Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Review: Hope Springs Eternal (2024)

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Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Review: Hope Springs Eternal (1)

Nvidia rates the GeForce RTX 3060 TGP (Total Graphics Power) at 170W, making it the lowest power Ampere GPU by 50W. It has a single 8-pin power connector, and combined with the x16 PCIe slot that's enough for up to 225W of power — more than sufficient headroom for overclocking. We use Powenetics in-line power monitoring hardware and software to collect the real power use of the graphics card, which is relatively close to what software reports for Ampere GPUs. Powenetics also links up with GPU-Z to record the GPU temperature, fan speed, and GPU clock speed.

You can read more about our approach to GPU power testing, but the takeaway is that we're not dependent on AMD, Nvidia or any other GPU vendor to accurately report how much power a GPU uses. We run FurMark as a worst-case stress test, and we also run five loops of the Metro Exodus benchmark at 1440p ultra (without ray tracing or DLSS) for the following charts. Because Metro loops every two minutes or so, you'll see a saw pattern, but maximum power and temperature are pretty consistent.

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On average, the EVGA RTX 3060 used 171W in our Metro Exodus test, matching up pretty much exactly with the TGP. FurMark reached a slightly higher power draw of 175W, but that's not particularly worrisome. Our manual overclock bumped that up to 182W in Metro and 193W in FurMark, which is pretty much right in line with the power limit increase for the latter. For gaming purposes, it looks like something else was the limiting factor, at least on the EVGA card.

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Temperatures were the same for both our stock and overclocked tests, coming in at 64C on the GPU core in Metro and just one degree higher in FurMark. There's not a huge spread in thermals, mostly because the fan speeds automatically adjust to help keep the GPUs cool, which is where we start to see a lot of separation.

The EVGA RTX 3060 ended up with some of the highest fan speeds we've seen on recent cards. Granted, we've been looking at much larger cards, often with triple fan cooling solutions, but the fan RPMs here are higher than any of the other reference cards we've looked at. Part of that is likely due to the use of old-style fans, rather than the new higher static pressure models with an integrated rim — and the fan selection was likely done to keep costs as low as possible.

That makes EVGA RTX 3060 a less-than-stellar example of a quiet graphics card. It's not horribly loud, but neither is it silent. We measured noise from 15cm away using an SPL meter, with dB(A) weighting and a noise floor of 34 dB. The card's fans turn off at idle (provided the GPU is below 50C), but after gaming for a few minutes the fan speed ramped up to 1940 RPM, or about 71% of maximum. That resulted in 43.1 dB(A) of noise for gaming, and FurMark took that slightly higher to 72% and 43.9 dB(A). Overclocking naturally required even higher fan speeds, around 80% or 2350 RPM, with a very noticeable 49.3 dB result. If you're looking for a quiet RTX 3060, you'll be better off with a larger card that has a bigger heatsink and improved cooling.

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Last, we have GPU clocks. With a boost clock of 1777 MHz for the reference cards, the RTX 3060 is the highest clocked Nvidia GPU from the Ampere family so far. As usual, the real-world clocks are even higher than the boost clocks (except in FurMark). The EVGA card averaged 1876MHz in the Metro test, and 1609MHz in FurMark. Overclocking allowed for average GPU clocks of 2085MHz. GA106 doesn't clock quite as high as AMD's Big Navi chips, but we expect we'll see factory overclocked models running at well over 2GHz.

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Jarred Walton is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on everything GPU. He has been working as a tech journalist since 2004, writing for AnandTech, Maximum PC, and PC Gamer. From the first S3 Virge '3D decelerators' to today's GPUs, Jarred keeps up with all the latest graphics trends and is the one to ask about game performance.

  • lazyabum

    The official $329 asking price, times three (Forgot to mention that).

    Reply

Most Popular
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Review: Hope Springs Eternal (2024)

FAQs

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Review: Hope Springs Eternal? ›

The GeForce RTX 3060 has the power to dazzle you with immersive ray-traced effects in Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, Minecraft with RTX For Windows 10, Watch Dogs: Legion, and many other titles. And of course, NVIDIA DLSS is included, too, greatly accelerating frame rates in over 40 RTX games.

Is GeForce RTX 3060 good for gaming? ›

The GeForce RTX 3060 has the power to dazzle you with immersive ray-traced effects in Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Fortnite, Minecraft with RTX For Windows 10, Watch Dogs: Legion, and many other titles. And of course, NVIDIA DLSS is included, too, greatly accelerating frame rates in over 40 RTX games.

