NVIDIA's RTX 3060 is twice as fast as GTX 1060 and costs just $329
The RTX 3060 offers an easier upgrade path if you're using a GTX-series card.
What you need to know
- NVIDIA has unveiled the RTX 3060, with the card delivering noticeable gains over the GTX 1060.
- NVIDIA says you'll be able to play demanding titles with RTX On at up to 60fps.
- The card will debut in late February for $329, and has 12GB of GDDR6 memory over a 192-bit interface.
NVIDIA unveiled the RTX 30 series with the $499 RTX 3070, $699 RTX 3080, and the beastly $1,499 RTX 3090, and rolled out the $399 RTX 3060 Ti that held its own against the last-gen RTX 2080.
If you've been waiting for a more budget-focused option in the RTX 30 series, there's reason to be excited: NVIDIA just announced the RTX 3060, and it brings a lot of features to the table for just $329. NVIDIA notes that its 60-class GPUs are some of the most popular cards on Steam, and the RTX 3060 is positioned as the ideal upgrade for those on the GTX 1060 or older cards.
NVIDIA says the RTX 3060 delivers double the performance in terms of rasterization and is 10x better at ray-tracing scenarios than the GTX 1060, noting that you will be able to play titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Fortnite with RTX enabled at up to 60fps.
NVIDIA hasn't shared a lot of information around the RTX 3060 just yet, but the card has 12GB of GDDR6 memory over a 192-bit memory interface, and hits 13 TFLOPs and 25 RT TFLOPs. You'll also find all the other features that are standard with the rest of the RTX 30 series, including NVIDIA Reflex, Broadcast, and DLSS.
The GeForce RTX 3060 will go up for sale in late February, and as has been the case with the rest of the RTX 30 series, you'll find AIB options from the likes of ASUS, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, and Zotac in addition to the Founders Edition version.
That said, it remains to be seen if NVIDIA will have adequate quantities of the RTX 3060 at launch. Most RTX 30 series cards are still incredibly hard to find, and we've rounded up where to buy the RTX 30 series cards to make it easier for you to get a hold of NVIDIA's latest offerings.
We'll have more to share once the card goes up for sale, but in the meantime, what are your thoughts on the RTX 3060?
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Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor overseeing Asia for Android Central, Windows Central's sister site. When not reviewing phones, he's testing PC hardware, including video cards, motherboards, gaming accessories, and keyboards.