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Nvidia is launching a fourth RTX 3060 variant, according to info leaked by T4C Fantasy, an industry insider and custodian of the TechPowerUp GPU database. The upcoming offering will be faster than its original version, which was launched in early 2021.
Team Green's 60-class performance-segment video cards are generally the most popular GPUs on the market. This is proven by the GTX 1060's dominance as the most popular pixel pusher up until recently and the RTX 2060 and 3060 lineups' massive commercial success.
To build on this formula, the company is launching both powerful and weaker variants of the Ampere card to keep it relevant for as long as possible. The RTX 40 series lineup won't be cheap: thus, Nvidia is interested in keeping the 3060 around.
The updated RTX 3060 will be significantly faster than the vanilla model
The RTX 3060 is much faster than its last-gen counterparts. Based on TechPowerUp's GPU computing power aggregates, the card surpasses the RTX 2070 but is a tad slower than the RX 6600 XT. Nvidia previously introduced a cheaper 8 GB variant of the 3060 to reduce the overall cost of the card since it is still being slightly scalped at most leading retailers.
This time around, the company is looking to introduce a more powerful variant with a larger GPU die. The upcoming card will utilize the same GA104 graphics processing unit that is exclusive to the higher-end RTX 3070 and 3070 Ti. In addition, it will be bumped up to faster GDDR6X memory, which has only been available on the 3070 Ti and better cards so far. The faster memory will offer a 36% memory bandwidth increase, which translates pretty well in video games.
The leaker has not yet revealed any information on the transfer speeds or the exact memory bandwidth of the memory powering the card. It's worth mentioning that Nvidia has launched the following versions of the 3060 so far:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6 (GA106-300)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6 LHR (GA106-302)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB GDDR6 (GA106-302)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6X (GA104, upcoming)
With 12 GB of fast GDDR6X memory and a larger GPU, the new 3060 might become the best option for budget gaming, even overtaking the RX 6600 XT and 6650 XT cards, which have been praised for their value proposition.
When will the GDDR6X RTX 3060 be launched?
As reported on Wccftech, the new version of the 3060 was noticed by T4C in a validation done via GPU-Z. This could mean that it has had a silent launch and is already out in the wild. However, experts believe that the GPU's existence is still rumored, and Nvidia is yet to introduce it to consumer markets.
Another factor worth considering is that this GPU could be part of a pre-built system that the manufacturer has put together in coordination with Nvidia. In this case, the card will never be introduced to the DIY market.
The 3060 is already among the aptest options for gaming. It can run multiple video games at up to 4K resolution without major performance hiccups. The new offering will extend this performance lead even further.