Is the GeForce RTX 3060 worth it? ›

Is the RTX 3060 12GB worth it for an upgrade from the GTX 1660 Super? Yes. 3060 is a disguised 1080Ti 11GB with extra 1GB of VRAM and added Ray Tracing power. So yes, it's a brilliant and 5 times more worthy upgrade.

Is 3060 good for VR? ›

The RTX 3060 is possibly the best value RTX card out there right now, being more than capable of playing 1080p titles with Ray Tracing and DLSS, but also being hugely popular in VR builds.

Is Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 12GB good for gaming? ›

The RTX 3060 has 12GB VRAM, which, while it doesn't outshine the 3060 Ti on performance, is quite effective for gaming. This is because the VRAM advantage of the RTX 3060 is insignificant at the resolution these cards are aimed at, 1080 and 1440p.

Is RTX 3060 still good in 2023? ›

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 has taken over as the most popular GPU in Steam's latest March 2023 hardware survey. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 continues a long-running trend with NVIDIA's x50/x60 line of graphics cards often taking the top spots in the survey.

What games run best on RTX 3060? ›

The RTX 3060 is one of the best graphics cards for gaming in 2023
  • Fortnite is one of the biggest games of all time. ...
  • Hogwarts Legacy is the first game set in the wizarding world to be released in over a decade. ...
  • Grand Theft Auto 5 is not a new title, but it continues to be one of the most legendary games of all time.
Mar 3, 2023

Can a RTX 3060 run 4K? ›

If these cards are a bit out of your price range but you still want to game at 4K, there are more budget-friendly options that can do a reasonably good job of running games at 4K. AMD's Radeon RX 6600 XT and Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060 are both capable of running games at 4K with medium graphics settings.

Is RTX 3060 low end? ›

It's mid end. What's considered a high end gpu is a gpu created for 4k gaming so gpu's like the 3080 and up. The 3060 is mostly a 1440p gaming gpu which puts it at mid end.

How old is the RTX 3060? ›

Desktop
ModelLaunchMemory
Size (GB)
GeForce RTX 3050Jan 27, 20228
GeForce RTX 3060Feb 25, 202112
May 2021
16 more rows

Is RTX 3060 compatible with Oculus Quest 2? ›

the only 30 series cards that don't work are the 3050 and there variants. 3060 and above work and are "validated" per oculus.

Can RTX 3060 run Oculus? ›

Absolutely! Your RTX 3060 can handle VR like a champ!

Can a 3060 run Skyrim? ›

Is RTX 3060 good for Skyrim? The experience of playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition through a 2 year old GeForce RTX 3060 Ultra is going to get a very strong 171 FPS. That base FPS is at 1080p and High visual settings.

How long will a RTX 3060 last? ›

I can say with confidence that it will definitely last for 6 years or more if your target is at high, 1080p, and 60fps. The RTX 3060 Ti can play most AAA games on ultra, 1080p, and still get > 140fps.

Is 3060 overkill for gaming? ›

3060 ti is kind of overkill unless you want over 144hz, 3060 ti is more for 1440p. If you just want 60hz 1080p go for a 3060 non-ti.

How powerful is RTX 3060? ›

As a mainstream card, the RTX 3060 primarily targets 1080p and 1440p gaming. Some lighter games may also run fine at 4K, or in some cases, you could shoot for 4K at medium settings.

Is a RTX 3060 high end? ›

Is 3060 a good upgrade? Despite this, the RTX 3060 is not quite powerful enough to use its extra 4K. Both of these graphics cards are high-end but not quite at the top of current Nvidia offerings. If you want a reliable 4K graphics card, opt for the higher-priced RTX 3070, RTX 3080, or RTX 3090.

How do I get the most out of my RTX 3060? ›

  1. Enable Re-Sizeable BAR. Once the graphics card is installed, the first step is to go into your BIOS settings. ...
  2. Remove old graphics drivers with DDU. ...
  3. Install the latest drivers and GeForce Experience. ...
  4. Activate Game Mode. ...
  5. Turn on Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling. ...
  6. Change your power settings. ...
  7. More.
Feb 19, 2023

Is RTX 3060 a good budget card? ›

Yes. The RTX 3060 is more than adequate for gaming, and also, the RTX 3080 is better. You should buy what you have the budget for.

What processor is best for gaming with 3060? ›

What CPU is needed for a RTX 3060? From testing, we recommend a fifth-generation CPU from either AMD or Intel such as an Intel core i5 11600k. A processor with good single-core speeds would be best. This would reduce the chance of your CPU causing bottlenecking issues.

