Nvidia’s RTX 3060 graphics card has long been a popular relatively wallet-friendly GPU, topping the rankings on Steam – but the death knell has apparently sounded for this Ampere (last-gen) model.
VideoCardz reports that news has filtered down from the Board Channels in China – a common source of GPU rumors, but one that requires some skepticism – that Nvidia is calling time on the RTX 3060.
The report claims that Nvidia is now taking the final orders for RTX 3060 GPUs, according to graphics card makers including Palit and Colorful, so once these have gone through, that’ll be the end of the (production) line for the last-gen stalwart.
There’s still stock on shelves, of course, and further RTX 3060 graphics cards will be manufactured and shipped with this final batch of GPUs. So, inventory won’t run out anytime soon, but the RTX 3060 is on borrowed time – if this report is correct in its assertion.
There are two flavors of the RTX 3060, incidentally, one of which has 8GB of video RAM and the other sports 12GB of VRAM (and a fatter memory bus at 192-bit versus 128-bit).
Analysis: Why the RTX 3060 was so popular – and also why it’s time to move on
Assuming this is correct, how long will it be before the RTX 3060 starts to get thin on the shelves out there? Our guess would be that this isn’t likely to happen before the end of 2024 – and it is just that, a guess.
However long it lasts, the RTX 3060 has been the most popular GPU in the Steam rankings for quite some time, almost a year now, since displacing the GTX 1650 later in 2023. Why has the RTX 3060 been so successful? Well, it wasn’t regarded as one of the best GPUs when it launched, by any means, and as our review at the time observed, the 3060 wasn’t great value for where it sat in the graphics card hierarchy at the time. (Particularly when, at its launch, the crypto bubble was pushing up prices).
Eventually, though, the pricing on the RTX 3060 settled down and became a lot more attractive, and it was regarded as a solid buy for a 1080p workhorse, particularly the 12GB version which represented the best way of getting a healthy VRAM allocation for gaming on a more affordable budget with Nvidia. And let’s remember, Nvidia graphics cards are the dominant force by far – the Steam GPU rankings reflect this very clearly, and it’s another obvious reason why the RTX 3060 did well. It was a good value choice, particularly for those who wanted more than 8GB of VRAM.
At this point in time, though, the RTX 4060 has come down in pricing too, and the RTX 3060 – even that 12GB spin – makes a lot less sense. Indeed, looking at Newegg currently in the US, the cheapest RTX 4060 is only ten bucks more than the lowest-priced RTX 3060 12GB. (Other regions may be different, mind, as ever).
For that extra ten bucks, you might only get 8GB of VRAM rather than 12GB, but with the RTX 4060 you’re getting better performance – maybe not by a huge amount in some games or resolutions, but overall, it’s better, and by a fair bit in some titles – as well as lower power consumption. Perhaps most importantly, you get the benefit of frame generation and DLSS 3 in supported titles with an RTX 4000 graphics card (and you’re a step further up the line with driver updates – RTX 3000 will be pushed out of the pecking order sooner, of course).
Doubtless it’s time for Nvidia to change up a gear with its production plans, as RTX 5000 prepares to enter stage left (maybe later this year with the initial models, or perhaps not, the rumor mill can’t quite decide) – plus as discussed, the RTX 4060’s current pricing already positions this GPU as a more enticing affordable mid-ranger.
That said, the RTX 3060’s reign at the top of the Steam GPU charts will continue for some time yet. There’s still stock to sell, as noted, and probably quite a few prebuilt PCs toting this GPU to shift off shelves, all of which will keep the fans of this last-gen graphics card spinning for a while yet.