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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 · Photo source

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Photo 1 of 21

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 · Photo source

NVIDIA · GeForce

GeForce RTX 3060

Released February 2021

A 2021 Ampere graphics card for 1080p gaming, originally sold with 12 GB of GDDR6 and later offered with 8 GB on a narrower memory bus.

Memory
12 GB or 8 GB
Shaders
3,584
Boost clock
1,780 MHz
Bandwidth
360 GB/s or 240 GB/s
Power
170 W

What reviewers say

Reviewers found the original 12 GB card a useful upgrade from older GTX models, with capable 1080p and some 1440p performance. Both judged its improvement over the RTX 2060 modest and preferred the RTX 3060 Ti at launch pricing. PC Gamer tested Zotac's Twin Edge and TechSpot tested Gigabyte's Eagle; these reviews do not cover the 8 GB revision.

From pcgamer.com and techspot.com

Specifications

Report a wrong or missing spec

Performance

Chip maker
NVIDIA
Architecture
Ampere
Shader cores
3,584
Boost clock
1,780 MHz
Architecture
NVIDIA reference GPU specifications; photo shows Gainward's stock-clock 12 GB Ghost partner card. NVIDIA announced worldwide partner availability of the 8 GB revision from November 2022.
Manufacturing process
8 nm (Gainward Ghost datasheet)
Ray tracing
Second-generation RT Cores
AI cores
Third-generation Tensor Cores
Upscaling and frame generation
NVIDIA DLSS upscaling; no DLSS Frame Generation
Base clock
1.32 GHz; NVIDIA rounds boost to 1.78 GHz, while Gainward's stock-clock 12 GB Ghost and 8 GB Pegasus both specify 1,777 MHz

Memory

Video memory
12 GB GDDR6 or 8 GB GDDR6
Memory bus
192-bit or 128-bit
Memory bandwidth
360 GB/s or 240 GB/s
Memory detail
15 Gbps GDDR6. Original 12 GB is 192-bit with 360 GB/s bandwidth (Gainward Ghost); later 8 GB is 128-bit with 240 GB/s (Gainward Pegasus).

Connections and power

Board power
170 W
Interface
PCIe 4.0
Display outputs
3 × DisplayPort 1.4a, 1 × HDMI 2.1; up to 4 displays; HDCP 2.3; check the chosen partner card
Maximum resolution
7680 × 4320; HDMI supports 4K 120 Hz HDR or 8K 60 Hz HDR
Power connector
Varies by partner card; Gainward's 12 GB Ghost and 8 GB Pegasus each specify 1 × PCIe 8-pin
Recommended power supply
550 W on NVIDIA's reference specification, based on an Intel Core i9-10900K system
Slot width
Varies by partner card; no Founders Edition model
Video encode and decode
Seventh-generation NVENC, fifth-generation NVDEC; hardware AV1 decode, no AV1 encode

Versions

VersionMemoryShadersBoost clockMemory busBandwidthBoard power
12 GB GDDR612 GB GDDR63,5841,780 MHz192-bit360 GB/s170 W
8 GB GDDR68 GB GDDR63,5841,780 MHz128-bit240 GB/s170 W

Pros and cons

Pros

  • 12 GB of GDDR6 on the original card
  • Hardware ray tracing and DLSS upscaling
  • Hardware AV1 decoding

Cons

  • Later 8 GB revision reduces the memory bus to 128 bits
  • No hardware AV1 encoding or DLSS Frame Generation
  • Partner coolers and dimensions vary

Closest rivals

Model
MemoryShadersBoost clockBandwidthPowerReleased
AMDRadeon RX 6700 XT
12 GB2,5602,581 MHz384 GB/s230 WMar 2021
AMDRadeon RX 7700 XT
12 GB3,4562,544 MHz432 GB/s245 WSept 2023
IntelArc A770
16 GB or 8 GB4,096–560 GB/s or 512 GB/s225 WOct 2022

Sources

  1. nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/graphics-cards/30-series/rtx-3060-3060ti
  2. nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/news/geforce-rtx-3060-out-now
  3. nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/sackboy-a-big-adventure-pc-geforce-game-ready-dri…
  4. gainward.com/main/product/vga/pro/p01106/p01106_datasheet_19865ffe595eabe90.pdf
  5. gainward.com/main/vgapro.php
  6. gainward.com/main/vgapro.php

Photo: gainward.com

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