What FPS should I get on RTX 3060? ›

The 3060 delivers a cinematic 33fps at 4K, but things look a lot better at 1440p (54fps) and 1080p (68fps).

What GPU is better than RTX 3060? ›

In our synthetic benchmarks, the Radeon RX 6600 XT graphics cards outperformed the GeForce RTX 3060 cards by a substantial margin; especially in benchmarks that use a lower resolution.

Which graphic card is the best? ›

Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4070 is a midrange card in the RTX 40 series based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is the best graphics card in our opinion.

How many 4K monitors can a 3060 support? ›

If you have a discrete graphics card installed in your computer, such as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Max-Q, you can connect up to four external displays or two 8K displays.

Can RTX 3060 run dual monitors? ›

The graphics card supports multi-display technology. This allows you to configure multiple monitors in order to create a more immersive gaming experience, such as having a wider field of view.

Is RTX 3060 future proof? ›

Yes. The 3060 Ti is a cut down RTX 3070 with 1024 cores disabled. That sounds awful until you consider that the RTX 3070 has 5888 cores!

Is RTX 3060 better than PS5? ›

Conclusion. To conclude, RTX 3060 will be a good voice for you if you want to have good gaming experience on a PC system and want to use your PC for multiple purposes. But if you want to use it for gaming then PS5 will be the right choice for you.

Should I upgrade my RTX 3060? ›

If you already have the RTX 3060, don't spend your money on the 3060 Ti. The market for used graphics cards is also bustling, and for that reason, you may sell them once you've upgraded. If you're going to spend nearly 700 dollars on a graphics card, you should at least get a significant upgrade.

How much did 3060 cost when it came out? ›

With a starting price of $329, the GeForce RTX 3060 is actually cheaper than the RTX 2060 did at launch, which started at $349.

What is the difference between RTX and GTX 3060? ›

The two cards also differ when it comes to memory. The RTX 3060 offers more VRAM capacity than the 3060 Ti, which is good for future proofing, but the 3060 Ti's VRAM is faster than the 3060's thanks to its wider memory bandwidth.

How much RAM do I need for RTX 3060? ›

If you're doing just gaming there's no difference between 16GB and 32, and if you're doing productivity then 32GB is better but downgrading your card isn't worth it, but if you are editing try and get 32GB with the 3060 but 16GB is fine, but the difference might be noticeable at 4k editing.

What GPU does Oculus Quest 2 use? ›

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti.

Can RTX 3060 run Microsoft Flight Simulator? ›

The Nvidia RTX 3060 is the most affordable, truly ray tracing viable graphics card of its generation, making it a great pick for anyone who wants an excellent Microsoft Flight Simulator game now and in the foreseeable future.

What GPU do you need for Quest 2? ›

The Oculus Quest 2 system requirements are basically the requirements for the software used to link the headset with your PC. These include a minimum CPU equivalent to an Intel Core i5-4590, a minimum graphics card equivalent to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, and a minimum of 8GB of RAM.

What graphics card is recommended for VR? ›

Video Card (GPU)

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX series of consumer graphics cards is our top recommendation for virtual reality. Anything mid-range or above, like the RTX 3060 Ti, will do nicely. If you are using VR with a professional application like Autodesk Revit, then NVIDIA's RTX A-series is also a solid option.

What graphics card is needed for oculus? ›

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070/Quadro P5000 or above, or AMD Radeon Vega 56 or above.

Can a 3060 laptop run Elden ring? ›

The real star of this build, however, is the Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti. With 8GB of GDDR6 memory and a high-speed Ampere GPU, it is a super-powered graphics card with more than enough performance to play Elden Ring at maximum settings, high frame rates, at 1080p or 1440p resolution.

Do I need RTX 3060 or 3070? ›

If you're OK gaming at 1080p and are trying to watch your spending, the RTX 3060 is a fantastic GPU. It delivers high frame rates, good-looking games, and is a bit easier on the wallet. But if you have a few more dollars to spend and want even faster frames (or to game in 1440p), the RTX 3070 is money well spent.

What is the best GPU for Skyrim? ›

With the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, our recommended GPU for Skyrim VR, a near-perfect experience is shown on the chart below, with only one momentary spike in performance. With a GeForce GTX 1080, we get a flawless experience, with stable performance, and zero dropped frames.

