As always, MSI presents a hugely oversized PCB, that has no sense whatsoever.
I agree it is overkill for a card at this level, but for a higher end card, it is actually better. The reference design from Nvidia for the RTX 3080 for example is very cram due to a smaller than usual PCB. As a result, all the hot components, GPU, VRAM and VRM are clustered together which makes them run hotter than if you space them out with a bigger PCB. The edge temp shows that they are in the healthy temp range, but the junction temp prove otherwise.
"It looks like the RTX 3060 is only marginally faster at RT than Ampere, seems the new RT cores don't make that much of a difference."
W1zz, what kind of sorcery is that?
It depends on which card you are comparing the RTX 3060 against. While Nvidia claimed that the second gen RT cores are up to 2x faster, you need to remember that it has less RT cores as compared to the likes of the RTX 2070, i.e (28 vs 36 RT cores). Even the RTX 2060 has a higher RT core count at 30.
My thoughts:
When everything can be found in MSRP:
This product doesn't make sense when there is a 3060Ti with $399 MSRP.
When everything cannot be found in MSRP:
This product doesn't make sense higher than MSRP.
They clearly marked the "MSRP" based on the inflated pricing / card performance of 3060Ti
Stupid product in stupid config with stupid pricing.
When everything is at MSRP, I agree that the RTX 3060 Ti is probably the best in value. But that does not mean that there is no place for the RTX 3060. As you go down the product stack, usually the pricing becomes tighter, i.e. USD 399 vs 329. While in the dollar sense, its just 70 bucks, but in a percentage sense, it is quite a steep jump, and not everyone will want to spend that much % more since the RTX 3060 suits their needs anyway.
