if you want to have little Vayras with Mrs. Vayra.

Haha already got a little Mrs Vayra walking around over here for two years now

How about you post some of those examples? People often clamor that there is plenty of evidence that VRAM limits are an issue, yet never can post to tests showing the results. Maybe a youtube video at BEST, but never any well tested, verified results. One of the biggest symptoms of VRAM limitations is stuttering, which is represented by attrocious 1% low FPS. Most review sites test this now. I've yet to see ONE that shows such behaviour from a 3070 or 3080.

Are you REALLY insinuating that the the common demoniator for PC development is 8GB, when >90% of PC gamers use cards with 6GB of VRAM or less? Are you even aware of how rare high ends card are? Polaris was the first generation where >6GB cards were affordable for the masses with the 8GB 470 and 480.

So you admit the only examples you can find are using mods (LMFAO) and is otherwise assumed based on speculation and nothing else? One or two benchmarks intentionally written to break hardware HARDLY count as general gaming.

Its a crystal ball prediction, I already conceded that 8GB is not the norm today but it soon will be as that is what the consoles have; and if you want a bit more, 10GB is going to come up short sooner rather than later - but again, prediction. I can't offer you the facts today, but what I do see, is that I have an 8GB GPU today and we're steadily moving closer to its limit on new titles. The momentum is there and the increase will be mainstream soon. Cyberpunk for example will happily eat up 7+ GB and still runs fine on my 1080 while doing so.

And is the use of mods so strange on a PC? I have to say that for any game I play more than a single playthrough, its one of the first things I check out. They expand games and increase value. If I don't want mods, I can buy a console - modding is a key selling point for PC gaming.

I'll also concede that its acceptable that others accept different standards from what they get out of a GPU. But I can see myself running into trouble with 10GB going forward, and that is well founded in what I've seen up until today wrt performance and capacity. You're at liberty to think otherwise and base your choices on that But I wouldn't be too sure, neither am I - we just can't tell and that is a 'risk' for a purchase.

 

[Metroid]

They put 10gb on the rtx 3080 gpu flagship and 12 gb on a maistream gpu, this must be a joke to 3080 users. The $330 price tag will be in reality $500, we all know that.