What's better 2080 or 3060? ›

RTX 3060 Ti vs 2080 Super: Which is better? The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti beats the 2080 Super on basically every metric above, except for maximum GPU temperature (four degrees cooler), boost clock speed, and the ability to go SLI.

Is 16GB RAM enough for gaming RTX 3060? ›

System Suggestions GeForce RTX 3060 is best suited for resolutions up to and including 3840x2160. We recommend a high-end processor and 16GB of RAM for optimal performance.

What will bottleneck a RTX 3060? ›

The memory bandwidth is substantial enough to give the 3070 its hefty lead. Does the Intel i7-4790K bottleneck RTX 3060 Ti? 4790k doesn't bottleneck RTX 3060 Ti, it's the other way around. 4790k is a bottleneck for RTX 3060 Ti.

How much power does a 3060 use while gaming? ›

Nvidia rates the GeForce RTX 3060 TGP (Total Graphics Power) at 170W, making it the lowest power Ampere GPU by 50W.

What is special about RTX 3060? ›

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3060 let you take on the latest games using the power of Ampere—NVIDIA's 2nd generation RTX architecture. Get incredible performance with enhanced Ray Tracing Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and high-speed memory.

What's the difference between RTX 3060 and 3060 TI? ›

The main difference is that the 3060 has 12 GB VRAM, while the 3060 TI has 8GB VRAM. Also, the two GPUs have different numbers of processing cores, which are many in the 3060 TI. Finally, the 3060 TI has a bigger bandwidth and memory bus than the 3060.

Is RTX 3060 overkill for gaming? ›

At 60Hz,it's generally overkill. At 144Hz, it's either overkill or perfect depending on the game.

Is 3060 better than ps5? ›

3060 is way better than the ps5 even with 16gb of vram because ull have at least 16 gbs of ram on that PC to start up application and some of the ram helps the GPU out in games so if u have 12 gb and 16gb of ddr4 u get half of that and end up with 20 gb of vram all together so the PC CPU will have to be same speed as ...

Is RTX 3060 good for gaming and streaming? ›

The RTX 3060 is a 'Jack of all trades' playing AAA titles, simulator games, competitive titles, content creation and streaming.

Is RTX 3060 bad value? ›

Coming in at an MSRP of $329 for the base model, the RTX 3060 8GB is noticeably slower than the original 12GB version and offers little to no value for budget-conscious gamers and content creators, especially when you factor in the mere $30 price difference between both variants.

Is RTX 3060 a high end graphics card? ›

It's mid end. What's considered a high end gpu is a gpu created for 4k gaming so gpu's like the 3080 and up.

How long does RTX 3060 last? ›

In fact, should you score a card with more fans and a larger heatsink, it's possible that you could eek even more performance out of the GPU. In the end, the RTX 3060 is still a very solid buy a year in and will be a GPU that could easily last for years to come, similar to the GTX 1060 and 1660 before it.

Is 3060 considered low end? ›

It's mid end. What's considered a high end gpu is a gpu created for 4k gaming so gpu's like the 3080 and up. The 3060 is mostly a 1440p gaming gpu which puts it at mid end.

What FPS is best for 3060? ›

The 3060 delivers a cinematic 33fps at 4K, but things look a lot better at 1440p (54fps) and 1080p (68fps). Focusing on 1080p, we're getting around 72 per cent the performance on an RTX 3060 Ti at 82.5 per cent of the cost; not a great trade-off unfortunately.

How much RAM should a 3060 have? ›

Specs
RTX 3060 TiRTX 3060
NVIDIA CUDA Cores48643584
Boost Clock (GHz)1.671.78
Memory Size8 GB12 GB / 8 GB
Memory TypeGDDR6 / GDDR6XGDDR6

Can a 3060 run 4K? ›

As a mainstream card, the RTX 3060 primarily targets 1080p and 1440p gaming. Some lighter games may also run fine at 4K, or in some cases, you could shoot for 4K at medium settings. But despite having more VRAM than even the RTX 3080, frame rates definitely take a hit at the highest resolutions.

What does the RTX 3060 compare to? ›

The RTX 3060 Ti has 4,864 Cuda cores, higher than the RTX 3060 but significantly fewer than the RTX 3070's 5,888 cores. Its boost clock is lower at 1.67GHz vs. 1.73GHz, but both feature 8GB GDDR6 RAM. The RTX 3060i is also available in an 8GB GDDR6X version, unlike the RTX 3070.

Is RTX 3060 future proof for gaming? ›

Yes. The RTX 3060 is more than adequate for gaming, and also, the RTX 3080 is better.

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